iMovie: extremely large file size for static picture with sound

You can't lower the export file size without changing your export settings. Instead of the "High" setting choose "Custom" and use the slider to reduce the Mb per second. That would reduce the file size.

However, 1 GB might be a perfectly reasonable file size. Your m4a file could have been highly compressed to reduce the file size, and when iMovie unpacked it and exported it, it was a much less compressed, thus larger, file size. In the video world, 1 GB is not a very large file. Out of curiosity, what is the "length" you spoke of re your m4a file?

Also, if the final product is 10x larger than when you started, it is what it is based on your settings. Is there some reason why 1GB is not acceptable for your intended use?

-- Rich

Estimates are notoriously inaccurate, as you have found.

The solution is to compress down the video clip to what it was when you started, but you don't want to do that.

You can try exporting out the movie project to email, where you will be given several size choices under the resolution settings. Then drag out the movie from your email to your desk top.

-- Rich