How to Edit XAVC in Final Cut Pro/iMovie Smoothly

• Part 1: How to Import XAVC to Final Cut Pro/iMovie
• Part 2: How to Convert Sony XAVC to FCP/iMovie ProRes 422 MOV

How to Import XAVC to Final Cut Pro/iMovie

XAVC is a brand new recording format keeping footages in up to 4K resolution, which is not supported by most of the video editors. So you may ask "Can I edit XAVC in Final Cut Pro/iMovie?" Well, let me tell you the truth, Apple just released FCP 10.0.8, which added support for XAVC HD & 4K. If you want to import XAVC to FCP, make sure to update your Final Cut Pro to the latest version, and then visit Sony’s site to download their latest import plugin "PDZK-LT2 vs1.10." Once the plugin is installed, you can then launch FCP X and click the import button to load the footages, and then edit XAVC in FCP X.

However, as to the older version Final Cut Pro, such as the FCP 7, and the iMovie (iMovie’11, iMovie’09, etc.), there’s no official support for XAVC right now. Besides, though FCP X has the XAVC import plugins, it cannot edit the XAVC footages as smoothly as editing the ProRes 422 MOV videos because XAVC is not the default supported format of FCP. Furthermore, a quick test has showed that FCP X does not optimize the XAVC media.

Therefore, if you want to smoothly edit XAVC in Final Cut Pro without changing the original video quality (NOT the video resolution), or import XAVC to iMovie, the best solution is to transcode XAVC to FCP/iMovie ProRes 422 MOV video format. Which converter can convert XAVC to FCP/XAVC to iMovie? Doremisoft XAVC Video Converter for Mac is your best choice.

How to Convert Sony XAVC to FCP/iMovie ProRes 422 MOV

Run the Mac XAVC Converter, and then click the "Add Files" icon or directly drag and drop to load the XAVC footages to the converter. You can add multiple XAVC files to the program at a time.

Tips: to download the XAVC footages to your computer, you may need the Content Browser v2.0 and a Sony SxS card reader/Echo Thunderbolt Card reader, or a computer equipped with an Express Card 34 slot.

Hit the "Convert to" menu bar. In the drop-up list, you can see the "Final Cut Pro" and "iMovie" tab. Just point at the tab and choose the ProRes 422 MOV as the output format.

Finally, press the big blue button on the bottom right to start converting XAVC to iMovie/FCP. After converting XAVC to MOV, you can then effortlessly import to edit XAVC in Final Cut Pro/iMovie.