How To Clear the iMovie Library

The iMovie application is a powerful movie editing tool that is free for Apple users to enjoy. Using iMovie over a prolonged period or a sizeable number of projects could lead to the application taking up more and more space on your hard drive. Clearing up the iMovie Library can be a quick way to increase the available space on the disk.

Delete the folders associated with older iMovie versions

With iMovie 10, all the data associated with each project is saved inside a single file named 'iMovie Library.' To view its contents, users should locate the file (usually inside the Movies folder under the Home directory), right-click it, and select 'Show Package Contents' from the available options. Removing files willy-nilly in this manner, however, could cause problems the next time you start the application or wish to continue with a project. Instead, if you have been using iMovie throughout several different versions, you might look around for leftover folders to delete. Indeed, earlier versions of the app saved the project data in different folders that could still be present on your Mac. Look for any of the folders listed below and remove them:

• iMovie Projects

• iMovie Events

• iMovie Sharing

• iMovie Project folders with a special icon

• iMovie Library

Mac users also can consider deleting iMovie Projects and iMovie Events. Consider checking iMovie Sharing as well, and if it doesn't contain anything essential, proceed to delete it too. 

Transferring iMovie Library to an external drive

If you wish to keep all of your iMovie data, then you might want to move the iMovie Library to an external drive. The process isn't complex but make sure to follow the outlined steps.

1. Quit iMovie.
2. Connect the external drive.
3. Open a Finder window and click the external drive.
4. Go to the File menu and select 'Get Info.'
5. Click on the triangle icon next to 'Sharing & Permissions.' 
6. Check the 'Ignore ownership on this volume' if it hasn't been selected. 
7. Go to your Movies folder in the home directory.
8. Manually drag the iMovie library to the external drive.
9. Wait for the copying process to finish, then open the file in iMovie to check if everything is functioning properly.
10. If there are no issues, delete the old iMovie Library file.