Every week, Frame.io Insider asks one of our expert contributors to share a tip, tool, or technique that they use all the time and couldn’t live without. This week, Reuben Evans shares the trick to making long exports faster in Final Cut.
Use Export Segmentation for Faster Exports
Final Cut Pro can now accelerate H.264 and other codec outputs (with some key exceptions) with segmented exports. It’s a feature that will kick into gear if you’re exporting a sequence that is longer than three minutes, and uses Apple’s new silicon more effectively, by splitting the load across multiple processing units.
That said, this feature requires a Mac with an M1 Max, M1 Ultra, M2 Ultra, M3 Max or later, though. So, if you have that horsepower, Final Cut Pro will automatically split up your export and pipe it through separate media engines in your processor.
If this doesn’t work for you, make sure to look at the Settings pane of the export window. Check the box that says “Allow export segmentation.” That allows you to use export segmentation in Final Cut.
Larry Jordan notes that this feature works in Compressor, too. As he notes, “Export segmentation is faster, without question. But it works best when used with Apple Compressor, rather than Final Cut Pro.”
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