Project archives
Archive a finished edit from DaVinci Resolve, Premiere Pro or Final Cut Pro.
Every clip the timeline uses, the project file and the master, in one run.
A delivered job is a timeline, the clips it points at and the master you exported. Project archives send exactly that set from inside the editor into your cold archive: whole files, never re-encoded, never zipped, each one its own item in the dashboard. Here is what a pack contains, how to run it from each of the three editors, what you see in the dashboard afterwards, and the limits.
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What a pack is
One timeline, one pack,
and nothing the timeline did not use.
A pack is the set of files a delivered timeline actually depends on, and nothing else. The run reads the timeline, resolves every clip on it to the whole file on disk, adds the project file and the finished master, and sends that list straight into the cold archive of your plan.
The clips the timeline uses
Every clip cut into the timeline, as the whole file: untrimmed, never re-encoded, never renamed. Proxies and optimized media are ignored. Media sitting in the bin that never reached the timeline is not included.
The project file
Resolve: a .drp the script exports. Premiere: the saved .prproj. Final Cut: the exported XML package files.
The finished master
Resolve: the latest completed render in the render queue, or the file you name. Premiere: guessed by name next to the project or in Exports, Movies, Desktop or Downloads, or chosen in a file dialog. Final Cut: guessed by name next to the XML or in Movies, Desktop or Downloads, or the file you name.
Straight into cold
The pack goes into the cold archive of your plan, never through the hot pool. The whole pack is checked against your free cold space before anything uploads.
What a pack is not
Not a zip: every file lands as its own item. Not a trim: a clip is sent whole, not cut down to the range the timeline uses. Not a rename: each file keeps its name, and the folder structure relative to the clips’ common folder is kept as the file’s path. Not a client link: nothing in cold is shareable until it is re-hydrated.
One pack is one timeline in Resolve, one sequence in Premiere, one project in Final Cut. A job with three timelines is three packs.
Before the first run
One key, one file,
and Python 3 on the machine.
Three things, once. After that every run is one command or one click.
Copy your API key from Settings
It is on the Settings page of the dashboard. One key serves all three editors.
Put it in a .uncompressed file in your home folder
One line: api_key=uc_... The Premiere panel can use the key pasted into the panel instead, or that same file.
Have Python 3 for the two scripts
macOS offers to install it on the first python3 command. Windows Resolve users install Python 3 themselves. The Premiere panel needs no Python.
The three tools are free downloads on the Project archives page of the dashboard: the Resolve script, the Premiere panel and the Final Cut script. The same page lists every pack you have sent, and each pack’s page shows the cold space you have left.
DaVinci Resolve
A script beside the open timeline,
from Terminal or from the Scripts menu.
The script reads the open timeline through Resolve’s own scripting, exports the project file itself, and sends the pack, from Terminal or from the Scripts menu inside Resolve.
Download the script
uncompressed-resolve-archive.py, a free download from the Project archives page of the dashboard or from the link under these steps. One file, no installer.
Allow local scripting once
Preferences > System > General > External scripting using: Local. The script finds Resolve's scripting module by itself.
Run it with the project and timeline open
From Terminal: python3 uncompressed-resolve-archive.py. Resolve stays free while it runs and you see the live speed and time remaining.
Or run it from inside Resolve
Copy it into Resolve's Fusion/Scripts/Utility folder (macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Blackmagic Design/DaVinci Resolve/Fusion/Scripts/Utility, Windows: %APPDATA%\Blackmagic Design\DaVinci Resolve\Support\Fusion\Scripts\Utility) and run it from Workspace > Scripts. Output appears in Workspace > Console, Py3 tab.
Download: uncompressed-resolve-archive.py. The PREVIEW version is the same script in dry-run mode, made for the Scripts menu: it lists what would be sent and uploads nothing, so you can check a timeline before the real run.
Options from Terminal: --dry-run lists without sending, --master PATH names the master, --no-master skips it, --lanes N sets the parallel lanes per file. Without --master the script takes the latest completed render in the render queue. Image sequences are expanded frame by frame: every frame of the sequence goes up as its own file, the whole sequence, not just the range the timeline uses. The .drp is exported by the script; you do not export it yourself.
Premiere Pro
The Uncompressed panel,
ARCHIVE tab, one sequence at a time.
No Terminal and no Python. The panel that writes client notes as markers has an ARCHIVE tab, and the whole run happens inside Premiere.
Install the panel, version 1.1 or newer
Same download as the markers panel: the .zxp, installed with the free ZXP/UXP Installer, then Window > Extensions > Uncompressed.
Scan sequence
The ARCHIVE tab lists the clips, the project file and the master with their sizes. Nested sequences and multicam sources are followed.
Choose or skip the master
The panel guesses it by name next to the project or in Exports, Movies, Desktop or Downloads; pick another in the file dialog, or skip it.
Send to cold archive
The panel saves the project first, then uploads with a progress bar. Stop keeps what was sent, Send again resumes, and Open in dashboard takes you to the pack at the end.
The panel is uncompressed-premiere-markers.zxp, version 1.1 or newer. If you already have it for markers, check the version: the ARCHIVE tab arrives in 1.1.
