3840 x 2160 resolution too big!

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Level 1

111 points

3840 x 2160 resolution too big!

Hi,

I've just completed a 113 minute long FCPX project and shared it to Masterfile (default).

The resulting .mov is a colossal 930GB. I note the resolution is 3840 x 2160:

Apart from selecting the options to save to "Apple devices" which appear to end up as a .m4v file, is there a way of changing the (default) setting so's it's shared at a lower resolution and thus a smaller .mov file?

1280 v 720, for instance.

Any advice, please?

TonyT

iMac (27-inch, Late 2013), OS X El Capitan (10.11.6)

Posted on Sep 20, 2016 3:10 AM

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Answer 1

Russ H

Level 7

22,432 points

Sep 20, 2016 5:19 AM in response to Tony T

Select the project. Command-J >Modify Settings. Change the resolution to your desired size.

You've exported the 4K with Pro Res codec. Try Codec > H.264 to see whether the 4K file size is acceptable.

Russ

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Answer 2

Tony T Author

Level 1

111 points

Sep 20, 2016 5:18 AM in response to Russ H

Russ, thank you so much for this pointer.

From your advice I found the relevant settings.

The only difference is I opted for 1080p HD (which gave a resolution of 1920x1080) and a resulting file size of around 257GB; somewhat less than the original 930GB.

Excellent, thank you again.

TonyT

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Answer 3

Sep 20, 2016 5:36 AM in response to Tony T

That is likely still a ProRes file. That is excellent for a master to keep in your records, but inadequate for distribution.

Most people cannot play a ProRes file, because they don't have the codec. For distribution, use H264. It will be a significantly smaller file too.

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Answer 4

Tony T Author

Level 1

111 points

Sep 20, 2016 5:36 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Thank you for that advice Luis. I'm currently exporting the said movie at 1080p. I'll let that run but take on board your advice later.

The exported .mov file is for backing up on external HD. Presumably, I can import it back into FCPX for editing if the project library is damaged or has missing files, etc??

Thanks again!

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