Request for Native BRAW Support in Final Cut Pro

I've extensively studied the underlying technical factors about BRAW support in FCP, and I believe the alleged statement by Blackmagic Design Support may be incorrect. Note it was supposedly from the support group; it was not a statement from Blackmagic Development, nor did the statement by the support people say it was vetted by development.

Some terms in that statement by Blackmagic Support indicate the possible source of confusion: "Workflow Extensions" and "FxPlug4." By contrast, they did not use the correct term for the newly-released framework that is designed for creating RAW video plugins, which is "MediaExtension." Review of the three frameworks:

• FxPlug4: Strictly for image processing effects (filters, generators, analyzers, and transitions). FxPlug receives frames that have already been decoded into pixel buffers. It operates too late in the pipeline to handle file decoding.

• Workflow Extension Framework: Introduced to allow tighter integration of third-party ecosystem tools (like frame.io, Shutterstock, or asset managers) directly into the FCP user interface. It is purely an interface and orchestration layer. It has no access to the rendering pipeline or the low-level media decoding block.

• MediaExtension Framework: Introduced in macOS 14 Sonoma (and significantly refined for FCP usage in macOS 15 Sequoia). This framework is a modern replacement for the old QuickTime Component and CoreMedia plugin architectures. It allows developers to create custom Format Readers (MEFormatReader) and Video Decoders (MEVideoDecoder) that run as sandboxed extensions (via ExtensionKit). This enables the system (and apps like Final Cut Pro) to recognize, parse, and decode media formats that are not natively supported by Apple, such as RAW video formats.

A deep study of the internal implementation of the RED R3D, Sony X-OCN, ARRIRAW, and Canon RAW plugins for FCP indicates three of them use an older, undocumented private plugin interface. Those did seem to require some special inside information to complete.

However, it appears the newer Sony X-OCN plugin by Nablet is implemented using solely Apple's new MediaExtension framework. It does not require any special private info, and can be fully implemented using the documented framework: MediaExtension | Apple Developer Documentation

This implies that it is now (recently) possible for a RAW codec provider (including BRAW) to use the MediaExtension framework to produce a plugin that provides native-like capabilities in FCP, including RAW controls.

I believe whoever at Blackmagic Support wrote that email was not a software developer and was relying on outdated information. I don't know why a plugin for Sony X-OCN using MediaExtension recently became available, and not yet BRAW, but it currently appears there is no fundamental technical roadblock to Blackmagic (or another approved third party) producing a BRAW plugin.

@shubhampratap, if you haven't already, send Apple your feedback/feature request via Final Cut Pro->Provide Final Cut Pro Feedback... or Feedback - Final Cut Pro - Apple Let others know on the BMD forum know too. The more requests the dev team receives the likelier it is to rise higher on the to do list.

Chris Hocking, developer of BRAW Toolbox, posted this from Sept - Nov 2025:

"The MediaExtension Framework provides a means for developers to create format readers, video decoders, and RAW processors for media that the system doesn’t natively support."

"Now that Apple has a Media Extension in the wild of their own - it's really only a matter of time until Blackmagic finally releases their Media Extension for Blackmagic RAW - as announced at last year's Final Cut Pro Creative Summit."

"We currently don't know when Blackmagic will release their Media Extension...However, now that Blackmagic have access to Media Extensions, they'll be able to do things far better than what I could do with BRAW Toolbox in terms of performance, due to the fact that I was basically "tricking" Final Cut Pro into using an "effect" to draw BRAW frames.

"Until then though, BRAW Toolbox still remains the best way to access BRAW directly/natively in Final Cut Pro."

It's actually up to Blackmagic Design. To add their codec to FCP they just need to build what amounts to a sort of plug-in they can have you download and install. That's how FCP was originally made, so third parties could make their own codecs compatible with FCP.

Apple has a great relationship with BMD, don't ever doubt that. They do many projects together all the time. Why BRAW is no supported in FCP can only be a BMD issues. I see no reason (or method) for Apple to "block" it from FCP.

The fact that Apple has no issue with us discussing it here, and BMD deletes posts asking about it, I think says a lot about who's court the ball has always been in.

As joema mentioned above, Nablet, the developers of the free X-OCN MediaExtension for FCP have a link asking what other codecs people would like supported in FCP. https://nablet.com/media-extension-plugins

We are all users like you.

The best you or any of us can do is make your voice heard by providing feedback.

Final Cut Pro->Provide Final Cut Pro Feedback...

Ah, so it IS Apple's fault. GGGgggrrrr.... They give next to zero love to the video pro apps these days...

I'm just happy that SONY x-OCN is now supported.

Thank you for the great detailed clarification, Joema! Yeah, BMD needs to step up.