3.11.1. Export Formats

HitFilm gives you full control over the settings used when exporting. There are a number of different formats available for export, each optimized for a specific purpose or application. Each format also includes its own options for presets which use that format.

MPEG-4 (MP4) Options

The MP4 format uses the H.264 codec, which is superb for creating final content for delivery. It creates high quality video at remarkably small sizes, so is excellent for creating videos suitable for uploading to the internet. The MP4 format is designed as a final delivery format.

General Options

• Name: Enter a name for your preset. This is the name that will be shown in the Presets panel of the Export screen.
• Format: The format used by the preset. This option is selected from the New menu at the bottom of the panel, before the preset is made, and cannot be edited here.
• Comment: You may add a comment to your preset, to remind you of details of the compression, or when the preset is intended to be used, or other information.

Video

• Codec: MP4 export requires the use of the H.264 codec, so this setting cannot be edited.
• Width / Height: Set the dimensions at which the timeline will be exported. By default these will be set to the dimensions of the selected timeline. You can also tick the box under “From Source” to have the preset automatically use the dimensions of the timeline being exported.

• Scale Mode: This menu lets you control how the timeline is fitted into the exported frame.

1. Keep Aspect Ratio is the default, and prevents the frame from being distorted if the export resolution uses a different aspect ratio from the timeline.
2. Center will center the source timeline into the export resolution, without scaling. If the source is larger than your export resolution, it will be cropped to fit. If your source is smaller than the export resolution, black edges will be added.
3. Ignore Aspect Ratio will warp the source timeline to fit the size and shape of the export resolution.
4. Keep Aspect Ratio by Expanding will increase the scale of the source timeline as required to fill the export resolution, which may result in some cropping of the source timeline.

• Frame Rate: This defaults to From Source, so the frame rate of whatever timeline you are exporting will be used, and should generally be left there. You can deselect the From Source option and manually select a frame rate, but keep in mind that changing the frame rate will affect the speed at which the video in the exported file plays back.
• Aspect Ratio: sets the aspect ratio of individual pixels in your exported file. Modern HD formats nearly always use square pixels, but if you wish to export using non-square pixels, you can set the aspect ratio here.
• Profile: Profiles define specific sets of capabilities in the exported file. Baseline keeps file sizes to a minimum. Main is the standard for broadcast TV, and is usually the best for standard definition content. High is the broadcast standard for HD television and Blu-Ray, and is also used for high quality digital storage.
• Level: A Level defines a specific set of constraints within the selected Profile. These might be limitations on resolution or frame rate, or maximum bitrate. Increasing the Level will increase the available resolutions, bit rates, and frame rate options.
• Encoding: You can select between variable or constant bitrate encoding. Bitrate refers to the rate at which the decoded data of the file is processed. Variable Bitrate is preferred in most cases. It allows a higher bitrate to be used in more complex frames of the file, and lower bitrates to be used in less complex areas where the additional data is not needed. Constant Bitrate uses the same bitrate for all frames regardless of their complexity, which can be useful for streaming content, but will tend toward quality degradation in more complex areas of the exported file.
• Target Bitrate: When using Variable Bitrate encoding, the software will aim to make this the average bitrate for the entire file. In general, increasing the Target Bitrate increases the quality of the exported file.
• Max Bitrate: When using Variable Bitrate encoding, this sets the highest bitrate that will be used for complex portions of the timeline. In general, set the Max Bitrate about 50% higher than your Target for best results.
• Bitrate: If you are using Constant Bitrate encoding, there will only be one Bitrate slider, which defines the constant bitrate that will be used.

Audio

• Codec: MP4 export requires the AAC audio format, so this setting cannot be edited
• Channels: HitFilm export uses stereo audio, stored in two channels (left and right).
• Sample Rate: Set the sample rate used by the exported audio. By default, HitFilm will use the same sample rate as the timeline that is being exported. However, if you wish to change it, you can deselect the “From Source” option, and choose a different sample rate from the menu. The sample rate refers to the number of audio samples per second of audio, and is similar to frame rate of a video signal. Higher sample rates don’t necessarily bring a perceptible improvement in audio quality, but they can allow for more extensive editing to be done without audible damage to the signal. CD audio uses 44.1 KHz, while digital video typically uses 48 KHz.
• Bitrate: The audio bitrate balances the file size and the audio quality. Higher bitrates will give greater fidelity at the cost of larger file sizes. 192 kbps is a typical High Quality setting, while 256 kbps is commonly used by professional AAC audio files for maximum fidelity. In the AAC format, exceeding 256 kbps is not likely to provide perceptible quality increase, though some other audio formats which use less efficient compression methods may benefit from higher bitrate values.

