How to: Post iMovie Files to Youtube

February 16, 2009 by Nancy Fulton · Leave a Comment

Upload imovie to youtube YouTube is the easiest way to share the movies you make with family members and the world. In this tutorial you learn how to create a YouTube account, how to post a movie from iMovie to that account, and how to send a link to that movie to your friends and family.

Hardware & Software Required

Macintosh Computer
iMovie 7.1.4 or later
Internet Browser (ex: Mozilla or Safari)

Step 1: Create a YouTube account. To do this, go to www.youtube.com. Click the Signup button and provide your email address, a password, a username people can use to find your videos, and other contact data.

Step 2: Check your email account for a message from YouTube. Click the link in the email to confirm your account. You won’t be able to post anything on YouTube until your account has been verified.

Step 3: Launch iMovie and select the project you want to post on YouTube. Note, there are limits to the size of files you can upload to YouTube, and a limit to how long your movie can be. These values change from time to time. If you have any difficulty uploading your file, you should visit www.youtube.com to confirm you have not exceeded those limits.

Step 4: From the Share menu, choose YouTube.

Step 5: In the YouTube window, Choose Add.

Step 6: Specify the name of the YouTube account you just created. Enter the password and select the Category. Give the project a name and provide a description. Select the Make this Movie Private check box, if desired, to limit who can view the file. Choose Next, then choose Publish. iMovie will automatically export and upload the movie to YouTube.

iMovie has built in tools that make uploading files onto YouTube quick and easy.

Step 7: Click Tell a Friend to email your friends and family about your film. If you prefer you can copy the URL from the Tell a Friend window and paste it into an email you create in your favorite email application. Anyone you send the email to will be able to follow the URL directly to your movie.