iMovie Guide: How to Export an iMovie Video to MP4?

Liza Brown

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

Are you working on an iMovie project and would like to export the video to a compatible MP4 format? Well, the good news is that you can export an iMovie movie to MP3 on Mac for free. Since a lot of people find it hard to do it, they even ask can iMovie export a video to MP4 format. Don’t worry – in this post, I will let you know how to export an iMovie movie to MP4 in a step-by-step solution.

Part 1: Can iMovie Export a Video to an MP4 Format?

Before we learn how to export an iMovie video to an MP4 format, it is important to cover some basics. In nutshell – yes, you can export an iMovie video to an MP4 format directly (without using any extensions or third-party tools).

This is because iMovie supports the exporting of media files in different formats like MP4, AU, BMP, AVI, FLV, FLC, DV Stream, and so much more. Not just that, you can also select a preferred video resolution like 720p, 1080p, 2K, 4K, etc. in which you can save your video from iMovie.

Part 2: How to Export an iMovie Video to an MP4 Format on Mac?

Great! Now when you have got your doubts like can iMovie export a video to MP4 cleared, let’s proceed. Ideally, you can just import any media file to iMovie, edit it as per your requirements, and export it to MP4 or any other supported format. To learn how to export an iMovie video to an MP4 format, you can follow these steps:

Step 1: Import Media Files from Mac to iMovie

The first thing that you need to do is launch the iMovie application on your Mac and click on the “+” icon to start working on a new iMovie project.

As the new project’s interface would be launched, you can choose to Import Media files to iMovie. This will open a browser window, letting you select and load any media file to iMovie. Besides that, you can directly drag and drop photos/videos from Finder to the iMovie interface.

Step 2: Edit the Videos or Photos on iMovie

After importing your videos or photos to iMovie, you can view their thumbnails at the top. You can just drag and drop them to the working timeline at the bottom to create a video or edit it with the available features of iMovie.

Step 3: Choose to Export Your iMovie Project

Great! By following these steps, you would be able to work on your video on iMovie. Whenever you want to export the iMovie movie to MP4, just select the project on the iMovie interface and right-click it. From the context menu, you can just choose to Share the Project as a File on your Mac.

Besides that, you can also select the movie and go to the iMovie Menu > File > Share to get the relevant options. Here, you can choose to save the movie as a “File” on your Mac (or you can upload the video directly to social media).

Step 4: Export the Video from iMovie to an MP4 File

As soon as you choose to export the iMovie movie to an MP4 format, you will get the following screen. Here, you can enter the name of the video and select a preferred resolution. You can choose to save it as “Video and Audio” or “Audio Only” as well (MP4 files are preferred for Video and Audio). Besides that, you can also select a compression time and quality for the video to be exported from here.

There you go! As soon as you click on the “Next” button, you will get the following interface on iMovie. Here, you can set up a name to save the video and click on the “Where” option to browse a location to save the file. Lastly, go to the Export Type option to get a dropdown menu of various formats. From here, just select the Movie to MPEG-4 (MP4) feature and save the file.

That’s it! This will automatically export the iMovie movie to an MP4 format and save it at the designated location.

Part 3: Wondershare Filmora: The Most User-friendly and Advanced Video Editor for Mac

Even though iMovie is a freely available video editor for Mac, it is not so easy to use and has limited features. Therefore, you can consider using Wondershare Filmora, which is the best video editor for Mac. Not only is Filmora extremely easy to use, but it also offers some of the most sophisticated video editing options.

• You can find a one-click option to do all kinds of video edits like cropping, trimming, rotating, merging, flipping, etc.
• There are hundreds of effects, filters, transitions, captions, etc. that you can use and customize in your videos.
• You will also get access to an extensive range of stock images, videos, soundtracks, etc. in Filmora.
• There are several advanced video editing options like keyframing, motion tracking, green screen edits, pan and zoom, color tuning, video stabilizer, and so much more.
• You can also edit the audio tracks in Filmora, implement audio ducking, and even add voiceovers to your video.

I hope that after reading this guide, you would be able to export an iMovie movie to MP4 on your Mac. For your convenience, I have tried to answer common queries like can iMovie export to MP4 and how to export from iMovie to MP4 in a detailed way. Apart from that, you can always take the assistance of Wondershare Filmora to meet more advanced video editing needs in a jiffy.

Liza Brown

Liza Brown is a writer and a lover of all things video.

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