Image Sequence Options

Image sequences have the benefit of exporting one frame at a time, which can save you time in the event of unexpected power loss, as you only need to resume exporting from the most recently rendered frame (with most video formats you would need to start exporting again from the start). Several common image types are provided, including PNG, JPG, BMP and OpenEXR.

Image sequences cannot include audio.

General Options

• Name: Enter a name for your preset. This is the name that will be shown in the Presets panel of the Export screen.
• Format: The format used by the preset. This option is selected from the New menu at the bottom of the panel, before the preset is made, and cannot be edited here.
• Comment: You may add a comment to your preset, to remind you of details of the compression, or when the preset is intended to be used, or other information.

Video

• Format: Select the image format to be used by the exported sequence. PNG and BMP offer high quality images, but larger file sizes. JPG images provide excellent compression, for much smaller files that still offer acceptable image quality. OpenEXR is not intended as a real-time playback format. It is specifically designed to be a lossless, high quality interchange format. OpenEXR is excellent for transferring video between different software. Combined with HitFilm 4 Pro’s 16-bit or 32-bit render pipeline, OpenEXR is the best option for maintaining maximum quality, though filesizes are likely to be large.

• Prefix: You can enter a prefix that will be used in the name of each image in the sequence. By default the prefix is set to “image”, but you can enter any text you wish to use.

1. Example: The file names of the exported images will combine the prefix with the image number. This example shows what the image names will look like.

• Dimensions: By default the dimensions will be set to From Source, so the dimensions of whatever timeline is being exported will be used. If you wish to override this, and create a preset that will always export to fixed dimensions, you can disable the “From Source” option, and set specific dimensions at which the timeline will be exported.

• Scale Mode: This menu lets you control how the timeline is fitted into the exported frame.

1. Keep Aspect Ratio is the default, and prevents the frame from being distorted if the export resolution uses a different aspect ratio from the timeline.
2. Center will center the source timeline into the export resolution, without scaling. If the source is larger than your export resolution, it will be cropped to fit. If your source is smaller than the export resolution, black edges will be added.
3. Ignore Aspect Ratio will warp the source timeline to fit the size and shape of the export resolution.
4. Keep Aspect Ratio by Expanding will increase the scale of the source timeline as required to fill the export resolution, which may result in some cropping of the source timeline.

• Channels: If you are exporting to a format that supports alpha channels, such as PNG or OpenEXR, then this option allows you to select which channels are included in the export.

1. RGB will export only the color data.
2. RGBA includes the color data as well as an alpha channel, to store the transparency data contained in the timeline being exported. If you are exporting to JPG or BMP formats, no alpha channel option will be available, as these formats cannot support alpha channels.

• Compression: If you select PNG format, this slider will allow you to adjust the amount of compression applied to the image. PNG files are always lossless, so the quality remains the same regardless of the compression level used. However, compressing a lossless file to a smaller file size does required more processing, and will therefore slow things down. Lower values create larger files, but they will process very quickly. Higher values reduce file size, but take longer to process. The default value of 20 strikes a good balance between file size and export time. The Use Source checkbox tries to find the best compression value for each image, based on the source file. This can help save space, but will negatively impact export times. If you select OpenEXR format, a variety of compression options will be listed.

1. Uncompressed: no compression.
2. PLZ (lossless): This is the default compressor option. A wavelet transform is applied to the pixel data, and the result is Huffman-encoded. This scheme tends to provide the best compression ratio for the types of images that are typically processed at Industrial Light & Magic. Files are compressed and decompressed at roughly the same speed. For photographic images with film grain, the files are reduced to between 35 and 55 percent of their uncompressed size.
3. RLE (lossless): Differences between horizontally adjacent pixels are run-length encoded. This method is fast, and works well for images with large flat areas, but for photographic images, the compressed file size is usually only between 60 and 75 percent of the uncompressed size.
4. ZIP (lossless): Differences between horizontally adjacent pixels are compressed using the DEFLATE compression algorithm. 16 rows of pixels are accumulated and compressed together as a single block. ZIP decompression is faster than PIZ decompression, but ZIP compression is significantly slower. Photographic images tend to shrink to between 45 and 55 percent of their uncompressed size.
5. ZIPS (lossless): Like ZIP compression, but operates on one scan line (row) at a time.
6. PXR24 (lossy): RGB pixel data is converted to luminance and chroma and then differences between horizontally adjacent pixels are compressed similar to the ZIP compressor.
7. B44 (lossy): RGB pixel data is converted to luminance and chroma and then split into blocks of four by four pixels. Each block is then compressed into a smaller size. The size of a compressed B44 EXR file is about 25 percent of the uncompressed image and depends on the number of pixels in the image, but not on the data in the pixels. All images with the same resolution and the same set of channels have the same size.
8. B44A (lossy): Like B44, except that blocks of four by four pixels where all pixels have the same value are compressed even further. For images with large uniform areas, B44A produces smaller files than B44 compression.

