A Comprehensive Explanation of Proxy and Optimized Media in Final Cut Pro X

[@KarthickBabu]

Shifting between Better Quality and Better performance work when you playback. When you pause your timeline, it goes back to Better quality. This was a great help to under stand proxy and optimises media thank you pal.

[@speechimprovement]

One of the better tutorials. As a speech coach, it's well organized, easy to follow and engaging! Nice work.

[@Theprimarystoryline]

The Speech Improvement Company Inc. Thanks! Coming from a speech coach, that weirdly means a lot!

[@josieliapavila1361]

He did a very good job imo. Explaining the basics step by step. English is not my first language and I have no experience in using DAWs

[@imsooopoor]

Be sure to check out Andrew's tutorials on Skillshare too if you are enrolled there. Taking his classes and I gotta say he's one of the best tutors out there on FCPX.

[@Duskybuka]

Brand New to FCP and this little Gem has saved me a lot of headaches already!!! Thank you Sir.

[@kefstarandrojedi2399]

Really appreciate this run-through of all the nuts and bolts in FCPX media management. Thorough tutorials like this are hard to come by.

[@JGTechBlog]

I have watched so many FCP tutorials so far hands down this is one of the best! thank you

[@pradeeppradhan479]

with less knowledge of english I can understand with the help of practical tutorial by you.. awesome tutorial,,, thank you very much,, it will help me for my lifetime...

[@acrossover]

Thank you so much for the awesome illustration of the concepts. I have spent several hours in total searching on youtube and internet for good explanations for concepts like library consolidation, proxy media, optimized media etc.. And my confusions were still not fully cleared until I came across this video. This video is insightful, in-depth and very clear, short and to-the-point, a comprehensive demonstration of what is happening in the backend along with solid evidence for verification. Thanks again.

[@Theprimarystoryline]

Absolutely happy to help. Thanks so much for the wonderful feedback!

[@soymaxv]

This video is a lifesaver. I can't believe it's only got 26k views and your channel only hast 2.7k subs. It deserves a lot more attention! Thanks for making this :)

[@aeroluis81]

Exceptional explanation, and very VERY useful!!!

[@jarodise42]

Great tutorials, just started using FCPX the other day and have already got a few RAM warnings, thought I needed to upgrade my Mac, this is a much better and cheaper solution to my problem. thanks!

[@Theprimarystoryline]

Happy to help!

[@KramTurbine]

This is the best tutorial regarding Proxy and Optimized media. Thanks for this!

[@martinhain]

This is freaking enlightening, very well taught!!! Exceptional.

[@Deep-Travel]

Outstanding! I have been looking for this type of content for a long time!

[@chipcurry]

Great presentation, I watched it several times, took notes and practiced. Even enjoyed your editing shortcuts e.g. "trim clip to timeline cursor" I assume option + open / closed bracket and color masking which I have never used.

[@phillipcsandoval9094]

Thank you so so much!!! I really love it when I come across top notch content/instructional learning material!!

[@Signor1]

Awesome job on this tutorial video it was well done and explained. Thank you much much.

[@wayne5757tw]

this is one super useful tutorial! probably best on youtube

[@UraFlight]

Jackyendless It is best on KZbin ! When I making new 4K video I'm always refer back to this video

[@npoleary]

This is amazing! Thank you!

[@armando.visuals]

Seriously best video about proxy! Great job!

[@yeschefwithchadkubanoff]

Thank you for the lesson, I greatly appreciate the information you are sharing

[@ShortCutLawn]

Man this is 3yrs old video but still very useful, that was a very pleasant tutorial 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼

[@Theprimarystoryline]

I aim to be evergreen! 😂

[@remektekmedia6641]

Excellent tutorial, very well presented. I tend to keep my original footage on a slower external NAS, and generated files on a fast Thunderbolt connected RAID array. Also worth noting that the app, Final Cut Library Manager is a great help in identifying and clearing out render files, etc..

