Videos and photos export with errors from Apple Photos

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Level 1

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Videos and photos export with errors from Apple Photos

Hi, I am using iPhone 13 and iMac 10.15.7 OS. Went on a marvelous vacation to the Caribbean and now trying to transfer about 20 videos to external HD. Everything recorded I can watch on the iPhone or using iPad or iMac with no issues. I want to export videos due to storage and iCloud constraints. When I do that export process goes through usual motions but then out of 20 movies (ranging from 15 to 70 seconds) I get 14 files with errors.

"The document “IMG_2523.mov” could not be opened. The file isn’t compatible with QuickTime Player."

How is that even possible? It is all iOS and OSX chain.

I checked posts on this forum and for long time nobody asked same question.

iMac, OS X 10.10

Posted on Jun 28, 2022 11:53 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Matti Haveri

Level 6

16,333 points

Jun 29, 2022 8:54 AM in response to Zack P.

> export process goes through usual motions but then out of 20 movies (ranging from 15 to 70 seconds)

Describe the export workflow in more detail.

I just tried 10-bit HDR/HLG HEVC originally from iPhone 12 on Monterey Photos.app.

Via the recommended File > Export unmodified original the export is instant and the original movie is exported.

But via drag-and-drop to the Desktop it takes somewhat longer and converts to H.264 8-bit with GPS stripped off.

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Answer 2

Jun 29, 2022 8:29 AM in response to Zack P.

Is it possible the vidos have been recorded with HDR enabled, and Catalina quicktime can't play HDR - or the Iphone 13 format of HDR Is not compatible (your phone is much more recent than your macOS).

Try downloading a different player such as video lan, and try that.

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Answer 3

Zack P. Author

Level 1

19 points

Jun 29, 2022 10:18 AM in response to TonyCollinet

Hi there, I don't even know where to enable or disable HDR on iPhone, but the fact is that some videos recorded under the same settings worked out. The solution was to export unmodified files as suggested below.

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Answer 4

Zack P. Author

Level 1

19 points

Jun 29, 2022 10:23 AM in response to Matti Haveri

Hi there. I tried with unmodified files and that worked out. Strangely enough some files have names like E484102A-73EC-4965-A74B-E508B1EDBE14.mp4 and others "normal names" like IMG_3085.mov but I won't complaint too much about it.

QuickTime played everything with no issues so my movies are safe and preserved!

The reason why I didn't even try to export unmodified originals is that I went to export all pictures (1200) from the same vacation using that process and it took iMac about 15 hours to do it (!?) with bad results. I had to wipe out everything and then select, move and drop about 70 pictures at the time to USB stick. That is until I copied them all. Something is strangely wrong there.

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Answer 5

Old Toad

Level 10

210,177 points

Jun 29, 2022 11:43 AM in response to Zack P.

Zack P. wrote:

Hi there, I don't even know where to enable or disable HDR on iPhone, but the fact is that some videos recorded under the same settings worked out. The solution was to export unmodified files as suggested below.

At the bottom of the Settings/Camera preference pane.

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Answer 6

Old Toad

Level 10

210,177 points

Jun 29, 2022 9:36 AM in response to Zack P.

Try downloading the video files to a folder on the Desktop with Image Capture. Then check to see if they will play in Quicktime. If all is well then import into your library and try playing again.

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Videos and photos export with errors from Apple Photos

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