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Is it possible to convert iMovie 11 library back to iMovie 10?

I have an iMovie library created with iMovie 10 on a Mac running

Catalina. The library is on a portable external drive. I temporarily

connected this drive to another computer, a Mac running Monterey, and I

opened the library with iMovie 11. This resulted in the library being

converted to a new format, which iMovie 10 cannot open.

I would like to access this library again with the original computer

that can only run iMovie 10 (the latest version of iMovie that can run

on Catalina, from what I gather). Is this possible? Can an iMovie 11

library be converted back to a format that iMovie 10 can access?


I considered the alternative of updating the original computer to Monterey but it's too old for this.

MacBook Air

Posted on Dec 20, 2022 9:07 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Dec 20, 2022 10:52 AM

The latest iMovie version is iMovie 10.3.5. There is no "iMovie 11". The discontinued iMovie 9 was sometimes called iMovie '11 (with an apostrophe) to indicate the year, not the version. In any event, iMovie 9 would not operate on either Catalina or Monterey, and could not open an iMovie 10 library. Could you provide further details as to what exactly you did?


It appears that when you opened your Catalina iMovie library (on an external drive) with your Monterey computer's iMovie version (a newer version than on your Catalina Mac) that the library got updated to a newer library version. That would explain why iMovie can no longer open it on your Catalina computer that is running the older iMovie 10 version.


If the above is what you did, once you update an iMovie library you cannot revert back to the older library unless you use a Time Machine backup to revert to the older library version. You could revert back to it, saving it in a different location than the newer library on your external drive, so that you have both libraries -- one for Catalina and one for your Monterey Mac.


You might want to contact Apple Support and talk to the techs there. They have the capability of remotely accessing your computer, that we do not have on this forum.


-- Rich



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1 reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Dec 20, 2022 10:52 AM in response to Drusus125

The latest iMovie version is iMovie 10.3.5. There is no "iMovie 11". The discontinued iMovie 9 was sometimes called iMovie '11 (with an apostrophe) to indicate the year, not the version. In any event, iMovie 9 would not operate on either Catalina or Monterey, and could not open an iMovie 10 library. Could you provide further details as to what exactly you did?


It appears that when you opened your Catalina iMovie library (on an external drive) with your Monterey computer's iMovie version (a newer version than on your Catalina Mac) that the library got updated to a newer library version. That would explain why iMovie can no longer open it on your Catalina computer that is running the older iMovie 10 version.


If the above is what you did, once you update an iMovie library you cannot revert back to the older library unless you use a Time Machine backup to revert to the older library version. You could revert back to it, saving it in a different location than the newer library on your external drive, so that you have both libraries -- one for Catalina and one for your Monterey Mac.


You might want to contact Apple Support and talk to the techs there. They have the capability of remotely accessing your computer, that we do not have on this forum.


-- Rich



Is it possible to convert iMovie 11 library back to iMovie 10?

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