• Quality: If you select JPG format, this option will be available. By default it is set to From Source, but if you wish to customize the quality level used, you can deselect the” From Source” option and manually specify the quality level. Higher values will give better image quality and larger file sizes.
• Color Bit Depth: By default this is set to From Source, and will use the bit depth selected in your Project settings. If you want to override the project settings, so the preset always exports to a fixed bit depth, you can deselect the “From Source” option, and manually select either 16-bit Float or 32-bit Float color depth.

Quicktime (MOV) Options

The options for .mov export differ depending on if you are using a Mac or a PC. If you’re using HitFilm on a Mac you can access Apple’s Quicktime format, with several codecs providing a range of compression options from H.264 to ProRes 4444. The ProRes options are particularly useful for creating high quality files suitable for further editing. On Windows, you can export to MOV using the Cineform codec to create high quality compressed files suitable for further editing outside of HitFilm.

General Options

• Name: Enter a name for your preset. This is the name that will be shown in the Presets panel of the Export screen.
• Format: The format used by the preset. This option is selected from the New menu at the bottom of the panel, before the preset is made, and cannot be edited here.
• Comment: You may add a comment to your preset, to remind you of details of the compression, or when the preset is intended to be used, or other information.

Video

• Codec: Select the codec to be used for Export. The codec choices differ depending on whether you are running a Mac or a Windows machine.

1. Mac Codecs: The ProRes codecs provide a range of high quality options, and are popular among professional editors. AVC/H.264 is suitable when small file size is critical. Photo-JPEG is a high quality format which stores each frame of video as a JPEG image, within the .mov container. Note that if you wish to access individual image files after export, you should use the Image Sequence export option.
2. Windows Codecs: The CineForm codec provides a high quality, high performance file, and it an excellent choice for creating files suitable for further editing.

• Width / Height: By default HitFilm will use the dimensions of the timeline being exported. If you wish to override this, and create a preset that will always export to fixed dimensions, you can disable the “From Source” option, and set specific dimensions at which the timeline will be exported.

• Scale Mode: This menu lets you control how the timeline is fitted into the exported frame.

1. Keep Aspect Ratio is the default, and prevents the frame from being distorted if the export resolution uses a different aspect ratio from the timeline.
2. Center will center the source timeline into the export resolution, without scaling. If the source is larger than your export resolution, it will be cropped to fit. If your source is smaller than the export resolution, black edges will be added.
3. Ignore Aspect Ratio will warp the source timeline to fit the size and shape of the export resolution.
4. Keep Aspect Ratio by Expanding will increase the scale of the source timeline as required to fill the export resolution, which may result in some cropping of the source timeline.

• Frame Rate: This defaults to From Source, so the frame rate of whatever timeline you are exporting will be used, and should generally be left there. You can deselect the From Source option and manually select a frame rate, but keep in mind that changing the frame rate will affect the speed at which the video in the exported file plays back.
• Channels: If you are exporting to a format that supports alpha channels, such as ProRes 444, then this option allows you to select which channels are included in the export. RGB will export only the color data. RGBA includes the color data as well as an alpha channel, to store the transparency data contained in the timeline being exported.
• Bitrate: If you select the AVC/H.264 codec, this option will be available. Bitrate refers to the rate at which the decoded data of the file is processed. Higher bitrate settings will provide a higher quality file.
• Key Frame Interval: If you select the AVC/H.264 codec, this option will be available. The Key Frame Interval controls the frequency at which key frames will be stored when encoding the footage. Higher values create smaller files, at the expense of image quality and performance. Lower values improve performance and image quality, but also increase file sizes.
• Quality: If you select Photo-JPEG codec, this option will be available. It controls the quality of the JPEG compression used to encode each frame of the video. Higher values will give better image quality and larger file sizes.

Audio

• Codec: Select the audio codec used by the exported file. AAC is a high quality compressed format designed for final playback, Apple Lossless and Uncompressed PCM are full-quality formats useful for audio editing.
• Channels: HitFilm export uses stereo audio, stored in two channels (left and right).
• Sample Rate: Set the sample rate used by the exported audio. By default, HitFilm will use the same sample rate as the timeline that is being exported. However, if you wish to change it, you can deselect the “From Source” option, and choose a different sample rate from the menu. The sample rate refers to the number of audio samples per second of audio, and is similar to frame rate of a video signal. Higher sample rates don’t necessarily bring a perceptible improvement in audio quality, but they can allow for more extensive editing to be done without audible damage to the signal. CD audio uses 44.1 KHz, while digital video typically uses 48 KHz.
• Bitrate: The audio bitrate balances the file size and the audio quality. Higher bitrates will give greater fidelity at the cost of larger file sizes. 192 kbps is a typical High Quality setting, while 256 kbps is commonly used by professional AAC audio files for maximum fidelity. In the AAC format, exceeding 256 kbps is not likely to provide perceptible quality increase, though some other audio formats which use less efficient compression methods may benefit from higher bitrate values.