[@freeflowfunky]

Thank you so much for this so well-done and easy explained tutorial (especially for a non-English mother tongue). I had been looking for such a tutoria in the elementary basics that everyone seem to ignore or pay so little attention in their explanation!?? You made my day!! Maybe even my year... 😊🙏🏼

[@Theprimarystoryline]

Wow! Well, I'm happy to help and thank you for the wonderful comment.

[@larissaosepchook5310]

Beautifully demonstrated and coherently explained. Thanks for this fantastic time saver of a tutorial.

[@zullyvergutierrez200]

Thanks for your easy to follow explanations

[@HalStaniloff]

Best video yet explaining these features. Well done. And thanks!

[@philipseo1225]

I loved the tutorial! I feel very organized and professional after learning what every word means! Great voice and humor as well!

[@busimo]

This was exactly what I was looking for, for days!!! Subbed and hit the bell icon. Thanks!!!

[@brendancoulter1096]

Very easy instructions to understand and follow. Thank you!! :)

[@lizzmatic]

Great Video. I love how you broke everything down. Thank you so much.

[@MatthewGorveatte]

super good explnation, just what i needed right now, was so lost on what was going on, thx plz make more, right now i am wondering about color correcting hybrid log gamma hdr video from the sony a7iii in fcpx with the new color tools, would be great to see that video thx so much

[@Theprimarystoryline]

HLG, huh? I think I could certainly fumble my way through an explanation on that. Thanks for the recommendation!

[@Live86400]

I’m a fan! I wish you hosted a class in person! I’d pay good money to sit with someone who can explain things the way you did. By any chance do you live in Philadelphia?

[@Theprimarystoryline]

Sorry, looks like my reply got lost on the interwebs. I do indeed live just outside of Philly and offer in-person training if you're up for it! Hit me up a [e-mail]!

[@uavllc1675]

Wow- that was a great tutorial on a topic that many forget. Clear & concise, you're obviously well versed with FCPX. Thanks! (subscribed!)

[@Theprimarystoryline]

Thanks a lot!

[@longrod007]

You really helped me understand it better mate, really appreciate it

[@Theprimarystoryline]

Happy to help!

[@DoubleGauss]

Thank you ! That was very helpful. My MBP ssd is only 256GB and I have tons of 4k videos I would like to edit. As libraries tend to fill up fast , as a best practice is it best to create library on an external drive or on the boot disk ?

[@martinpowell5092]

Bit late to the party on this advice but excellently done - I've been around media a loooong time but just getting into using FCP X on an old MacBook Pro (Adobe previously) _ Thanks for a clear and concise explanation.

[@PandorasCrate0]

This is very awesome, thank you for the well made video. The only thing, and this is on Apple's side, is that I wish they would let you control the level of the proxy media. From what I understand, the proxy media created by FCP is half the original file size. Well if you're working with 360 video and have an 8k equirectangular video, the proxy is just going to create a 4k proxy. I'd like the option to make smaller proxy files in that event. But either way, this significantly raises performance. Thank you again.

[@Lunafilms12]

Thank You! Great explanation of Proxy and Optimized .

[@jimwitcher]

Thank you for this excellent tutorial. I read all the comments below and watched your editready tutorial as well to see if my question was answered. Maybe they were, lol, but I'm a beginner. I have 2 questions if you will indulge me. I plan on funnelling all video from my camera into Editready, create filenames, keywords, angels, etc. and transcode it to prores422 (unless my camera already does that), and then store these Editready files on an external hd as my originals (where the final cut library will point to I assume), when I import the file into FCPX do I: 1) set original library storage media settings to "library" even if I plan on leaving the original library on my external hard drive? and 2) do I need to optimize the imported files if they are already converted using Editready? I understand using proxy to save space, but i'm wondering if I should check both optimize and proxy? My guess is yes so the FCPX manager will be able to view the clips in the optimized and proxy view, but maybe I don't need to optimize them the second time? Thanks so much if you get the time to answer.

