Final Cut Pro Media management overview
Final Cut Pro provides you with flexible and powerful tools to manage your media files.
The first time you open Final Cut Pro, it automatically creates a library file in the Movies folder. You can import media into the library file or have Final Cut Pro access media files in other locations. The Final Cut Pro library database tracks your edit decisions, the associated metadata, and all your events, projects, and clips (as well as any optimized or rendered media files). The library database also keeps track of all your source media files (video files, audio files, or still-image files), whether they are stored in the Final Cut Pro library file or in other locations. As your library grows, you can rename, copy, move, and delete your clips, events, and projects as necessary.
You can use multiple libraries and events to organize media and projects to suit your workflow. For example, copying or moving events is useful if you want to work on a project using another Mac that has Final Cut Pro installed, or if you want to free up space on your computer’s hard disk. Use other media management tools such as the Consolidate command for backups and managing shared storage.
The following are some common media management tasks:
Transcoding your source media files to optimized or proxy formats that are high quality and easy to work with. See Manage optimized and proxy media files.
Backing up your work. See Back up projects, events, and libraries.
Consolidating source media files in one location. See Consolidate projects, events, and libraries.
Locating source media files. See Locate source media files.
Relinking clips to media files. See Relink clips to media files.
Managing multiple libraries, including copying and moving items between libraries. See Managing libraries overview.
Creating camera archives to save the contents of your camera or camcorder as readily available backups on any computer. See Create and manage camera archives.
Importing media from cameras, an external storage disk, or another device is also generally considered a form of media management. See Importing overview.