Video resolution question (using iMovie)

[Rick0504N]

Hi
Recorded in 2.7k / 30fps yesterday and imported into iMovie and saved to laptop thinking the highest I could save it at was 1080p. I had read that for 2.7k clips, iMovie does not give you an option to save the clip as 2.7k. But if you edit a 4k clip, you can save as 4k.
Anyway, when saving my 2.7 clip, I saw that my options included 4k, so I chose it.

And the resulting file was a 2.7k file.

So, what exactly happened there? If it saved as 2.7k, why was that not in the drop down to begin with?

Thanks.

 

[newt2u]

iMovie does not upscale but you can downscale when you share as a file - export the movie. However, while editing all files are kept at their original size/frame rate. I have not tried working with 2.7K so the following is only an assumption. As your files were 2.7K it gives you the option to save as "4K" and just outputs as the native file resolution, i.e. 2.7K, as it does not have upscaling.

I know it does not upscale as when I tried editing a combination of 4K and 1080 videos it only allowed sharing at 1080.

 

[Rick0504N]

I know it does not upscale as when I tried editing a combination of 4K and 1080 videos it only allowed sharing at 1080.

Yeah, I thought I saw somewhere that if you start the timeline with a picture that has a resolution of 2.7 or 4k and then follow with a combination of 1080 and 2.7, the 4k option comes up when saving. However , I tried it but highest res for output was 1080. 4k did not appear in drop down.
But anyway, thank you. The clip that I recorded as 2.7 k and saved as 4k to retain 2.7 k was my best looking footage so far. Looked good on YouTube when I uploaded it there as well as on my 1080 plasma tv. This is the route I will go going forward. Very happy.

 

[JamTek]

If you start off with a 4K clip and have lets say a 2.7K or 1080P clip behind it for example, you can downgrade it to what ever resolution you want. What ever the highest clip resolution you start with is the option that you will only be able to downgrade from for the clips after that. At least that is what the latest version of iMovie does. I recently did a sunrise video on here filmed in 4K and downgraded to 1080P.