S22 Video Editor leaving large unedited file on phone filling up space

[GlennPsion]

This could be filling up your phone without you knowing.
Try this:

Screen Record for 10 seconds from your phone (try a You Tube video .. doesn't have to be full screen).
The file size will be about 20MB,

Open it and select the default "Video Player" app (Purple icon with white triangular button).
If you didn't see that and it opens in another app, reset that so that you get the choice (not explained in this post).
Pause the video a few second in, and hit the three dots, top right and chose 'Editor'.
Video will open in the Editor.

Do some edits:
- Severely Crop the video smaller
- Trim it to 2seconds
Then press Save top right.
Check the video size in "My Files" in the "DCIM>Screen recordings" folder.
It will now be say 2MB is size . . . as expected, smaller.

Reopen the edited file in Editor, and now press 'Revert' in the top right and then press "Revert" and then "Save".
Re-look at the file size in "My Files", and you will see it has reverted back to its original file and size.

Where is the original video being stored when you do the editing?
Clearly on the device still, otherwise you wouldn't be able to "revert".

If you MOVE the smaller edited file off the phone and move it to a PC,
the PC sees a small file. The truly edited version.
The PC knows NOTHING about the original larger file on the phone or the editing on the phone that took place.

What happens if you removed the file from the phone to a PC, rename the file and put the file back on the DEVICE (phone)?
You would expect that the phone would see it as a fresh new small file.
But no, when you go to the "Editor" again, even though it now has a new filename,
it somehow allows the 'Revert' option again, which means the original, larger, unedited file was on your phone but hidden.

Even if you make copies of this smaller edited file either on the computer or on the phone,
EACH copy, once back on the phone and into edit mode KNOWS that the full unedited version exists as the revert option is available and works.
It doesn't even matter if you move the files back into another folder on the phone.
It somehow knows that full hidden file is somewhere on the phone.

If you had a 1000 large files that were edited to very small files, and each one only SAVED (not "Save as copy")
and then you move the small edited files off the phone to a PC,
the large unedited files are on the phone somewhere taking up space. . .this can't be right

[Lloyd Ramey4]

Yeah I'm about to try the app also. I use a Gopro to record pitstop videos. My Other storage is up to 110GB now... I edit alot of videos for tiktok. Always wondered why my space was so full. Didn't know it's essentially makes 2 copies of every video your ever  edit. Wish you could turn that off. I don't need to revert because alot of my videos are dead time just waiting on a pitstop. Maybe if I use another editing app instead it won't save the full original.

[Imad91]

i lost 7 gb of space because of this bs. i want a solution and i want it asap

[Loni_Lenae]

HOLY *****!!! This is RIDICULOUS!! If it weren't for this thread I wouldn't have had a way to get this stuff off my phone. I had to use that Media File Guardian app to get the original files off my phone, which took up an additional 50 GIGS OF SYSTEM DATA STORAGE!!! I agree, this should be an issue that Samsung resolves. There is no reason I should have had to use a third party APK to remove these junk files from my phone. 

[jvillflr31]

Fck this bs. Sh*t took 50GBs off of my storage just because I trimmed down a fckin' video. Samsung needs to fix this problem. This ain't a feature or something this is a headache-causing bs.

[Tommykay]

It's even worse than you thought. (See below.)  At the bottom are two functional workarounds to this frustrating problem.

It is far WORSE than you thought, because even if you delete the original large file, you CAN still revert!!

It is no help to copy your smaller edit to another folder. Now you have two files and, revert works on BOTH of them! Even more shocking is, once you delete the larger file (and empty the trash) you can STILL revert BOTH files. See? Once you revert the file, the hidden version remains.

My solution is: edit the video. Instead of hitting "Save", hit the three dots in the lower right. Choose "Save as Copy". Delete the unedited original.

You need to do this farting around for every video you ever edit. Moronic. I downloaded the file utility mentioned above and it worked great

Straight up, this Samsung stupidity has pushed me over the edge. I bought a Google Pixel yesterday. Why did I put up with this Samsung nonsense so long?

Tom

[LilyRocks · Accepted solution]

Here is a solution I found

 

[GlennPsion]

LilyRocks, 

as I was the original poster, I thank you (and everyone who contributed/commented).

Do you know if this was always there or is a recent addition? Even if new, why is this 5th scroll right screen? Why isn't this the first screen.

I have looked a little closer at mine and can't believe there is a load of stuff in there that hasn't even bee edited! I think it has something to do with 'recents' folder but that is still up to date.

Well done though for alerting us!

I would still perfer Samsung to not store files like this without warning the user, whether editing or otherwise.

Glenn

[Members_xkIgsdw]

Thank you so much for finding this! I've been bugged by this for so long, can't believe this is so 'hidden'. As some 5th card after a bunch that save a few MBs or even KBs. This should really be one of the main cleaning options.