[@Theprimarystoryline]

Hey Jim, thanks for the kind words! Your workflow sounds on point and quite similar to mine! To answer your questions: 1) You can store all of your video files on an external drive, the big decision is whether you want to keep them inside or outside of your Final Cut Library. If you want the video files in the Final Cut Library, make sure to create the library itself on the external drive and then on import choose "Copy to Library"-after the import is complete it's safe to delete the original files. Alternately, you can store all of the files in a folder structure of your own design and then on import select "Leave files in place". 2) If you're transcoding to ProRes in EditReady, those are Optimized files you're creating. No need to have Final Cut convert them again! 3) If space is an issue, my recommendation would be to import the footage directly from the camera (rather than converting to ProRes, which will certainly increase the file sizes) and then generating Proxies within Final Cut for quick editing and color grading. I will either generate Optimized OR Proxy files but never both. Go Proxy if you're editing on a laptop without a dedicated graphics card and for most other instances, Optimized would be my recommendation. Hope this helps!

[@kotodamamidnight412]

Great video - one of the most helpful thank you

[@heavenwayrecordingmedia4356]

Impressive 😊 I even enjoy you’re narrative ,! 👍🏻😊👌👍✌️ thank you so much 😊

[@sivanyc]

Subscribed! Best explanation for managing and optimizing media. Keep up the good work!

[@Theprimarystoryline]

ShibaKunNYC Thanks a lot! I have a ton of great stuff coming down the pipeline.

[@Javster]

Great video teaching. I will need to watch it a couple more times though lol with pen and paper in hand and fcp in front of me. Subbed!

[@Theprimarystoryline]

Glad it was helpful!

[@JACKSTORMRECORDS]

Best tutorials so far on poroxy medias ! Thanks a lot !

[@frankwas9772]

Great tutorial. So it's my understanding that you can create your whole video project including adding effects both audio and video, using the proxy media and then at the end, before you export you choose the optimize media. Is that correct?

[@Theprimarystoryline]

Frank Was It really depends on what method you're using to export, but it's never a bad idea to switch back to Optimized/Original when the edit is locked, give the project one final render (if needed), and THEN export to ensure everything is at the highest possible quality.

[@seaninherts]

Thanks for the video. I am genuinely always surprised when people make videos, can you edit on final cut with a Macbook Air for instance... and I have one of those and a higher end 15 inch Macbook Pro that is 18 months old at this point. Yes you can. You can do pretty much everything. It takes longer but you can do everything via proxy media for the rough cut. They can simply view original to colour grade or for specific focusing tasks but there we are. Is it as fast at doing original media, well no that’s why it’s under half the price. It can do it but with proxy media, it can rule it :) Thanks for the content. I’ve liked.

[@TAPPChannel]

why I dont see that line and preview on the screen while moving mouse let to right?? Its hard to work withou that preview :/ Did I press something incidentally???

[@Shareef2610]

You are amazing. Very good explanation.

[@focusmedia898]

Brilliant tutorial!! Exactly what I was looking for!

[@shootcutdeliver]

Very clear ! What is your day to day back of your library I use a sync program into another external drive - but always need to re link if I want to open that drive - what's your way ???

[@Theprimarystoryline]

My current working Final Cut Libraries folder (featured in this video) is occupying 5.49TB at the moment. I try to keep that below 4TB at any given time by doing exactly what you see here-deleting proxy, optimized, and unused render media-then offloading completed libraries onto little Western Digital MyPassport drives. In terms of backup, my working drive is setup on a RAID5, so one drive can totally fail and I'll still be ok + I have a continuous offsite backup using Backblaze, which is only $5/month. Well worth it if you have a fast upload speed, I currently have about 12TB of footage backed up at Backblaze. It feels like I'm taking advantage of the system!

[@drdavidlawler]

I sure wish I'd seen this before I started experimenting on my own. So does my hard drive!

