Saving your iMovie Project as a Quicktime Movie

If you would like to put your movie on the web, or email it to a friend, or burn it on a CD then you may want to save your iMovie project as a Quicktime movie.

Open your completed project in iMovie and click File > Export... on the iMovie menu.

In the iMovie: Export window choose To Quicktime from the Export drop down menu, if necessary. Choose an appropriate format from the Formats menu. The chart below may help you decide between the various formats.

Format	Movie Size, in pixels	File Size for 1 minute of video
Email	160 x 120	790 KB
Web	240 x 180	1.3 MB
Web Streaming	Requires streaming web server, available soon
CD-ROM	320 x 240	4.5 MB
Full Quality DV	720 x 480	260 MB
Expert Settings	See below

After selecting your format, click Export.

You will be prompted for a filename for the Quicktime movie and a location for saving the movie. The length of time it takes to create your Quicktime movie will depend on the length of your movie, the format you choose, and the speed of the computer but may range from about 2 minutes per minute of video using the Email format up to over an hour per minute of video using the Full Quality DV format.

Expert Settings

The formats listed above for export to Quicktime each use audio and video compression formats, frame rates and viewing size which will create movies with a file size suited to the particular purpose. If you wish to create your Quicktime movie using a specific compression format, frame rate, or size you should choose Expert Settings from the Format menu and then click Export.

This will open a window prompting you for a filename and location for the Quicktime movie. The Use menu offers more built-in export formats.

For even more control over your Quicktime movie, click the Options... button.

This will open the Movie Settings window. The settings for the particular use you have chosen in the Use menu will be displayed. You can change any of these settings using the buttons in the Movie Settings window. A discussion of the various options is in Chapter 12 of iMovie: the Missing Manual, available in Murray 114. (Please do not remove this book from the room.) Click OK when you have finished selecting your settings.

Click Save to begin creating your Quicktime movie. The length of time it takes to create your Quicktime movie will depend on the length of your movie, the format you choose, and the speed of the computer.

 

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