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I recently downloaded imovie and can't see things clearly cos of the black background to the app. Can I change it to white?

I recently downloaded imovie and can't see things clearly cos of the black background to the app. Can I change it to white?



MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 12.1

Posted on Feb 8, 2022 11:31 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Feb 8, 2022 11:49 AM

There is no feature that lets one change the basic black/charcoal color of the iMovie 10 app. project screen. Most people prefer the dark background because it makes the clips stand out more.


You can drag a white background to the timeline and overlay a clip onto it with the Picture in Picture feature, and then make the overlay slightly smaller than the dimensions of the preview screen. That would give you a white boarder around the clip. Not much advantage to doing that unless you like the effect.


EDIT: You can also go to Systems Preferences/Display and increase the brightness of the Mac screen, if that would make it clearer for you to see.


-- Rich

11 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Feb 8, 2022 11:49 AM in response to threethymes

There is no feature that lets one change the basic black/charcoal color of the iMovie 10 app. project screen. Most people prefer the dark background because it makes the clips stand out more.


You can drag a white background to the timeline and overlay a clip onto it with the Picture in Picture feature, and then make the overlay slightly smaller than the dimensions of the preview screen. That would give you a white boarder around the clip. Not much advantage to doing that unless you like the effect.


EDIT: You can also go to Systems Preferences/Display and increase the brightness of the Mac screen, if that would make it clearer for you to see.


-- Rich

Feb 8, 2022 1:41 PM in response to threethymes

Looks totally normal, exactly like my iMovie display.



What is it that you can't see clearly? The timeline clip looks clear (to me, anyway) and the white text on black background is the most contrast that you can get. In any event, the display color is what the app offers and cannot be changed as far as I can tell.


-- Rich

Feb 8, 2022 12:10 PM in response to threethymes

Post a screen shot of your imovie project screen and let’s take a look. The time line should be dark gray and the rest of the app’s background should be black. However, I likely am running an older version of iMovie than you, so not aware if there may have been changes.


I also am not aware of any issue on the Mac that would cause any issue with the iMovie background display.


— Rich

I recently downloaded imovie and can't see things clearly cos of the black background to the app. Can I change it to white?

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