Apple Final Cut Pro 5 - Manual (Page 1402)

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Offline and Online Editing
Final Cut Pro allows you to do offline editing with low-
resolution copies of your media files, and then recapture
your footage at full resolution for the final online edit.
This chapter covers the following:
 About Offline/Online Editing (p. 51)
 Offline/Online Editing Workflows (p. 54)
 Using the OfflineRT Format in Final Cut Pro (p. 55)
 Online Editing on Non–Final Cut Pro Editing Systems (p. 60)
 Trading Project Files Using Email or the Internet (p. 61)
About Offline/Online Editing
The offline/online workflow allows you to use temporary, low-quality copies of your
footage to edit with, and then finish your project with full-resolution media. Lower-
resolution media files require less hard disk space and less computing power to process
transitions and effects. This means you can edit on an inexpensive computer or a
portable PowerBook system, and then finish at full-resolution on another system. Once
the creative cutting is complete, the online editing phase (also referred to as the
finishing phase) focuses on image quality, color correction, proper broadcast video
levels, and so on.
The two phases—offline and online editing—are connected via an Edit Decision List
(EDL), or other project interchange file, which is used to transfer all of your editing
choices from the finished low-quality session to the final high-quality session.