[@darkdriving]

Dr. David Lawler Hah! Well I’ll be doing a project on other quick ways to clean up your optimized and proxy files once you wrap a project, so hopefully that will help out!

[@creativedreamersnl]

Thanks so much, exactly what i needed. Very clear explanation!

[@CodyScott]

This is the most helpful!!!!!! Thank you!

[@cmdcreativity]

Wow! Thank you so much for this tutorial. Do you create a new library for each client project or a new event inside an existing library with many projects, which is best in your opinion? I've been editing in FCPX for a while now, but have not been organizing effectively. Thanks! :)

[@Theprimarystoryline]

Thanks a lot! For me personally, each new year (tomorrow, as of this comment) I create a library called "2018 Corporate" and another called "2018 Weddings" and all of the appropriate work gets added to those libraries as Events. I do this because at the end of each year it's easy for me to pull all of the clips I've marked as favorites in both Libraries and easily compile a nice reel that I'll show to clients for the following year. Finally, if I'm shooting a conference or something where I know the file sizes will be pretty massive due to multiple cameras, I will often create a single Library just for that, then archive the Library from my working drive when it's finished. Hope this helps!

[@GKVideography]

Great teachings! Great pace to your explanations and it all makes sense, buuuut (Sorry there's always a but isn't there?) I never have my video files on my boot drive, always my external. Knowing this, would you still select 'optimized' on import or just use proxy? Thanks again!

[@Theprimarystoryline]

Hey Gavin, thanks for the kind words! Those "Footage Import" files can live anywhere you'd like-I actually never keep video files on the boot drive either. The decision to use optimized or proxy always boils down to how much space you can spare. Optimized files will almost always be double-to-triple the size of your camera originals (especially if anything is in 4K) while Proxies will always take up far less space at the cost of video quality. My general rule of thumb is experiment with proxies first and if you're comfortable with that quality then you're all set. If you want to maintain the exact same visual fidelity while getting all of the benefits of ProRes, go Optimized!

[@GKVideography]

Perfect! Makes total sense, will deffo use proxies going forward. Always used footage straight from the external and 'keep files in place'. Had a few longer projects 'beach ball' on me and playback stuttered so it seems thats the way to go. Was never really sure on it all even after watching other videos. Yours explained it perfectly, bar that one question. Thanks again man!

[@franzitaduz]

Gosh was this a godsend…. Bless you!

[@cheng2021]

Thank you!! Very clear and helpful :)

[@simomonster]

Man ! I need your tutorials. so easy to understand. THank you

[@Theprimarystoryline]

+Simo Harjane No worries, glad to help!

[@devarojeremiah]

This helps me a lot!

[@2AMais]

Really great material! The way you teach is awesome!

[@davidk9411]

Thank you I wasn't able to find any of this in Korean!!!!

[@fabricefinotti6035]

Hello really good tuto. One question when you export with preset is faster quality or performance? Do they use render files from the proxy media ? Thank u

[@Theprimarystoryline]

Faster and Higher Quality are essentially Single-Pass and Multi-Pass encoding. If you have a new-ish model Mac that supports Intel QuickSync-any models that have a Core i5 or i7, Sandy Bridge or Ivy Bridge processor except the Mac Pro-selecting "Faster" will provide you with an incredibly high quality output in a fraction of the time. The only time I would recommend using Higher Quality for export is if you have scenes with a LOT of movement, like purposeful shaky-cam footage. When you're ready to export, always switch your settings back from Proxy to Optimized/Original for best results!

[@mohamedbaset7842]

else to it. How do I do that? Your answer would be Nice tutorialghly helpful and appreciated.

[@krazeemonkee]

If we delete all rendered files, once we re-open the library later, it would still re-render all the used effects, correct? P.S. this was probably the most concise, thorough, and inclusive tutorial on proxy & optimized media - awesome job!

