Imovie 10 on mac changes aspect ratio to 4:3

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Level 1

4 points

Imovie 10 on mac changes aspect ratio to 4:3

Hi,

My imovie project has an aspect ratio of 4:3 although almost all of my project files are 16:9 except for some still images. I suspect this might have to do with that the first file I added to the timeline was one of the still images.

I am not so fond of remaking the movie in a new project since I've put quite a few hours into it.

Does anyone know how to change the aspect ratio to 16:9 or how to copy edited material over to a new project formated as 16:9? It does not seem possible to have two imovie projects open simultaneously in order to drag and drop parts of the timeline over.

Would appreciate any ideas of how to solve this :)

Regards,

Axel

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 11.7

Posted on Jun 18, 2023 1:11 PM

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Answer 1

AxelWa Author

Level 1

4 points

Jun 19, 2023 2:17 AM in response to Rich839

Copying the edited clips to a new project seems to work and gives me the 16:9 format. Thanks a lot!

It would still be interesting to see what caused the issue in my old project.

As you can see below the clip is recorded in 16:9 but imovie adds black bars on the top and bottom to make it 4:3(or some similar ratio).

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Answer 2

Rich839

Level 8

47,706 points

Jun 18, 2023 4:48 PM in response to AxelWa

I'm not clear exactly what you mean when you say that your iMovie project's aspect ratio is 4:3. iMovie has only one aspect ratio, 16:9, that cannot be changed. Any 4:3 clips will have black bars to make them fit iMovie's 16:9 screen dimensions.

Could you post a screen shot of your project screen to show what you are seeing?

If you want to transfer edited clips from one project to another, do an Edit/Select All, Edit/Copy, in your current project, and then close the current project and open a new project and do Edit/Paste. Also, any individual clip on which you do that procedure will copy over with its edits intact.

-- Rich

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Answer 3

Rich839

Level 8

47,706 points

Jun 19, 2023 10:45 AM in response to AxelWa

I haven't been able to duplicate your situation. Video clips that I shoot in 16:9 fill the iMovie 16:9 screen without black bars. I have the crop setting at "Fit".

It might be an issue related to this one project, since you were able to resolve the issue by placing the clips into another project.

Make sure that your crop setting is set at crop to "Fit". Also, view your video in QuickTimePlayer's "Show Movie Inspector" (Window/Show Movie Inspector) to confirm that the video is in fact a 16:9 video (e.g, 1920 x 1080, or 960 x 540, or 3840 x 2160).

-- Rich

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Answer 4

Rich839

Level 8

47,706 points

Nov 1, 2023 12:15 PM in response to AxelWa

Could you post a screen shot of what you are seeing?

iMovie only has one aspect ratio, 16:9, that cannot be changed. Any 4:3 aspect ratio clips will have black bars around them to make them fit the 16:9 screen. You can use the Crop to Fill feature to make the 4:3 clip fit the screen, but that would mean cropping out part of the clip.

Easiest way to copy one project into another is to make a duplicate of Project #1 so that you now have an identical Project #2. Then delete out what you don't want in Project #2. To make a duplicate of a project, go to the project browser screen (where your projects are displayed as icons) and pass your cursor over the project icon. A circle with dots in it will appear to the right of the project's title. Click on the circle and choose Duplicate Project from the drop down menu that appears.

Another way is to do an Edit/Select All of the media in Project #1, and then create a new project and Edit/Paste Project #1's media into it. Your edits will carry over. You can do this with separate clips rather than the whole project.

-- Rich

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