Camera originals are getting harder to play. Raw formats, 10-bit H.265 from mirrorless cameras and 6K sensors all ask a lot of the computer that decodes them, and a timeline that stutters makes every cut a guess.
A proxy workflow splits the job in two. You edit with light copies of the footage, then hand the finished timeline back to the original files for color and export.
The idea is as old as tape, when cutting happened offline on cheap copies and the online session rebuilt the edit from the masters. Today it’s a button in every editor, and most of the trouble comes from settings that break the link back.
In short
- A proxy is a light copy of a camera file, with the same name, timecode and audio channels, made only for editing.
- Proxies pay off with footage that is heavy to decode, with multicam and with editors who work away from the originals.
- Premiere, Resolve and Final Cut all make, attach and switch proxies, and all export from the originals unless you tell them otherwise.
- Grade from the originals and check the export’s resolution before it goes to the client.
What a proxy workflow is
A proxy workflow means editing with lightweight copies and finishing with the originals. Each proxy is a lower-resolution file in a codec that is easy to decode, made from one camera clip.
The editor keeps both and knows which proxy belongs to which original, through the file name, the timecode and the clip’s metadata. A toggle decides which one plays.
Final Cut’s optimized media is a different thing. It’s a full-resolution ProRes 422 copy, smoother to play than the camera file but far bigger than a proxy.
When proxies are worth the time
Make proxies when the computer can’t play the footage smoothly at full resolution. The usual suspects:
- raw formats such as BRAW, R3D and ARRIRAW;
- 4K and up in long-GOP H.264 or H.265, which is light on disk and heavy on the processor;
- multicam, where four or five streams have to decode at once;
- an editor working at home on a laptop, with the originals left on the office storage.
Skip them on a short job with footage that already plays well, such as ProRes 422 from an external recorder. Transcoding a full shoot day costs hours and disk space, and that time only comes back if the edit is long.
Settings that keep proxies linked to the originals
Most broken proxy workflows fail at the relink, and the cause is decided when the proxies are made. Check these before you transcode a whole shoot:
- Keep the file name of the original. Only the extension, or a suffix your editor expects, can change. Never rename camera files after the proxies exist, which is one of the rules in our project folder structure.
- Keep the aspect ratio. A 17:9 original with a 16:9 proxy gets stretched or letterboxed on the switch.
- Keep the same number of audio channels. Premiere won’t attach a proxy whose channel count differs from the original’s.
- Keep the frame rate and the timecode. The proxy has to start at the same source time and run the same number of frames.
- Pick a size and a codec that decode easily. Half or a quarter of the original, in ProRes Proxy or DNxHR LB, plays better than H.264 at the same size.
- Store proxies in their own folder next to the originals. They can be rebuilt, so they’re the first thing to delete when the job is archived.
How to make and switch proxies in each editor
All three main editors build proxies in the background and switch with one control. The names differ.
Premiere Pro
Turn on Create Proxies in the project’s ingest settings to make them on import, or right-click clips and choose Proxy > Create Proxies. The encoding runs in Media Encoder while you keep working.
The Toggle Proxies button isn’t on the Program Monitor by default. Add it with the + in the button bar. Proxies made in another app come in through Proxy > Attach Proxies.
Exports use the full-resolution media by default. The Use Proxies box in the export settings is there for quick drafts, so check it’s off before the review copy and the master.
DaVinci Resolve
Set the proxy resolution and format in Project Settings > Master Settings, under Optimized Media and Render Cache. Then select clips in the Media Pool, right-click and choose Generate Proxy Media.
Playback > Proxy Handling > Prefer Proxies turns them on. The free Blackmagic Proxy Generator app can watch folders and build proxies in a Proxy folder next to the originals while Resolve stays free.
On the Deliver page, Use Proxy Media sits in the render’s Advanced Settings. Leave it off for anything the client will see.
Final Cut Pro
Choose Create proxy media in the import window, or select clips and use Transcode Media afterwards. Final Cut makes proxies in ProRes 422 Proxy or HEVC.
The View menu in the viewer has Proxy Preferred and Proxy Only. Apple’s guide asks you to switch back to Optimized/Original before sharing, and Final Cut warns you if you don’t.
Going back to the originals
With attached proxies, going back is the same toggle in reverse. The real relink only happens when the originals have moved, for example to another drive or another machine.
Premiere reconnects through Link Media, Resolve through Relink Selected Clips in the Media Pool and Final Cut through File > Relink Files. Point them at the folder and they match by name and timecode.
Then watch the whole cut once at full resolution before the grade:
- Look for offline media. One clip that didn’t relink shows up as a red frame or a black hole.
- Look for a change in the picture. Proxies made with a viewing LUT baked in look graded, and the log originals look flat next to them, so the look has to move into the timeline. Our post on LUT management covers that hand-off.
- Check the export settings. Resolution, frame rate and codec should match the deliverables list, not the proxy.
How this works in RecReview
RecReview takes the cut you export, not the camera files. Uploads are capped at 2 GB per file on Creator, 5 GB on Pro and 10 GB on Studio, so originals and proxies stay on your storage.
You don’t need to make a review proxy for the client. You upload the export once, and the player streams lighter copies of it. In Auto it adjusts to the viewer’s connection, you can lock a fixed resolution, and Original plays the file you uploaded.
That Original option doubles as a check. Switch to it and the quality button shows the height of the uploaded file, such as 4K · Original or 1080p · Original. A 4K job that reads 720p came out of the proxies.
In Premiere, on the Pro and Studio plans, Send new version in the Premiere panel exports the sequence with Premiere’s Match Source, High bitrate H.264 preset. The file is named with the video code and the next version number, and the RecReview app for Mac uploads it as the next version once you allow it.
If you export from Resolve or Final Cut, the Mac app’s watch folders upload each finished export from a folder you choose, and a file named with a task code becomes that task’s next version.
The client’s notes come back as markers through the panel’s Markers command or the Premiere and DaVinci Resolve XML on the review page. Markers sit on the sequence’s time, so they land in the same place whether your timeline is playing proxies or originals.
