Publish a movie to YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo, or CNN iReport

You can publish your iMovie project directly to a number of popular sharing websites, including YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo (an online community for sharing video projects), and CNN iReport. To post to these sites, you must have an account with them. Accounts are free and easy to set up. You can visit the sites below to set up an account.

  • www.youtube.com

  • www.facebook.com

  • www.vimeo.com

  • www.ireport.com

You can easily remove a video you’ve uploaded to any of these sites.

To publish to YouTube:

  1. In iMovie, open a project or select it in the Project Library, and then choose Share > YouTube.

    The Share menu appears in a light gray bar across the top of your computer screen.

  2. Choose your account in the Account pop-up menu, or click Add to add an existing account.

    If you don’t have an account, go to the YouTube website (www.youtube.com) and create one first.

  3. Fill in the fields and make selections from pop-up menus:

    • Password:  Your account password.

    • Category:  A category under which the video will be categorized on YouTube.

    • Title:  The name of your movie.

    • Description:  Information about your movie for viewers to read (optional).

    • Tags:  Keywords that viewers can use to search for and find your movie (optional).

  4. Select a size for your published movie from the table of options.

    The “Sizes to publish” table shows which sizes are compatible with YouTube, and the resolution of each size (how many pixels it contains).

    The mobile and medium sizes are easier to watch with slower Internet connections. The HD sizes take longer to upload and may take longer to watch, but they offer a higher-quality picture when viewed on the YouTube website.

    If you’re unable to select the larger sizes, the original project media isn’t large enough to render in those sizes. The size of the largest media used in the project determines the final movie sizes you can render.

    The resolution of the exported movie for each size depends on the aspect ratio (standard or widescreen) you chose when you created the project. This topic explains resolution in more detail: About image resolution of shared projects.

    Holding the pointer over the “i” next to the movie dimensions displays the following information for the rendered movies:

    • H.264:  The standard video compression that’s used in the movie.

    • fps:  The frame rate of the movie in frames per second.

    • Kbps or Mbps:  The data rate of the movie in kilobits per second or megabits per second.

    • MB:  The size of the movie file in megabytes.

  5. To allow your video to be viewable by anyone, deselect “Make this movie personal.”

    By default, your video is viewable only by contacts you specify in your YouTube account on the YouTube website.

  6. Click Next.

  7. Click Publish.

    iMovie uploads your movie to YouTube, but it may take some time for your movie to appear there, depending on website traffic.

  8. To visit your movie’s webpage, click View in the dialog that appears.

    It’s also a good idea to write down the URL for your movie for future reference.

  9. To notify your friends of the new movie you’ve published, click “Tell a Friend.”

In the Project Library, an icon appears next to the project’s name to indicate which size it has been rendered in. When the project is open in the Project browser, its title bar also displays a YouTube icon. Click the icon to go to the movie online, to notify friends about it via email, to publish the movie again, or to remove the YouTube icon from the Project browser.

Image of the YouTube icon

If you make further edits to your project in iMovie after you’ve published it, a yellow warning symbol appears near the icon (as shown below), indicating that your project is out of date and needs to be rendered and published again. With the project open, click the icon and then choose “Re-Publish to YouTube” to republish. To delete the original movie from YouTube, go to your account page on the YouTube website.

Image of the YouTube icon with warning symbol

To publish to Facebook:

  1. In iMovie, open a project or select it in the Project Library, and then choose Share > Facebook.

    The Share menu appears in a light gray bar across the top of your computer screen.

  2. Choose your account in the Account pop-up menu, or click Add to add an existing account.

    If you don’t have an account, go to the Facebook website (www.facebook.com) and create one first.

  3. Fill in the fields and make selections from pop-up menus:

    • Password:  Your account password.

    • Viewable by:  The subset of people who can view your video.

    • Title:  The name of your movie.

    • Description:  Information about your movie for viewers to read (optional).

  4. Select a size for your published movie from the table of options.

    The “Sizes to publish” table shows which sizes are compatible with Facebook, and the resolution of each size (how many pixels it contains).

    If you’re unable to select the larger sizes, the original project media isn’t large enough to render in those sizes. The size of the largest media used in the project determines the final movie sizes you can render.

    The resolution of the exported movie for each size depends on the aspect ratio (standard or widescreen) you chose when you created the project. This topic explains resolution in more detail: About image resolution of shared projects.

    Holding the pointer over the “i” next to the movie dimensions displays the following information for the rendered movies:

    • H.264:  The standard video compression that’s used in the movie.

    • fps:  The frame rate of the movie in frames per second.

    • Kbps or Mbps:  The data rate of the movie in kilobits per second or megabits per second.

    • MB:  The size of the movie file in megabytes.

  5. Click Next.

  6. Click Publish.

    iMovie uploads your movie to Facebook, but it may take some time for your movie to appear there, depending on website traffic. If your video contains copyrighted material, you may not be able to publish it.

In the Project Library, an icon appears next to the project’s name to indicate which size it has been rendered in. When the project is open in the Project browser, its title bar also displays a Facebook icon. Click the icon to go to the movie online, to notify friends about it via email, to publish the movie again, or to remove the Facebook icon from the Project browser.

Image of the Facebook icon

If you make further edits to your project in iMovie after you’ve published it, a yellow warning symbol appears near the icon (as shown below), indicating that your project is out of date and needs to be rendered and published again. With the project open, click the icon and then choose “Re-Publish to Facebook” to republish. To delete the original movie from Facebook, go to your account page on the Facebook website.

