What is Final Cut Pro for Mac?

Final Cut Pro is a revolutionary app for creating, editing, and producing the highest-quality video.

Edit everything

Import and edit everything from standard-definition to 8K video—including ProRes, ProRes RAW, and all major professional camera formats.
Import and edit immersive 360° video with 360° titles, graphics, and effects, as well as VR headset playback.
Play and skim high-definition media in up to 8K resolution (and beyond), in full screen or on a second display.
Edit and color correct vibrant high-dynamic-range (HDR) video using your Pro Display XDR as a professional HDR reference monitor. Or use Final Cut Pro tone mapping to view HDR video in the viewer. Use high-resolution video scopes to gauge HDR brightness levels as you edit.

Assemble clips in the Magnetic Timeline, which fluidly adjusts adjacent clips to eliminate gaps, collisions, and sync problems.
Ripple, roll, slip, and slide your edits using state-of-the-art trimming tools, then fine-tune your cuts with the inline precision editor.
Connect clips to lock cutaway shots, superimposed titles, and sound effects to your main storyline, or nest clips within other clips.
Edit multicamera footage, automatically syncing up to 64 angles of video with different formats, frame sizes, and frame rates. View up to 16 angles at once, then use the angle editor to move, sync, trim, add effects, or color grade individual clips in the timeline.

Declutter your workflow by organizing your media clips: Rate them, add keywords, or bundle them into Smart Collections.
Let Final Cut Pro detect people and shot types and then automatically assign keywords like “One Person” or “Wide Shot.”
With a single click, arrange sound clips into separate audio lanes in the timeline for dialogue, voiceover tracks, music, and more.

Add stunning visual effects using any of more than 300 built-in special effects, transitions, and generators, then adjust them with precision keyframes and onscreen controls.
Retime clips to create cinematic fast-motion, slow-motion, and variable-speed effects.
Reduce or eliminate grain and video noise with easy-to-use noise-reduction tools.
Create studio-quality 2D and 3D titles and set them in motion, without leaving Final Cut Pro.
Track moving objects in clips to match their movement with an effect, graphic, or title.
Import clips recorded in Cinematic mode on iPhone into Final Cut Pro, then use onscreen controls to adjust the focus.
Add closed captions and subtitles in a variety of formats, without the need for expensive third-party software or services.
Create stunning effects and sweeping graphics in Motion—Apple’s professional imaging effects app—then open and adjust them in Final Cut Pro.
Add pro audio effects with dozens of plug-ins for audio compression, EQ, and more—or send your soundscape to a professional audio application like Apple’s Logic Pro for advanced mixing.
Let Final Cut Pro analyze your video and nondestructively fix common problems like excess hum or loudness. Correct shaky video using the Final Cut Pro stabilization feature.

Automatically balance colors, match colors, and white-balance clips…
…Or go manual and use the professional color-grading tools built into Final Cut Pro, including a dedicated color inspector with color wheels, color curves, hue/saturation curves, and keyframes to adjust corrections over time.

Send your finished project to Compressor for streamlined delivery to the iTunes Store. And because Final Cut Pro, Motion, and Compressor all share the same Metal architecture, you’ll experience blazing performance and consistent rendering across applications.
Optimize your project for viewing on Apple devices such as iPad, iPhone, and Apple TV 4K.
Export files in a variety of professional formats, including industry-standard MXF.
Use batch sharing to export multiple projects, clips, or clip ranges at the same time.

Note: For a complete list of topics covered in this user guide, click Table of Contents at the top of the page.

Download this guide: PDF

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