Codecs and export settings

Final Cut Pro export settings for client review.
One Compressor setting out, one bundle of notes back.

Final Cut's own Export File gives you a codec menu but no bitrate control, so a review copy you want to control goes through Compressor. Our free setting writes HEVC 10-bit in a MOV at your project's size and frame rate. When the client has commented, the notes come back as a Final Cut bundle you drag in.

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By uncompressed.io · Updated September 2026

Why Compressor

Export File has a codec menu,
the bitrate is not on it.

Apple’s page for the Export File destination lists format, video codec, resolution, color space, audio format, export segmentation, chapter markers and an action after export. It names no bitrate or data-rate control. That is fine when any reasonable file will do. For a review copy where the client judges the grade and the texture, you want to choose the data rate, and in Final Cut that means Compressor.

HEVC

Video codec

Main10 profile, 10-bit 4:2:0

MOV

Container

Compressor's QuickTime encoder

Auto

Size and frame rate

Match your project

320 kbps

Audio

AAC, 48 kHz, stereo

Those four figures are what the free setting file contains, read from the file itself. Compressor is a separate Apple app. Apple notes that Send to Compressor is unavailable if Compressor is not installed, so without it your choice is Export File and its codec menu.

The workflow

Install the setting once, send each cut,
then upload what it wrote.

Install the setting

Download the setting file below and double-click it. It appears in Compressor's Custom settings as "uncompressed.io master (HEVC)".

Send to Compressor

Select the project in the browser or a range in the timeline, then choose File > Send to Compressor. Compressor opens with a new batch. Click Add Outputs, pick the setting, then click Start Batch.

Or make it a destination

Apple's Compressor Presets destination does not appear by default. Choose File > Share > Add Destination, drag Compressor Presets to the list, select the setting, click OK. From then on it sits in the Share menu.

Upload the MOV

Upload the file from your dashboard and share the review room link. The player streams the file you uploaded, without another re-encode.

Download the Compressor setting

Check the data rate before the first batch

Open the setting in Compressor and look at its video data rate before you run it. Our recommendation for HEVC 10-bit is 80 Mbps (80,000 kbps) for 4K and 32,000 kbps for 1080p. For a 1080p project, duplicate the setting and lower the data rate on the copy, so the 4K setting stays as it is.

Our recommended data rates

HEVC 10-bit, by resolution and frame rate,
the picture decides where in the range.

HEVC 10-bit

1080p, 24/30

16 to 32 Mbps

1080p, 60

24 to 48 Mbps

4K, 24/30

40 to 80 Mbps

4K, 60

50 to 100 Mbps

Our recommendations, not a vendor figure. Calm frames such as an interview can sit at the low end; snow, rain, water, foliage, heavy grain or a fast pan need the top. One starting figure, 80 Mbps HEVC 10-bit, covers 1080p through 4K.

These rates assume nothing re-encodes the file after you upload it. Browser playback uses your uploaded export without another platform re-encode. Codec, device and connection requirements still apply. If you are deciding between HEVC and H.264, or wondering why a review copy needs more than a streaming platform would serve, the reasoning is on best export settings for client review. This page stays inside Final Cut.

When to skip the setting

If you do not know the client’s device,
export H.264 from Final Cut.

Use the HEVC setting

The client watches on hardware you know decodes HEVC, and you want the review copy to keep 10-bit gradients.

Use Export File, H.264

The client's device is unknown. Apple lists H.264 in the MOV container for Export File. It is the safer choice for playback, at the cost of bitrate control and 10-bit.

Keep ProRes for the master

Export File writes every ProRes version, in MOV or MXF. Browsers do not play ProRes, so upload it for download and send a browser-playable copy for watching.

Apple adds that some formats may be missing from the menu depending on your project settings. The uploader here test-decodes each file in your own browser before it uploads and tells you if it could not verify playback, so a file your machine cannot play gets caught before the client sees a black frame.

The return trip

The client’s notes come back as markers,
in a project of their own.

When the review is done, the MARKERS download in the film’s workspace gives you a ZIP holding a .fcpxmld bundle and a README. Drag the bundle into Final Cut, or use File > Import > XML.

What happens

Where itlands

A new project named "<film title> - notes"not your open project

Thetimeline

A gap on the primary storylinewith one marker per note

Drawings

Connected above the gap as stillsat the note's time

Donenotes

Marked completed

Yourmaster

Drag it onto the gap to replace it,or paste the notes into your own timeline

Read from the export code on 18 September 2026. The bundle never writes into a project you already have open; the notes always arrive as their own project.

Check the frame rate in the README

Notes are stored as times in seconds and converted to frames at the rate the README names. The bundle supports 23.976, 24, 25, 29.97, 30, 50, 59.94 and 60 fps and falls back to 24 for anything else. If the README names a different rate from your project, the markers can drift from the frames the client meant, so check a few against the picture before working through the list. For how this compares with Frame.io’s current Final Cut support, see Frame.io for Final Cut Pro.

Questions

Frequently asked

Can I set a bitrate in Final Cut Pro without Compressor?

Not from what Apple documents. The Export File destination lists format, video codec, resolution, color space, audio format, export segmentation, chapter markers and an action after export. It names no bitrate or data-rate control. To choose the data rate yourself, use File > Send to Compressor or a Compressor Presets destination.

Why does the setting write a MOV and not an MP4?

The setting uses Compressor's QuickTime encoder, so the file is a .mov. HEVC in a MOV uploads and plays here the same way as in an MP4, within the device limits below. If a client or another platform insists on MP4, change the container in your own copy of the setting.

Will every client be able to play an HEVC 10-bit file?

No. HEVC playback in a browser depends on the device and its decoder. If you do not know what the client watches on, export H.264 instead. Final Cut's Export File writes H.264 in a MOV. The uploader here test-decodes each file in your browser before upload and warns you if it cannot play it there.

Do the notes land in my open Final Cut project?

No. Final Cut imports the bundle as a separate project named after the film with "- notes" on the end. Its timeline is a gap carrying the markers, with any drawings connected above it. Drag your master onto the gap to replace it, or copy everything and paste it into your own timeline at the start.

Send the review copy you exported

Upload the MOV, share the review room link, and download the notes as a Final Cut bundle when the client is done. The free Starter plan includes 5 GB.