Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Quasher

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 21, 2011
4
0
Hello!

I am trying to compress my family video library to smaller file sizes to import to Photos. My problem is that all compression methods seem to lose the date (captured) metadata in the process and Photos in unable to sort them correctly by date.

The feature is requested for HandBrake but not added yet: https://github.com/HandBrake/HandBrake/issues/345

I tried the Shrinkwrap tool that combines FFmpeg and Exiftool: http://coderunner.io/shrink-videos-with-ffmpeg-and-preserve-metadata/
but still the metadata was missing.

I have verified the missing metadata by 1) Importing to Photos and seeing that compressed file has wrong capture date and is not sorted correctly whereas original one has it right 2) Viewing compressed and original files in VLC media player. In Media Inspector original file has Date field populated, compressed one doesn't

I've also tried UniConverter from WonderShare and macOS's "Encode Selected Video Files" option with same results ==> the date field is empty.

Original files are in my FCPX library and I plan to retain originals in some external drive but would like to get also all files to photos and iCloud for better sharing and viewing options. It seems that file size can be reduced by roughly 90 % without any significant loss in quality for the purpose of viewing family memories.

Can somebody suggest a method of importing a compressed version of FCPX library to Photos while preserving the correct date/time captured information of the video? Thanks!
 

ColdCase

macrumors 68040
Feb 10, 2008
3,360
276
NH
I brute brute force it by using something like Subler to add a release date and other info like a description to the compressed video's meta data. But then I don't have many videos. You can also put a date in the description or video file title.

Dunno how Photos deal with release dates or dates in the description/title.
 
Last edited:
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.