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I created an iMovie and everything was fine (including on the exported "final" movie). I went back in to make some edits. Now, all the multiple video clips have lost their audio. Is there a way to recover it without re-rendering individual clips (which would be a great deal of work).
Would it work to delete iMovie preferences and then reopen the Project (the audio was all there until my recent edits)?
iMac 27″
Hi, Eliot,
Yes, try the deleting preferences process and see if that cures it.
If still no luck, try opening a previous automatic backup of your library contained in the iMovie Backups folder. To get to the iMovie Backups folder, follow this file path from the Finder menu:
Go/Home/Library/Containers/com.apple.iMovieApp/Data/Library/Caches/iMovieBackups
NOTE: If running Ventura or later, in the above
file path substitute iMovie for com.apple.iMovieApp. So, for Ventura,
the file path would read:
Go/Home/Library/Containers/iMovie/Data/Library/Caches/iMovieBackups
When you get there you will see a list of previous backups of your iMovie library. Click on one dated just before your issue started. iMovie will open in that library. Navigate to your projects browser (where your projects are displayed as icons) and see if your projects are intact. Opening a previous backup of your library will not overwrite your original library.
If still no luck, import your successfuly shared movie into a newly created iMovie project. It will come in as one large clip. You can do some limited edits, such as Modify/Split Clip to create segments that can be independently edited, modified, or deleted. You can add different music and, in some cases, replace titles. You can add different clips. The only thing that you cannot do directly is to change edits that were embedded into the original cut.
-- Rich
Rich,
Thank you. I am not sure I am following the path correctly.
My OS is Sonoma 14.5.
From the Finder, I went Go/Home/Library, but then the only next folder is Application Support. That Folder opens to Log/Sample. ??
Eliot
Rich,
I found an older message from you to another person who could not find the Containers folder. You suggested going to the Movies folder, then Control-clicking on the iMovies icon to see if my project was there, so I tried that. The project (we will call it "Canada") is there. Clicking on the Canada folder shows several folders (Analysis Files, Canada, CurrentVer...imovieevent, Original Media, Render Files, Shared Items). Clicking on that second "Canada" file shows backup.imovieevent and Currentver...imovieevent.
You said not to modify them in any way, so I just backed out.
Does that help?
What now?
Eliot
P.s. I am occupied tomorrow, so probably can't back to this until Wednesday. Thanks for your help.
Rich,
Circling back to you just in case you are interested. I won't bother you with the last two weeks of multiple Apple Support calls and taking my Mac into the Apple Store four times, but long story short ...
It turned out that not only was audio lost from iMovie video clips, but also the source video (media) files in Photos would sometimes corrupt so that not even the video played. The Geniuses were not able to figure out exactly why, but the "best guess" was that somehow my computer created two data folders under my user profile (which showed up in Time Machine), and while they had the same folder structure, they did not have identical content. The Geniuses said having those two data files could lead to corruption. (The two data files may have resulted from my computer being one that was manufactured with a Fusion Drive, which basically means it has both an SSD and "traditional" disk. My impression is that was something Apple tried for a while then abandoned?) In any event, my Mac worked perfectly for 5 years, but after I installed Sonoma there have been multiple problems, more than one of which seems traceable to the Fusion structure.
In any event, the SSD and traditional disk drives are now "merged," I now have one data file, and with very generous Genius support I have restored as best I can from TimeBuilder to apparently uncorrupted iMovie projects and Photos files. Puzzlingly, however, while most iMovie projects (all those created before Sonoma was installed in September 2023) are recovered, one I created in April of this year has disappeared and I have not been able to find it anywhere.
Thanks for your help. Fingers crossed going forward.
Eliot
Glad to see that you have solved a large part of your issue. I think it would take a "genius" to have worked that out. Good luck with restoring your one missing file. and having a trouble free future.
-- Rich
iMovie lost audio from video clips
