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Detached Audio comes back into the Exported video in iMovie

I Detached Audio in the timeline from a video that is over an hour long. I then deleted the audio. Then I exported it (using File > Share > File ...) with High quality setting and Better Quality Compression.


I then sent the video to a colleague who was offended by all the cursing he heard me using offscreen in the video. That is what I was trying to cut out! I hope I don't get fired.


Why does exporting it re-attach deleted audio? How do I permanently detach and delete audio if this is not how to do it?


When I play the video in iMovie, I hear no audio and there is no audio track.

MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 12.2

Posted on Mar 2, 2022 7:06 PM

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Posted on Mar 3, 2022 9:25 AM

Very disconcerting, for sure.


So, I tried your procedure of detaching and deleting the audio and then exporting the project. It exported fine with no audio. What exact steps did you use to detach and delete the audio? Can you send a screen shot of your project screen that shows what you see after doing the detach/delete procedure? Is there perhaps other audio in there that you did not delete?


Some tips:


  1. If the audio contains sensitive information, and is not otherwise important to the video portion, then best to record without a mic or with the audio muted. If necessary, you can always add an edited audio clip later.
  2. Although it is the safest procedure other than recording silently, you don't need to detach and delete the audio before exporting. You can simply mute the audio and then export. (Not sure whether the recipient could recover the audio with special software.)
  3. And, of course, before sending to a third party always first play an exported video completely through to make sure it contains no objectionable material. Assuming that you retained copies of the vids that you sent, you can play them back on your computer to confirm that no objectionable audio was included.


-- Rich



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5 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Mar 3, 2022 9:25 AM in response to Alias7

Very disconcerting, for sure.


So, I tried your procedure of detaching and deleting the audio and then exporting the project. It exported fine with no audio. What exact steps did you use to detach and delete the audio? Can you send a screen shot of your project screen that shows what you see after doing the detach/delete procedure? Is there perhaps other audio in there that you did not delete?


Some tips:


  1. If the audio contains sensitive information, and is not otherwise important to the video portion, then best to record without a mic or with the audio muted. If necessary, you can always add an edited audio clip later.
  2. Although it is the safest procedure other than recording silently, you don't need to detach and delete the audio before exporting. You can simply mute the audio and then export. (Not sure whether the recipient could recover the audio with special software.)
  3. And, of course, before sending to a third party always first play an exported video completely through to make sure it contains no objectionable material. Assuming that you retained copies of the vids that you sent, you can play them back on your computer to confirm that no objectionable audio was included.


-- Rich



Mar 3, 2022 12:24 PM in response to Alias7

It looks like you did everything correctly to detach and delete the audio, and export the project. I can't explain why the deleted audio reappears in the exported movie. That being the case, iMovie is not working correctly.


Try deleting preferences. To delete 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.  Then export some test videos to see if the deleted audio remains deleted in the final product. Deleting preferences is a safe procedure that will not cause data loss or disruption to your project.


You could also try booting up in Safe Mode (see Finder menu for instructions) and, after everything loads, immediately shut down and reboot in normal mode. Then see if iMovie works properly.


If none of the above solves it, try the following diagnostic procedures.


Updating 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 and return it to the Applications folder.


Resetting the System Management Controller


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


How to reset the SMC of your Mac - Apple Support


-- Rich




Mar 3, 2022 11:28 AM in response to Rich839

Thank you for the tips Rich. I will use Quicktime in the future to strip audio and verify that it is actually stripped.


To try to reproduce it, try with a video that is of similar length to mine, ~1.5 hours, recorded on iphone.


I believe the detach and delete has worked in the past because I have done it many times using the exact same method. I am pretty sure it worked for the customer videos, though I no longer have access to them.


I've attached screenshots. The exact steps to detach is - I right-click the video in the timeline, then select Detach Audio. Then I can see the audio track underneath the video track. Then I click the audio track and press the delete key on my keyboard and the audio track disappears. If I right-click the video track again, the Detach Audio option is no longer available (greyed out) as shown in my screenshot. Then I do File > Share > File... etc...



Mar 20, 2022 3:54 PM in response to Rich839

I think I solved the issue. It seemed to happen again today. Except this time, the exported video also seemed identical to one of the several Project Media videos.


If you do not click into the timeline, then when you select File > Share > File..., then iMovie decides to export one of the Project Media videos instead of the video that you are creating. I have replicated the issue, and iMovie does not even highlight the Project Media video when you click off of the timeline. So there is no indication of which video is selected for exporting.


In my previous issue, I did not notice it because the timeline video and the project media were identical other than one having Detached audio. So problem solved. Apple should fix that so it is clearer which video it is exporting.

Detached Audio comes back into the Exported video in iMovie

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