Image of the Facebook icon with warning symbol.

To publish to Vimeo:

  1. In iMovie, open a project or select it in the Project Library, and then choose Share > Vimeo.

    The Share menu appears in a light gray bar across the top of your computer screen.

  2. Choose your account in the Account pop-up menu, or click Add to add an existing account.

    If you don’t have an account, go to the Vimeo website (www.vimeo.com) and create one first.

  3. Fill in the fields and make selections from pop-up menus:

    • Password:  Your account password.

    • Viewable by:  The subset of people who can view your video.

    • Title:  The name of your movie.

    • Description:  Information about your movie for viewers to read (optional).

    • Tags:  Keywords that viewers can use to search for and find your movie (optional).

  4. Select a size for your published movie from the table of options.

    The “Sizes to publish” table shows which sizes are compatible with Vimeo, and the resolution of each size (how many pixels it contains).

    If you’re unable to select the larger sizes, the original project media isn’t large enough to render in those sizes. The size of the largest media used in the project determines the final movie sizes you can render.

    The resolution of the exported movie for each size depends on the aspect ratio (standard or widescreen) you chose when you created the project. This topic explains resolution in more detail: About image resolution of shared projects.

    Holding the pointer over the “i” next to the movie dimensions displays the following information for the rendered movies:

    • H.264:  The standard video compression that’s used in the movie.

    • fps:  The frame rate of the movie in frames per second.

    • Kbps or Mbps:  The data rate of the movie in kilobits per second or megabits per second.

    • MB:  The size of the movie file in megabytes.

  5. Click Next.

  6. Click Publish.

    iMovie uploads your movie to Vimeo, but it may take some time for your movie to appear there, depending on website traffic.

  7. To visit your movie’s webpage, click "Go to Vimeo” in the dialog that appears.

    It’s also a good idea to write down the URL for your movie for future reference.

In the Project Library, an icon appears next to the project’s name to indicate which size it has been rendered in. When the project is open in the Project browser, its title bar also displays a Vimeo icon. Click the icon to go to the movie online, to notify friends about it via email, to publish the movie again, or to remove the Vimeo icon from the Project browser.

Image of the Vimeo icon.

If you make further edits to your project in iMovie after you’ve published it, a yellow warning symbol appears near the icon (as shown below), indicating that your project is out of date and needs to be rendered and published again. With the project open, click the icon and choose “Re-Publish to Vimeo” to republish. To delete the original movie from Vimeo, go to your account page on the Vimeo website.

Image of the Vimeo icon with warning symbol.

To publish to CNN iReport:

  1. In iMovie, open a project or select it in the Project Library, and then choose Share > CNN iReport.

    The Share menu appears in a light gray bar across the top of your computer screen.

  2. Choose your account in the Account pop-up menu, or click Add to add an existing account.

    If you don’t have an account, go to the CNN iReport website and create one first. (Go to www.ireport.com and then click Upload at the top of the page.)

  3. Fill in the fields and make selections from pop-up menus:

    • Password:  Your account password.

    • Subject:  The topic of your movie.

    • Body:  Information about your movie for viewers to read (optional).

  4. Select a size for your published movie from the table of options.

    The “Sizes to publish” table shows which sizes are compatible with CNN iReport, and the resolution of each size (how many pixels it contains).

    If you’re unable to select the larger sizes, the original project media isn’t large enough to render in those sizes. The size of the largest media used in the project determines the final movie sizes you can render.

    The resolution of the exported movie for each size depends on the aspect ratio (standard or widescreen) you chose when you created the project. This topic explains resolution in more detail: About image resolution of shared projects.

    Holding the pointer over the “i” next to the movie dimensions displays the following information for the rendered movies:

    • H.264:  The standard video compression that’s used in the movie.

    • fps:  The frame rate of the movie in frames per second.

    • Kbps or Mbps:  The data rate of the movie in kilobits per second or megabits per second.

    • MB:  The size of the movie file in megabytes.

  5. Click Next.

  6. Click Publish.

    iMovie uploads your movie to the iReport website, but it may take some time for it to appear there, depending on website traffic.

  7. To visit your movie’s webpage, click View.

    It’s also a good idea to write down the URL for your movie for future reference.

  8. To notify your friends of the new movie you’ve published, click “Tell a Friend.”

In the Project Library, an icon appears next to the project’s name to indicate which size it has been rendered in. When the project is open in the Project browser, its title bar also displays a CNN iReport icon. Click the icon to go to the movie online, to notify friends about it via email, to publish the movie again, or to remove the CNN iReport icon from the Project browser.

Image of the CNN iReport icon

If you make further edits to your project in iMovie after you’ve published it, a yellow warning symbol appears near the icon (as shown below), indicating that your project is out of date and needs to be rendered and published again. With the project open, click the icon and then choose “Re-Publish to CNN iReport” to republish. To delete the original movie from CNN iReport, visit the CNN iReport website.

Image of the CNN iReport icon with warning symbol.

To remove your movie from a website:

You can remove a movie you have published to YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo, or CNN iReport.

  1. In iMovie, select the project in the Project Library, and then choose Share > “Remove from [site].”

    The Share menu appears in a light gray bar across the top of your computer screen.

  2. Click “Go to [site],” and then log in to your account.

  3. Remove your movie from the website.

    For CNN iReport, you may have to contact the website to request removal of your video.

  4. In iMovie, click Done.

    The icon for the website in question is removed from your iMovie project.