[@Theprimarystoryline]

Thanks a mil, happy to help! Yes, you can totally delete the render files for archiving and then, if need be, open the Library/Project and render everything again.

[@upmedia1785]

Super well done video. Nice work.

[@crxb18a1]

Great explanation! I needed this insight!

[@Stellifant]

Brilliant Demo, thank you.

[@frankwas9772]

Thanks for the reply. Great tutorials by the way.

[@evtyler]

Thank you! This is BY FAR the best video I've seen on this topic and was EXTREMELY helpful for me! #newsubscriber

[@UrbanGuitarLegend]

This was hugely useful!! Thanks

[@alicegoldenvalley]

But if you have more space on your computer hard drive than you have on your external disk it would be better to import all the original media straight to the computer hard drive (+optimized &proxy) right? Also why import both optimized and proxy if it takes up more space? Can I just import original and proxy? Or do I need optimized? I am looking for the highest playback speed because I have a big multi cam project, but I don’t have a lot of space on both my computer hard drive and my external disk (that one is almost full). So if I have to choose between optimized and proxy, which one would be best for editing speed without the little rotating ball showing up at every click?

[@Theprimarystoryline]

So as a general rule you should avoid editing from your boot drive whenever possible. I do it sometimes if I’m mobile with a laptop, but if the system crashes unexpectedly you could lose all of your footage AND your work. I rarely generate optimized and proxy files, for me it’s one or the other. Optimized if I’ll be working in multi cam and want to move quickly, proxy if I’m on the go and generally working with 4K or higher footage. In your case, given the constraints on hard drive, I’d go with proxy-only!

[@HVACUncensored]

How do I set my external drive for all my FCPX files go there rather than my Mac. I know it’s dumb question sorry. Having trouble with all this I know I’m setting up my videos wrong. This video helps though

[@emmanuelmoran]

Thank you so much for this. What are your thoughts on using the camera archive option on import? Thus far Ive been using it to make a clone of the original file structure (shooting FS7/ mxf) with the idea that its a perfect clone backup of the original footage but I'm now wondering if this is mute/ redundant considering original media already lives in my library only rewrapped into a quicktime? Is it worth doing a camera archive?

[@Theprimarystoryline]

The first thing I always do is make a camera archive so I can clear my cards for any other upcoming shoots. I'll then use EditReady (I have another video on using this on my channel) to convert to ProRes if need be for any multicam footage and then get the edit started. I keep the camera archives until I get project approval and then delete them. It's sometimes a pain to keep all of that footage as a backup, but I just have one external USB3 drive full of camera archives.

[@emmanuelmoran]

Thanks for the reply. That makes sense, better safe than sorry.

[@UraFlight]

I love this tutorial. Very clear explanation

[@oscarfrondozo8866]

Great Video! If i want to export the video, would I need to change back from Proxy to Optimal before i export?

[@Theprimarystoryline]

Yes indeed, switching back to Optimized/Original before export will give you the highest possible quality results!

[@oscarfrondozo8866]

I'm having an issue. After I've imported a file and checked *proxy, and when i click on the view tab and choose proxy, it still has a"missing proxy." Help

[@Theprimarystoryline]

If you switch to View > Proxy and a bunch of Red "Missing Clip" icons appear, it's likely that the transcoding process didn't finish even if you selected "Create proxy media" on Import. Remember: if you're editing and actively applying effects, Final Cut will delay transcoding. Select a clip, open Inspector, and go to the Info tab to see if certain clips have Optimized or Proxy versions available. If not, you can generate them from right there or by right clicking any clip in the Media Browser and choosing "Transcode Media..." Here's a screenshot of the Inspector where you can find your Available Media: d.pr/i/mD3DMM

[@YonnBurgos]

Loved the tutorial! Thanks!

[@Theprimarystoryline]

Happy to help!

[@bobbyjazz]

Hey thanks for the excellent tips! But however when i do this, all my clips are showing file missing!!! Red window. How can i sort it out please help. Thank you very much

[@ClassicCyclingCC]

Thanks for the video. Very useful.

