Why is Relinking Media Necessary?

Regardless of which NLE you use for media editing, you’ve probably suffered through the hassle of relinking media. In addition to grumbling about the time this takes, you may have wondered what caused these breaks and how to prevent it.

The key point you need to understand is that, with one exception, no NLE actually imports media when you select “File > Import.” Rather, it simply imports a link – or “reference” – to where that file is stored. This link is called the “path” to that file.

NOTE: The exception is Apple Final Cut Pro when you choose “Open in Library” during import. This actually copies the media file into the Library container. Apple specifically created this option to fix the problem of unlinked media files. However, there are limitations with using this, so I don’t always recommend this option.

All path names start with the name of the storage volume – “Thunderblade” in my example above – followed by the name of every folder that contains the file.

Path names are like the address to your house. There is one and only one person with your name at your address:

Your name
Street name and number
Suite or Apartment number (if necessary)
City, State, Postal Code
Country

Just so, there is one and only one file stored in that location on your hard disk. While you can have duplicate file names you CAN NOT have duplicate files names in the same folder. Just as only one house can be built at your address.

In my example, the file “Lisa smile 720p.mov” is stored in “Larry’s Lighting Shoot,” which is stored in “Training Media,” which is stored in the volume named “Thunderblade.” There may be other “Lisa smile 720p.mov” media files stored elsewhere, but only one at this address. The path name is unique for every file stored on your system.

So far, so good.

But, links are very fragile. As soon as the path name stored in the NLE doesn’t match the actual path name to the file, the NLE flags the file as “unlinked.” For example, once you import a media file into an NLE:

• If you rename a media file, it unlinks.
• If you move that file into a different folder, it unlinks.
• If you move that file to a different storage volume, it unlinks.
• If you rename a folder that contains that media file, it unlinks.
• If you move a folder containing that media file, it unlinks.
• If you rename a storage volume, it unlinks.

In other words, if you do anything that changes the path name you break the connection between the NLE and the media file.

SO, WHAT DO YOU DO?

The easiest way to prevent broken links is to think about where you want to store media before you import it. You can rename and move media files as much as you BEFORE you import them, just not afterward.

In my case, for every project, I create a “parent” folder. Then, inside that parent folder, I create a folder for each media category: video, graphics, audio, images…. Then, inside each of these category folders I create as many subfolders as I need to store project files.

By creating this organizational structure at the beginning of a project, we are more likely to store media in the right place when we first copy it into our systems. Then, as long as we don’t rename or move files after we import them, we’ll never have to worry about broken links in the future.

FIND THE PATH NAME

To see the path name for any file in a folder on a Mac:

• Select a folder
• Enable View > Show Path Bar

The path for whatever file or folder you select in that folder will be displayed at the bottom of the window; which I used in the screen shot at the beginning.

You can also see the path name for any selected file in the Finder by choosing File > Get Info and looking at the text in the Where field (red arrow).

You can also use Terminal to permanently display the full path name for every file or folder on your system. Here’s a link that describes how.

EXTRA CREDIT

Here are two tutorials on how to deal with broken links:

• Relink in Final Cut Pro
• Relink in Premiere Pro (This is a bit old, but still works. I should probably update this.)

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