Question about exporting FCP movie file

Hi all,

I am running FInal Cut Pro X Ver 10.0 on my MacBook Pro. I just finished creating a video and its around an hour and 42 min long (5.9 MB according to file info). Naturally, when I tried to export the movie as a QuickTime file to my desktop, I didn't have enough space for it. My question is can I get an external hard drive and directly export the movie (as a Quicktime file) to the hard drive? If so, what one will I need to make sure it is compatible? I would like to be able to move the hard drive to the PCs at work if possible and then upload the video to YouTube.

Thanks!

Hi Cramer and welcome to the forums. Incredible expert advice here.

First I have to ask, 5.9MB for a 1:45minute video. Is that a typo?

But to try and answer your question, yes exporting a different drive SHOULD work just fine. How big depends on how you are exporting: master file? Very big. Youtube? Maybe gives us more info.

That's what it says in the file info, of course I guess it may not be factoring in render and special effect/transitions? Could the actual exported file be much larger than that? I'm afraid I don't know much about that sort of stuff.

I would be exporting directly from FCP with the "share" drop down window, where it says export movie. I would like to do that onto an external hard drive, and then upload it to YouTube from there.

And, you'll want a FAT formatted drive for PCs, and to export H.264 for PCs, not ProRes.

Hi,

You can indeed do this. You have many options for export but the simplest one for YouTube would be the YouTube preset as this codecs it specifically for the internet and YouTube viewing. When you choose export go YouTube, then Next and the pop up window gives you options on save locations, chose your external drive from the far left column and click ok. It will then save to their.

As an extra note, when you set up the project to begin your edit you can also work from and save to (program files) a designated external drive, which you can then also save your exports to.

Hope that helps.

What your final goal for this clip? If you want to upload them online, then you can directly share to YouTube from FCP, or if you want to playback on some portable devices, you can try to downscale your file size and output as H.264 would be better. But downscale always relaed to reduce quality.

Hi, the main goal for the clip would just to be on the company YouTube channel. If I can transfer the file to one of their computers so that they always have a master copy, that'd be great too. But YouTube is the main priority.

Hi,


I tried to export it directly with the "YouTube" button, but i got a messaging saying my file exceeded the 2 GB limit. I already verified the YouTube account so that videos longer than 15 minutes can be uploaded to the channel. Is there any way to get around this in FCP? If not, I think exporting to an external hard drive is my only option.