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iMovie creates empty folder when movie file created - why?

I'm using iMovie v10.3.5 on iMac v13.0.1.

After completing a project I share to file, stored on my NAS. However, in addition to the mp4 file an empty folder is created in the same location with the same file name but with the addition of several alphanumeric characters eg mp4.sb-09cada1e-05SEcG.

Why is this created, and can I delete it?


Peter

Posted on Jan 20, 2023 6:09 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jan 21, 2023 9:05 AM

Hmmm. Interesting. It's a mystery file. However, an Mp4 file is a standalone file that does not refer to any other file.


So do this. Put an Mp4 file, that you least care about, on your desktop along with the associated mystery file. Control-click on the Mp4 file and, from the drop down menu, click on Duplicate to make a duplicate of the file for safety. Then delete the mystery file. Now see if both Mp4 files open and play properly. If they do, I think that you can safely delete all of the associated mystery files pertaining to the other Mp4 files. However, do so at your own risk, as I don't have hands-on with your computer to verify for myself what it going on.


-- Rich

7 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jan 21, 2023 9:05 AM in response to PeterAlanF

Hmmm. Interesting. It's a mystery file. However, an Mp4 file is a standalone file that does not refer to any other file.


So do this. Put an Mp4 file, that you least care about, on your desktop along with the associated mystery file. Control-click on the Mp4 file and, from the drop down menu, click on Duplicate to make a duplicate of the file for safety. Then delete the mystery file. Now see if both Mp4 files open and play properly. If they do, I think that you can safely delete all of the associated mystery files pertaining to the other Mp4 files. However, do so at your own risk, as I don't have hands-on with your computer to verify for myself what it going on.


-- Rich

Jan 20, 2023 1:11 PM in response to PeterAlanF

From your original post I was under the impression that the files were empty. In your last post you said that the files were the same size as the video with which they are associated. If it were a temporary file it would not have significant contents. So, I'm a little unclear as to what we are actually dealing with.


Can you open the files? What does the Get Info box show? What are its contents? I would not recommend deleting them until we know what's in them.


-- Rich



Jan 21, 2023 2:33 AM in response to Rich839

Rich,

my first post related to the empty folder I found immediately after creating the mp4 video file. This had no files in it and was zero bytes.

Subsequently I checked for other folders or files that may have been associated with previously created mp4 files. I found several files with the same file name as the mp4 but with the additional alphanumeric characters. These files are designated Document in Get Info, with the same size as the mp4 file they are associated with. I can't open these files as there's no application set to open them. It would be good to get rid of these as they're obviously taking up double the storage of my video files.


Jan 22, 2023 8:33 AM in response to PeterAlanF

You are welcome. Glad it worked.


Folks have posted on here about the essentially zero sized temp files that appear as a normal part of the rendering process. I don't recollect that anyone has mentioned full sized unreadable files accompanying an Mp4 exported movie. Perhaps anyone who has experienced that will chime in here.


-- Rich

iMovie creates empty folder when movie file created - why?

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