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Help! How should I export my movie so I don't get glitches?

Hi! I am exporting a 2-minute video and every time I do, the movie has glitches. They look like small triangles that pop up on the screen. These do not appear when I am editing the video or in any of the original footage, so I think it is an exporting issue. When I export, it takes a long time and my computer heats up and the fan goes super fast. 


For context, I have a 13” MacBook pro from 2015 that is running on Big Sur. There is 40 GB of disk space available and 2GB of RAM available. 


What can I do to export without getting glitches? Do I have to send the project to someone else to export? Should I try exporting to a hard drive?

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 11.2

Posted on Jun 15, 2021 8:21 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jun 15, 2021 2:29 PM

So, you have pretty much ruled out a systemic issue with iMovie or the Mac. It looks to me that it may be a format issue with the media that you are using. Not all Mp4 works with iMovie. It must be Mp4/AAC. AAC stands for Advanced Audio Coding. Try converting your Mp4 clip to H.264, Mp4/AAC with the free download, Handbrake. Do that even if the codec already is indicated to be Mp4/AAC. Re-rendering often cures the issue.


You can get Handbrake here:


https://handbrake.fr/


A simple way to do it is to open Handbrake and do a File/Open Source. Navigate to your video and choose it as the source from the resulting screen. Then do File/Start Encoding. Wait a couple of minutes for the conversion to complete. Then save and import the converted clip into iMovie.


I don't know what format that the Procreate app uses, or what Alpha algorithm. So can't tell whether they may be some issue there. Sometimes HEVC can be problematic, even though supported by iMovie.


To cover the bases, you might try creating a new project and seeing is it exports better from there. Also, you can try redownloading iMovie. To update/redownload iMovie 10, drag your iMovie 10 app from the Applications folder into the trash, but do not empty the trash. Sign in to the app store and open your purchases folder by clicking on your name at the bottom of the app store side bar.   You will see your purchases displayed, including iMovie 10. Redownload/update iMovie from there. If not successful, drag your present iMovie app out of the trash (if you moved it there) and return it to the Applications folder.


-- Rich

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12 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jun 15, 2021 2:29 PM in response to audreyromjue

So, you have pretty much ruled out a systemic issue with iMovie or the Mac. It looks to me that it may be a format issue with the media that you are using. Not all Mp4 works with iMovie. It must be Mp4/AAC. AAC stands for Advanced Audio Coding. Try converting your Mp4 clip to H.264, Mp4/AAC with the free download, Handbrake. Do that even if the codec already is indicated to be Mp4/AAC. Re-rendering often cures the issue.


You can get Handbrake here:


https://handbrake.fr/


A simple way to do it is to open Handbrake and do a File/Open Source. Navigate to your video and choose it as the source from the resulting screen. Then do File/Start Encoding. Wait a couple of minutes for the conversion to complete. Then save and import the converted clip into iMovie.


I don't know what format that the Procreate app uses, or what Alpha algorithm. So can't tell whether they may be some issue there. Sometimes HEVC can be problematic, even though supported by iMovie.


To cover the bases, you might try creating a new project and seeing is it exports better from there. Also, you can try redownloading iMovie. To update/redownload iMovie 10, drag your iMovie 10 app from the Applications folder into the trash, but do not empty the trash. Sign in to the app store and open your purchases folder by clicking on your name at the bottom of the app store side bar.   You will see your purchases displayed, including iMovie 10. Redownload/update iMovie from there. If not successful, drag your present iMovie app out of the trash (if you moved it there) and return it to the Applications folder.


-- Rich

Jun 15, 2021 8:28 AM in response to audreyromjue

Hi, audreyromjue,


Try these easy to do procedures and see if one of them cures the problem:


Deleting Preferences


Open iMovie while holding down the Option and Command keys and select to delete preferences in the box that appears.

iMovie will open in a new library. Reopen your old library to get back to your projects.  Deleting preferences is a safe procedure that will not cause data loss or disruption to your project.


Resetting the System Management Controller


Try resetting the System Management Controller (but no longer available for the new M1 computers:)


https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201295


Resetting the NVRAM or PRAM


Try resetting the NVRAM or PRAM:


https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204063


-- Rich

Jun 16, 2021 8:50 AM in response to Ian R. Brown

Thanks so much, Rich! I downloaded handbrake and converted the clip just like you said. I opened a new project and imported the video there and then copied my animations into it. The export process did not take long (yay), but I still got some glitches. Less than usual, though, which is an improvement! I will try to redownload/update iMovie now.


In the meantime, as Ian suggested, I have attached photos of the glitches to this post! Hopefully, that helps to diagnose the issue. Let me know what you guys think.

Jun 15, 2021 2:06 PM in response to Ian R. Brown

Hi Ian! Thank you for your reply as well. I did what Rich suggested and am unfortunately still getting issues. Typically I can export without issues, but I rarely use iMovie to edit these days (I'm a Premiere user). Here are details on my what and how, hopefully you two can help! Let me know if there are other questions:


What I am exporting: A music video, 2.5 minutes, with lyrics. I was sent an .mp4 of the music video that is 191.7 MB. It's pretty much just a montage of B-roll footage. I created text animations of the lyrics on Procreate which I exported as HEVC with Alpha from my iPad; it saved in Finder as a .mov. I imported the music video and several of these text animations into imovie. The text animations were added on top of the music video – a mix of "picture in picture" and "cutaway."


How I am exporting: I do File > Share > File. Resolution is 1080p, Quality is High, Compress is Better Quality. This is 376.7 MB. I have tried to save with lower resolution and quality but get the same glitches.

Jun 16, 2021 1:03 AM in response to audreyromjue

I assume you have done this exact process before successfully?


If so, it is quite possible that there may be some corruption in at least one of the clips.


If that is the case, you will need to import the clips and re-do the project as Rich suggests.


It might help viewers of this thread diagnose the fault if you could upload examples of the "glitches"......... whatever they may be.

Help! How should I export my movie so I don't get glitches?

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