Thank you for this great tutorial! Currently, I would always import media by having it copied to the "library" which is actually on an external drive as I do work on a MBPro with limited storage.. However, I would like to have Proxy files located for all of my projects on my computer so I can work on the go, especially without the need of connecting my external drive.. Can you tell me how can I do that?..

[@DIEHEXEN]

Hello I have set up a FCP library on an external HD as advised. I am currently transcoding 4K (MPEG-4) film footage to the library and it's been sitting at 1% for hours. My iMac is 2009. Am i wasting my time? Do I need to update to a quicker system? What would you advise? Thanks! D

[@Ryansacrobat]

What shortcuts did you use to quickly cut the end and beginnings of the clips?

[@Theprimarystoryline]

Hey, sorry for the delay! That would be Option + [ and Option + ] depending on whether you want to cut back from the scrubber/playhead back or forward. Hope that helps!

[@PhilHenderson----v----]

I've been doing it all wrong!!! 😩 Thanks a ton. This was great.

[@Theprimarystoryline]

Not a problem, happy to help!

[@uturncrossfit3977]

Outstanding Tutorial!!!

[@normanpaulife]

I learned quite a bit, thank you

[@allanngkc]

Hi, please correct me if I'm wrong. Are you suggesting that each time after we press "E" to have the clips appear on the timeline to begin editing, we should always select them all and go to "View" to change the "optimized/original" to "proxy" first, and then revert the process (select back optimized/original) once we are ready for the final export? So these clips don't appear as proxy (even after the transcoding?) until we physically change them under "View"?

[@darkdriving]

Switching between Optimized/Original and Proxy changes the entire timeline, so luckily we don't have to do that for each individual clip. You can switch back and forth at will to see the changes at any time, but you should certainly make sure you're back on "Optimized/Original" when it's time to export otherwise you'll get subpar results. You are correct. You can transcode every clip in an Event to Proxy, but until you switch the view as explained, Final Cut Pro X will default to use the Optimized/Original clips. Hope this helps!

[@allanngkc]

Andrew Gormley greatly appreciated!🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

[@christophergotera3386]

What do you mean by “boot drive”. Is that drive that comes with the Mac? Or another external hard drive aside from your working drive?

[@JGTechBlog]

yes does anyone have answer for this ? i was confused on that as well

[@IntiSolMedia]

Awesome! Well done. Loved it. Understood everything, and I am gonna try to work with Proxy files right now to see if I stop suffering for hours and days rendering and slowing the whole world down... But, one question: What is the point on keeping the original media in the folder instead of the library at the beginning and only storing it there for archiving? I do it right from the begginin so I'm sure not to loose anything... Why don't you?

[@IntiSolMedia]

Shoot... when I switch to Proxy view, I loose a lot of files and/or effects... All this nasty red warnings appear! :( Why is that? I'm suffering so much with the slowness that I decided to give up the project until I sa your tutorial... But it ain't working for me. I made sure before (and after) that all the files are stored in the library (original, optimized, proxy, renders AND motion are). So I don't understand why I can't work with the proxy files. If I switch back to optimized view, I recover the view of the files and effects, and back to Proxy... They're lost (but not all of them, still quite a few, way too many to start looking how to relink them all...). If I can't figure this one out and improve the speed of rendering and edition, I'm gonna have to let it down and wait a few months to be able to buy like the most powerful macbook I can afford. This one is on Catalina a 2013 i7 1.7GHz and 8 GB of RAM, so not amazing, but also not the oldest and worst option out there.... I even not only close all the programs but also do a cleaning of the mac and the RAM, but when I use things like multi cam it takes literally days and I can't use the computer with anything else.

