Final Cut Pro User Guide for Mac
- Welcome
- What’s new
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- Intro to importing media
- If it’s your first import
- Organize files during import
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- Import from Image Playground
- Import from iMovie for macOS
- Import from iMovie for iOS or iPadOS
- Import from Final Cut Pro for iPad
- Import from Final Cut Camera
- Import from Photos
- Import from Music
- Import from Apple TV
- Import from Motion
- Import from GarageBand and Logic Pro
- Import using workflow extensions
- Record into Final Cut Pro
- Memory cards and cables
- Supported media formats
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- Intro to effects
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- Intro to transitions
- How transitions are created
- Add transitions and fades
- Quickly add a transition with a keyboard shortcut
- Set the default duration for transitions
- Delete transitions
- Adjust transitions in the timeline
- Adjust transitions in the inspector and viewer
- Merge jump cuts with the Flow transition
- Adjust transitions with multiple images
- Modify transitions in Motion
- Add adjustment clips
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- Add storylines
- Use the precision editor
- Conform frame sizes and rates
- Use XML to transfer projects
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- Intro to sharing projects
- Share to Apple devices
- Share on the web
- Send a video frame to Pixelmator Pro
- Share in email
- Share stereo or spatial video
- Batch sharing
- Share using Compressor
- Create share destinations
- Change metadata for shared items
- View the status of shared items
- Speed up exports with simultaneous processing
- Glossary
- Copyright and trademarks
Control playback quality in Final Cut Pro for Mac
You can adjust settings in the viewer to manage visual quality and playback performance. For example, you can increase playback performance by displaying video at reduced resolution or by using proxy media.
Set playback quality
In Final Cut Pro, click the View pop-up menu in the upper-right corner of the viewer, then choose an option in the Quality section:
Better Quality: Choose this option to display full-resolution video frames in the viewer. This setting may decrease playback performance for high-quality, large-frame-size video.
Better Performance: Choose this option to display video in the viewer at reduced resolution. Decreasing the size of the media maintains playback performance even for very large media files.
Choose the type of playback media
In Final Cut Pro, click the View pop-up menu in the upper-right corner of the viewer, then choose an option in the Media Playback section:
Optimized/Original: Choose this option to edit with optimized media (in the Apple ProRes 422 format) for playback. If optimized media is not available, Final Cut Pro uses the original media for playback.
Proxy Preferred: Choose this option to edit with proxy media for playback. If proxy representations aren’t available, Final Cut Pro uses optimized or original media for playback.
Proxy Only: Choose this option to edit with proxy media rather than full-resolution media for playback. Choosing this option increases playback performance but lowers the video quality. In Final Cut Pro, proxy media is in either the Apple ProRes 422 Proxy or HEVC format. For details about proxy media format and frame size options, see Import settings and Create optimized and proxy files.
You can use the Info inspector to determine whether optimized or proxy media files exist for a given clip. See View a clip’s information. If you choose Proxy Only in the View pop-up menu and no proxy media file exists, a Missing Proxy File alert icon appears in the viewer.
Important: If you use proxy media for playback, make sure to switch back to optimized/original media before sharing your project. This ensures the highest quality in the exported file. See Intro to sharing projects.
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