Discussion: Final Cut Pro Supported Video Formats for Editing

Any experience or knowledge of Final Cut Pro?

Have you ever worked with the most popular editing tools called Final Cut Pro on Mac? If you are a professional video editor, you must be familiar with this professional NLE media software, right? But do you know the details on the best video formats for Final Cut Pro? With some limitations among NLEs, just as we know, it is not so easily to import any videos to FCP for editing. Thus here we should learn more about the best video codec Apple ProRes Codec for FCP.
fcp

Something you may not know about Final Cut Pro:

As a non-linear video editing software which provides non-destructive editing of any QuickTime-compatible video format including DV, HDV, P2 MXF (DVCProHD), XDCAM (via plug-in), and 2K film formats, Final Cut Pro made up 49% of the United States professional editing market according to a 2007 SCRI study. Such strong user group still leads to some video format incompatibility issues with Final Cut Pro. This is why many people wonder the best video format for Final Cut Pro so as to edit video in it at liberty. However, there are still some incompatible video formats that cannot be imported to FCP, such like some 4K videos or high definition XAVC videos, etc.

Some main files formats recommended for Final Cut Pro:

Video Formats: Apple Animation codec, Apple Intermediate codec, Apple ProRes(all versions), AVC-intra, AVCHD (including AVCCAM, AVCHD Lite, and NXCAM), DV (including DVCAM, DVCPRO, and DVCPRO50), DVCPRO HD, H.264, HDV, iFrame, Motion JPEG(OpenDML only), MPEG IMX(D-10), REDCODE RAW (R3D), Uncompressed 10-bit 4:2:2, Uncompressed 8-bit 4:2:2, XAVC, XDCAM HD/EX/HD422, QuickTime formats.

Audio Formats: AAC, AIFF, BWF, CAF, MP3, MP4, WAV

Container format: 3GP, AVI, MP4, MXF, QuickTime

Still-image formats: BMP, GIF, JPEG, PNG, PSD, RAW, TGA, TIFF

How can we deal with those files which are not suitable for FCP?

Final Cut Pro uses QuickTime technology, which means you can import and export almost any almost any QuickTime-compatible file format or import the abovementioned file formats. But for other formats like WMV, RM, MKV, MPG, etc. Fortunately we here have the Pavtube HD Video Converter for Mac that can easily convert our original videos to ProRes codec files for FCP. Through this HD Video Converter review, we will know more about this professional video converter for FCP on Mac. What’s more, with the suggestions below, we can also set the files nicely with video and audios.

Best Video/Audio Settings for Final Cut Pro

In order to receive a better effect after editing in FCP, here we would like to introduce you some additional useful tips on how to adjust your video and audios which is the best for Final Cut Pro.

Best Video Format for Final Cut Pro: MP4, MOV

Aspect Ratio: Native aspect ratio without letterboxing (examples: 4:3, 16:9)

Resolution: You can choose different resolutions, all the way to 5K. The lowest resolution supported is 640 x 480. You cannot choose custom resolutions or aspect ratios. This is a huge negative.

Frame Rate: The lowest frame rate possible is 23.976p, and the maximum is 60p. No 12 or 18 fps options.

Audio Settings: Generally, audio only has ‘Surround’ or ‘Stereo’, and the maximum audio bit depth isn’t specified. Sequenced audio is always mixed using 32-bit floating-point values. Tips: Final Cut Pro allows you to directly import any audio file format compatible with QuickTime. However, only uncompressed file formats should be used for editing.

Conclusion:

The format of your Final Cut video clips and Final Cut sequence settings can have a dramatic effect on the ease of editing your movie and on your final image quality. Your Final Cut Pro will run slow if your clip and sequence settings are in disorder. Now, you must know all the issues of FCP and with the tips of transferring files to FCP let’s just enjoying our editing work here!

5 thoughts on “Discussion: Final Cut Pro Supported Video Formats for Editing

  1. Hills

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    Reply
  2. Priligy

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  4. Nelsoe

    You may take a look at this step by step guide, it’s about how to convert AVI, WMV, MP4, MPEG, 3GP, FLV, MOV, MKV, etc. videos to FCP It’s easy to understand and works pretty well for me. And the conversion quality is nice.
    http://www.pavtube.com/fcp.html
    Hope it helps.

    Reply
  5. Keice

    we can do it for you? For a Pro user that works on TV shows, this is unusable!!!!if there is no major uedtaps to bring back all the Pro Featues in the next months, i will have to go back to Avid Media Composer after 12 years with Final Cut Pro. As far as i see, Final Cut Pro is dead for the professional user, Apple decided to sell out to the general public. Shame on you APPLE!!!!!

    Reply

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