[@Theprimarystoryline]

So, to answer your questions in order: I will sometimes keep the original files outside of FCPX if I know I’ll also be working with them in After Effects or Resolve to achieve a specific special effect or color grade. If you work exclusively in FCPX, just get them all into the Library and have one less thing to worry about. As for your second issue: any clips that turn red when you switch to proxy mode simply means you haven’t generated proxy files yet (or Final Cut is still performing it in the background). You can select any clip in your timeline and press Shift + F to highlight it in the clip browser. From there, right click, choose “Transcode” and generate the Proxies. You’ll be golden in no time flat!

[@IntiSolMedia]

@@Theprimarystoryline Wow, honestly , it's amazing that you answer with such speed and willingness, I really appreciate it! Subscribed I have! ;) This technique seems to work at first try, I can indeed recover the usage of those clips. But: - It doesn't seem to work on lost generators (though these are multiclip ones, so it might owrk after I've fiished retrieveing all the clips) - I really don't unerstand why those proxy files weren't created, not only I ALWAYS make sure that all the optimized and proxy files are consolidated, (right-clicking on the library and hitting both options, and also on the inspector) but I still do it right now on the whole library, and it just says that there are no need to consolidat any files... ¿? - Is there then no way to do this as a whole but gotta do it clip by clip (talking about t project with hundreds of clips... :( - Why some clips do have proxies and other don't? It's so weird! I really hope a can get a grip on this method, I have been struggling for weeks with slowness but this project is being a no go, I did actually ditch it today, out of despair after literally 2 days trying to make advances...

[@IntiSolMedia]

Oh BTW, I guess I'll have to switch back to Optimized BEFORE the export?

[@Theprimarystoryline]

Definitely switch back to optimized for Export! You can select all clips in the media browser, right click, and transcode proxies for all of them. It’ll take a while with hundreds of clips, but it can be done!

[@landskapet]

Great explanations, thanks a lot!

[@italikid]

Amazing the way you teach. AMAZIIIIIIING.

[@Theprimarystoryline]

Thank you kindly!

[@paleosstudios5354]

Wow. This video nails it on the head.

[@therexlordskilled2192]

all the different elents together in a language that is universal. I've seen plenty of DAW tutorials being new, but tNice tutorials is by far the best so

[@pixelmasque]

excellent video thanks for explaining all that,

[@seleemzid7881]

2019 ... hill yea thanks bro that 100% saved my butt

[@YousufMaimoon]

This helped me alot! Thank you!

[@SonicParkour6]

This was so helpful man, thanks!

[@ted_nemeth]

QUESTION! But first, thank you for a crystal clear tutorial. If i import a 100MB clip into FCPX then immediately export it with no alterations, it exports at 400MB+. Why does it save as a 4x larger file? I export at MASTER FILE setting and Apple PreRes 422. Thank you!

[@Theprimarystoryline]

That is due to the codec bitrate. I don't assume to know what your camera is, but most DSLRs will record clips with the H.264 codec at at anywhere between 30-50Mbps. ProRes is an uncompressed format with a bitrate of approximately 150Mbps, so that's why you're seeing larger file sizes!

[@ted_nemeth]

Does the large file mean sharper footage? I couldn't really tell a difference on my 2015 Mac Air screen. THANK YOU FOR THE REPLY. LOVE ALL YOUR VIDEOS @@Theprimarystoryline

[@shakthidhasan]

I am imported my files as proxy now my project is finished. How I export for best quality output, totally my file size is 600gb as original. When export as optimised how much space is takes

[@scottabergermd]

NIce video. I am having fits rendering my 30 minutes project in FCP in 4K, on a Mac Pro that cost over $10K. Wish is had seen this first. I have to admit, it is very confusing, proxies, optimized, deleting, etc. Why does it have ot be so complicated on a mac based film editor. Isn’t this what we all picked Mac for in the first place??

[@Theprimarystoryline]

Thanks! Honestly, on a machine like you’re describing, you probably don’t need to worry about Proxies or Optimized Media at all! Much of this info would be put to better use on older machines or laptops.