Why can't I save edited Quicktime movie?

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Level 1

145 points

Why can't I save edited Quicktime movie?

I have a video which runs fine in Mac Photos, and I can open it in Quicktime Player 10.5. If I then trim it a bit and want to save the result, I get a warning "Quicktime Player can't open Movie - the file isn't compatible with Quicktime Player" and nothing gets saved. Same things happen when I try to export at 720p.

I don't understand this - I have only used Quicktime player to do the editing, and have not tried to change the file format (.mov). What does this message mean, and more importantly how can I save my edited video?

I don't know of any other version of QT Player, and there's nothing in the App store.

I'm using an Intel iMac, running MacOS Sonoma 14.5

iMac 27″, macOS 14.5

Posted on Jul 30, 2024 4:55 AM

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Answer 1

Jul 30, 2024 5:30 AM in response to Living Fossil

...hmm trimming works for me with Sonoma QT Player. What video and audio codecs does the input .mov use (H.264, H.265, AAC, PCM etc)? You can check them with MediaInfo or Invisor.

Remove all 3rd party virus apps (Avast, AVG, Bitdefender, Intego, MacAfee, Norton, ESET NOD32, Trusteer etc) and 3rd party "cleaning", "optimizing", "speed-up" apps (CleanMyMac, MacKeeper etc). They produce only obscure errors like this and are not needed.

An EtreCheck report would eliminate much guesswork:

Using EtreCheck to Troubleshoot Potential… - Apple Community

How to use the Add Text Feature When Post… - Apple Community

I often use Avidemux to losslessly edit this kind of delivery formats that are not really designed to be edited.

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Answer 2

Living Fossil Author

Level 1

145 points

Jul 30, 2024 5:42 AM in response to Matti Haveri

Thanks for the quick reply! I will use EtreCheck as you suggest - haven't used it for years, so I will download an up to date copy. I don't know what you meant by "not really designed to be edited". Videos like this can even be edited in the camera, and QT player certainly offers editing functions like trimming, and the edited video is visible on the screen and can even be played, just not saved - so it seem ready to be edited.

I am reluctant to get rid of CleanMyMac because it's helped me to get rid of a lot of junk in the past. I'm also reluctant to pay for a video editor since I don't do much of this stuff - I probably have an app that will do it.

If I get anywhere, I'll report back. Thanks again.

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Answer 3

Jul 30, 2024 10:39 AM in response to Living Fossil

I found that trimming works best for me when I save after one trim. I.e. don’t try consecutive trims in one go. Try saving to the Desktop for the least issues with folder permissions, or other issues with saving location.

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Answer 4

Living Fossil Author

Level 1

145 points

Jul 30, 2024 11:18 AM in response to Living Fossil

Well, here's a report. I got the original SD card from the camera I'd used, moved it into a Mac (actually a different one with Apple Silicon - but which behaved exactly as my first description). This was a .mov file as expected. The unexpected thing was that there was no difficulty editing it with Quicktime Player! So the key issue appears to be the fact that I first imported the video into Photos direct from the SD card: that somehow killed QP's editing capability.

So the problem remains, but there is a workaround in my case.

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