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I have several Photos libraries; my system library that's synced with iCloud, and some additional libraries for things that I want to keep but don't need to have available all the time. Here's my workflow for getting photos into those libraries:

  1. Take photos and videos with my iPhone XS Max.
  2. Wait for them to appear in my system library through iCloud sync.
  3. Export them to a folder using File > Export > Export Unmodified Original... with Export IPTC as XMP checked.
  4. Open the destination Photos library.
  5. Drag the exported folder onto "Photos" under "Library" in the sidebar to import its contents.

This worked fine up until Catalina. Export still seems to work fine, and import works fine for images, but it no longer works for videos. Now when I drag my exported folder into Photos it imports the images, but gives the following error message for each video:

** Invalid: Unsupported resource set: video,xmp **

Screenshot of error message

This only appears for videos that are pure video. Live Photos with a video component import fine.

The videos are all HEVC in a .mov container, recorded on an iPhone with iOS 13, synced with iCloud, and exported from Photos in Catalina, so they are definitely not an incompatible or older codec.

I can import the videos by themselves, without the .xmp files. They appear to have all their metadata intact, so maybe the .xmp files are no longer necessary.

Anybody know why this is no longer working?

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2 Answers 2

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macOS 10.15 (Catalina) has removed support for a number of things, the old Quicktime Pro no longer works (unfortunate as it is a nice, simple, movie editor) and (among other things) support for older codec movie files.

It is likely that those files that won't import are in a (now) unsupported format.

I would recommend just re-encoding them into a modern format like H264. Handbrake is what I use for such tasks. it is free and open source, updated regularly and highly recommended.

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  • Thank you for taking the time to answer. The videos were exported from Photos in Catalina, and are in HEVC format (in a .mov container). This is Apple's modern replacement for H.264. The videos import fine on their own; the problem is when they are combined with the automatically generated .xmp file. Re-encoding is not necessary and would not help this issue.
    – Robert
    Nov 15, 2019 at 18:00
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Today I was moving photos and videos between photo libraries in macOS 10.15 (Catalina) too! I encountered the exact same issue: I exported the original with ITPC extracted as XMP, and when I import them into another library the exact same error messages were given.

Solution:

DON'T export ITPC when you move media between macOS Photos Libraries

Wait why? I care about the metadata!

The ITPC info is part of the photo/video themselves! You only need to export them as standalone XMP files if you want to feed them into another application.

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