iMovie won't export 38 minute video on my Mac mini M1 chip

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Level 1

4 points

iMovie won't export 38 minute video on my Mac mini M1 chip

I have tried to export this movie three times now. It's 38 minutes long at 720p, so it shouldn't be a gigantic file. I'm running iMovie 10.4.3 in Sequoia 15.6.1 on a Mac Mini with an Apple M1 chip. The first two times I tried to share to file, trying to save it to my desktop. I let it export all night, and it simply stopped exporting. The progress indicator was there, but it stopped progressing. I tried to close iMovie to reopen it again, and it said there was still a process running. Then iMovie stopped responding and I had to force quit. I did that twice, and sent reports to Apple both times. I made sure everything was updated, restarted the Mac twice, then tried to share to social platforms instead of share to file. Same issue. I have used this to export longer movies at 1080p before with no problems. The screenshot shows how the progress indicator has looked for hours...

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Original Title: iMovie will not export

Mac mini, macOS 15.6

Posted on Sep 12, 2025 02:07 PM

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Answer 1

brbo

Level 8

38,137 points

Sep 13, 2025 06:42 PM in response to daren23

Hi daren23

welcom to this Apple (user-to-user) Community!

Re: "iMovie won't export 38 minute video on my Mac mini M1 chip"

Wondering if you have followed the export guidance available for MacOS from Apple Support:

If you haven't already, check whether some small but necessary detail may be being overlooked::

You can check out how to: Export a movie, trailer, or clip as a file in iMovie on Mac - Apple Support

Useful resource: iMovie User Guide for Mac - Apple Support

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Else: If Apple Support's method above is not working for you:

You may want to send feedback to reach those who work on the software behind-the-scenes at Apple: Web-form for feedback: Feedback - iMovie - Apple

______________________________________

More info. / support / contact options etc:

iMovie Support website: iMovie - Official Apple Support iMovie - Official Apple Support

All the best :-)

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Answer 2

Rich839

Level 8

48,156 points

Sep 14, 2025 09:47 AM in response to daren23

Hi,

Possibly there is a defect in the source material rendering that is causing the export to hang up at the 7min. mark. In the iMovie project screen expand our the timeline with the slider located above and to the right of the timeline. Then scroll around in the timeline at the 7 minute mark, looking for any signs of corruption, such at black frames, white flashes, artifacts or anything else that looks strange. Cut out any corruption that you find and try exporting again.

-- Rich

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