Two things to know in Premiere
Numbered stills are not expanded into image sequences in Premiere. If a run of stills matters to the edit, read the scan list before you send. This is a limitation of the panel today.
The API key is pasted in the panel once, or read from the .uncompressed file in your home folder if it is there.
Final Cut Pro
Export the XML,
then hand the package to the script.
The script works from the XML that Final Cut exports, so the run is two steps: export, then run.
Download the script
uncompressed-fcp-archive.py, a free download from the Project archives page of the dashboard or from the link under these steps. One file, no installer.
Export the project as XML
Select the project, then File > Export XML. You get a .fcpxmld package, or a .fcpxml on older versions.
Run the script on the export
In Terminal: python3 uncompressed-fcp-archive.py "My Film.fcpxmld". With no path, a file chooser opens.
Check the master it found
Guessed by name next to the XML or in Movies, Desktop or Downloads; use --master PATH or --pick-master to choose, --no-master to skip.
Download: uncompressed-fcp-archive.py. The command is python3 uncompressed-fcp-archive.py "My Film.fcpxmld"; run it with no path and a file chooser opens instead.
Options: --dry-run lists without sending, --master PATH names the master, --pick-master opens a file dialog for it, --no-master skips it, --project NAME chooses the project when the XML holds several, --lanes N sets the parallel lanes per file.
The script follows compound clips, multicam clips, synchronized clips and connected clips down to the original media, and ignores proxies. Titles and generators have no media of their own and are skipped. Media that is not on disk is listed as skipped, so the list at the end says what did not go.
In the dashboard
Every file is its own item,
and none of them is a zip.
A pack lands as a list of files under its name on the Project archives page. Each file has the same actions as any archived file, and a re-hydrated file gets Open and share, the normal share of any hot file.
Download
Straight from the archive, no re-hydration needed, so a clip can be handed to a client as is.
Re-hydrate
Brings the file into the hot space to play, review or share by link. The allowance is twice the archive size per month.
Back to cold
Returns a re-hydrated file to the archive.
Delete this pack
Removes the whole pack, permanently.
There is no client-facing link straight from cold yet. A client gets a file one of two ways: you re-hydrate it and share it through Open and share, the same share as any hot file, or you press Download, take the file from the archive as is, and send it yourself.
Limits and honest notes
What the run checks,
and what it will not do.
The three runs differ in how they find the project file and the master. Everything after the scan is the same run: the same size check, the same lanes, the same resumable upload.
The master guess looks next to the project or the XML first, then in Movies, Desktop and Downloads, and Premiere also checks Exports. Name the master yourself when a job has more than one export lying around.
Paid plan only
Project archives need a cold pool, and Starter has none. Lite has 100 GB, Pro 500 GB, Max 2 TB, Studio 7 TB, and extra cold storage is USD 20 per TB per month.
Measured before the first byte
The whole pack is added up and checked against your free cold space before anything uploads. A pack that does not fit stops there.
Never through the hot pool
The files go straight into cold. Your hot space is not touched.
Resumable
An interrupted run continues from the last part that made it when you run it again, and files that finished are skipped. In the panel, Stop keeps what was sent and Send again resumes.
Three lanes, live numbers
Each file goes up in three parallel lanes, and the run shows live speed and time remaining, in Terminal or in the panel's progress bar.
Nothing changed on the way
No file is trimmed, re-encoded or renamed. The folder structure relative to the clips' common folder is kept as each file's path, so a pack reads like the project folder did.
Questions
Frequently asked
Does a pack include every clip in the bin?
No. A pack holds the clips used on the timeline, and only those, each one as the whole file, untrimmed. Proxies and optimized media are ignored. Media that sits in the bin and never reached the timeline is not included, which is the point: the pack is what the edit depends on, not what was imported.
Can I hand a clip from a pack to a client without re-hydrating it?
Yes, by downloading it. Download takes the file straight from the archive, no re-hydration needed, and you send it yourself. A share link is different: the file has to be re-hydrated into the hot space first, then shared the normal way. There is no client-facing link straight from cold yet.
What happens if the upload stops halfway?
Run it again. The run continues from the last part that made it, and every file that finished is skipped. In the Premiere panel, Stop keeps what was sent and Send again resumes. Because a pack is never a zip, the files that were already sent are complete, usable items in the dashboard on their own.
Which plans have Project archives, and how much space do I need?
Any paid plan. Starter has no cold pool, so it cannot receive a pack. The cold pool is 100 GB on Lite, 500 GB on Pro, 2 TB on Max and 7 TB on Studio, and extra cold storage is USD 20 per TB per month. The whole pack is checked against your free cold space before anything uploads, so a pack that does not fit stops before the first byte.
Send the first pack from the editor you already have open
Project archives need a paid plan: the cold pool is 100 GB on Lite, 500 GB on Pro, 2 TB on Max and 7 TB on Studio, with extra cold storage at USD 20 per TB per month. The scripts and the panel are free downloads on the Project archives page of the dashboard.
Sources
- 1.Apple, Final Cut Pro User Guide: Use XML to transfer projects (the File > Export XML step)
- 2.uncompressed.io pricing: plans, hot and cold storage blocks