Apple Compressor: Extract a Short Range from Longer Video Clip

Most of the time, we work with media in Final Cut Pro X with no problems. But, every so often, we need or want to work with a shorter range from within a longer video clip.

This can be useful when you need to share media between editors and want to minimize storage space, or when you recorded an hour but only need to work with about a minute. Or, well, just because…

Compressor makes this easy. Here’s how.

GET STARTED

Open Apple Compressor.

Choose File > Import Media (shortcut: Cmd + I ). Here, for example, is a clip of molten steel pouring into a form. I want to extract a short section where the steel just starts to flow.

Drag the playhead under the image to the point where you want the extract to start and type I. This becomes the new In.

Then, drag the playhead to the frame where you want the extract to end and type O. This becomes the new Out.

• To adjust either the In or the Out, drag the small triangle at either end to a new position.
• To remove the In, drag the right-pointing triangle all the way left.
• To remove the Out, drag the left-pointing triangle all the way to the right.

NOTE: There is no keyboard shortcut that resets either the In or the Out.

At this point, you have two options:

• One: Transcode the clip into a new codec suitable for editing
• Two: Extract the clip using the same codecs as the original

OUTPUT OPTIONS

Option One

To transcode the clip into a new codec – I generally recommend ProRes422 for all footage shot on a camera, ProRes 4444 for all footage that was first created on a computer:

• In Settings, open the ProRes category
• Drag the Apple ProRes 422 setting on top of the name of the clip in the middle of the screen

• Assign a location. Here, I’m using a custom location where all processed files are stored in a folder on my second drive called “Compressed Files.”

• Click the Start Batch button in the lower right corner.

Done

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Option Two

To extract a clip without changing the source codec, follow the same three steps as above:

• In Settings, open the ProRes category
• Apply the Apple ProRes 422 setting to the clip
• Assign a location.

• In the Video tab of the Inspector, check Enable video pass-through

NOTE: Even though we’ve applied the ProRes 422 compression setting, the Info section at the top shows that the exported clip will match the source file, which is ProRes 422 HQ.

• In the Audio tab of the Inspector, check Enable audio pass-through.

NOTE: Again, this checkbox overrides the audio settings in the ProRes setting and matches the format of the extracted clip to the source clip.

• Click the Start Batch button in the lower right corner.

Done

SUMMARY

What makes this feature especially powerful is the ability to either match the format of the source clip precisely or transcode the clip to the setting of our choice.

Very cool.

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