User Question:
Q1: “I got some .mkv files stored on my mac computer, and I wanna import them to video editor FCP for editing. But the editor seems that can not recognize the .mkv files. Who guys can give me some suggestion?”
Q2: “I have a 1080p MKV file I want to get into Final Cut Pro X. I know MKV won’t work in FCP X and that it needs to be converted to something friendlier like ProRes. Right now I’m converting the MKV using Perian in Quicktime but it’s taking an extremely long time: it’s been 15 hours and it’s only halfway through. I was wondering if there was something like that available for MKV files so I don’t have to re-encode. Any suggestions?”
From above questions, we can find that the FCP user tried to edit MKV files in FCP, but he noticed that FCP cannot handle MKV format. We guess some other users would met the similar trouble, thus, we give you the solution here.
First of all, let’s learn more about MKV format. MKV is a video and audio container format. Being different from other video formats, MKV could integrate various video and audio tracks into one file while most of other formats could only handle one single video and audio stream. It means that a MKV file would contain many media streams including several audios and subtitles, just like an image of DVD or Blu-ray movie, in which you can select different language which you want to hear and read.
- See why We Use MKV for DVD/Blu-ray Backup?
We had to tell you that when you intend to edit MKV in FCP, convert/transcode MKV to Apple ProRes for FCP/FCP X on Mac will the best and the only choice for you. For the reason that FCP (X) couldn’t read MKV as its native video format is Apple ProRes. Native format means that when using this format, one can easily import the video files into FCP (X) without rendering, if not, FCP X will not be able to recognize the movies or spend too much on the process of rendering.
The best Pavtube MKV to FCP Converter for Mac can help transcode MKV files to FCP (X) native video format Apple ProRes 422, Apple ProRes 422 HQ, Apple ProRes 422 (LT), Apple ProRes 422 (Proxy), or Apple ProRes 4444 on Mac OS X at super fast speed. Follow the guide.
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Beginners Turotial: How to convert MKV to Apple ProRes for FCP (X) on Mac with the best MKV to FCP Converter for Mac
Step 1. Load MKV files.
After download, install and launch the Pavtube MKV to FCP X Converter for Mac, click “Add Video” to add MKV file. Or you can also drag and drog MKV files to the program directly. If it is necessary, you can double click the each file to have a preview.
Step 2: Select Apple ProRes as the output format for FCP and set the output folder.
Click on the “Format” and get the dropdown menu, then move you pointer to “Final Cut Pro”. Under the sublist there are a few formats which are all compatible with FCP. Here we recommend the “Apple PreRes 422(*.mov)” if you give the priority to the quality of the converted videos for importing MKV to FCP keeping high quality. Then you can set the output folder by clicking “Browse” icon as you need.
Note: If you want the files to be in smaller size, you can follow Final Cut Pro > Apple ProRes 422(LT)(*mov) or Apple ProRes 422(*mov) option. If your files size is at SD levels, you are advised to choose “Final Cut Pro > Apple ProRes 422(Proxy)(*mov)”, which is recommended for 480i/p and 576i/p shootings as well.
- Learn how to work with Apple ProRes Codecs
Step 3: Click “Settings” icon to adjust audio and video parameters.
Click the “Settings” icon and you will go into a new interface named “Profile Settings”. You can adjust codec, bit rate, frame rate, sample rate and audio channel in the interface according to your needs and optimize the output file quality.
Note: You’d better set the video frame rate as 30fps, video size as 1920*1080 to keep the best quality for editing in FCP (X).
4. Transcode MKV to ProRes 422 MOV for FCP (X)
At last, hit the “Convert” button to transcode MKV to ProRes 422 MOV for FCP (X) editing on Mac Mountain Lion 10.8.
After the MKV to Apple ProRes for FCP on Mac conversion, you will be able to get the output files for FCP (X) via clicking on “Open” button effortlessly. Now you can import the MKV to FCP X and edit the MKV files in FCP without any trouble keeping high quality.
With Pavtube MKV to FCP Converter for Mac, you can easily change MKV files to FCP (X) for editing, this software runs fast, so you can convert your MKV footages to FCP (X) in less time, video and audio synchronization are perfectly guaranteed. Also learn how to enjoy mkv on Android or iPhone and import mkv to DaVinci Resolve 11 and After Effects CC for editing.