Audio Video Interleave (AVI) Options [Windows Only]

On Windows you can export to the CineForm codec to create high quality intermediate files suitable for further editing. You can also export to uncompressed AVI or legacy DV codecs.

General Options

• Name: Enter a name for your preset. This is the name that will be shown in the Presets panel of the Export screen.
• Format: The format used by the preset. This option is selected from the New menu at the bottom of the panel, before the preset is made, and cannot be edited here.
• Comment: You may add a comment to your preset, to remind you of details of the compression, or when the preset is intended to be used, or other information.

Video

• Codec: Select the codec to be used for Export. CineForm provides a high quality, high performance file, and it an excellent choice for creating files suitable for further editing. Uncompressed provides maximum quality, but very large file sizes. DV NTSC and DV PAL are legacy standard definition formats provided for backward compatibility. NTSC is the SD video standard in America, while PAL is the SD video standard for Europe.
• Dimensions: Set the dimensions at which the timeline will be exported. By default these will be set to the dimensions of the selected timeline. You can also tick the box under “From Source” to have the preset automatically use the dimensions of the timeline being exported.

• Scale Mode: This menu lets you control how the timeline is fitted into the exported frame.

1. Keep Aspect Ratio is the default, and prevents the frame from being distorted if the export resolution uses a different aspect ratio from the timeline.
2. Center will center the source timeline into the export resolution, without scaling. If the source is larger than your export resolution, it will be cropped to fit. If your source is smaller than the export resolution, black edges will be added.
3. Ignore Aspect Ratio will warp the source timeline to fit the size and shape of the export resolution.
4. Keep Aspect Ratio by Expanding will increase the scale of the source timeline as required to fill the export resolution, which may result in some cropping of the source timeline.

• Frame Rate: This defaults to From Source, so the frame rate of whatever timeline you are exporting will be used, and should generally be left there. You can deselect the From Source option and manually select a frame rate, but keep in mind that changing the frame rate will affect the speed at which the video in the exported file plays back.
• Channels: If you are exporting to a format that supports alpha channels, such as CineForm or Uncompressed, then this option allows you to select which channels are included in the export. RGB will export only the color data. RGBA includes the color data as well as an alpha channel, to store the transparency data contained in the timeline being exported.
• Quality: When the CineForm codec is selected, five different quality settings are available. For most professional level projects, Film Scan 1 or High are the best options. They are suitable for acquisition, post-production, and rendering tasks. Film Scan 2 offers the highest quality, but is overkill for most projects. It might be useful, however, if you must export a file that will required extreme post-processing. Medium gives a smaller file size, while still creating a file suitable for modest post-processing. Low should be used when small files are of primary concern, and post-processing is not required.
• Format: Cineform allows you to export using 10-bit YUV color, or 12-bit RGB color.

Audio

• Codec: The PCM codec is used for audio in AVI files.
• Channels: HitFilm export uses stereo audio, stored in two channels (left and right).
• Sample Rate: Set the sample rate used by the exported audio. By default, HitFilm will use the same sample rate as the timeline that is being exported. However, if you wish to change it, you can deselect the “From Source” option, and choose a different sample rate from the menu. The sample rate refers to the number of audio samples per second of audio, and is similar to frame rate of a video signal. Higher sample rates don’t necessarily bring a perceptible improvement in audio quality, but they can allow for more extensive editing to be done without audible damage to the signal. CD audio uses 44.1 KHz, while digital video typically uses 48 KHz.

Waveform Audio File Format (WAV) Options

WAV is a high quality audio-only format, for creating audio files without attached video. WAV files cannot include video.

General Options

• Name: Enter a name for your preset. This is the name that will be shown in the Presets panel of the Export screen.
• Format: The format used by the preset. This option is selected from the New menu at the bottom of the panel, before the preset is made, and cannot be edited here.
• Comment: You may add a comment to your preset, to remind you of details of the compression, or when the preset is intended to be used, or other information.

Audio

• Codec: The PCM codec is used for audio in WAV files.
• Channels: HitFilm export uses stereo audio, stored in two channels (left and right).
• Sample Rate: Set the sample rate used by the exported audio. By default, HitFilm will use the same sample rate as the timeline that is being exported. However, if you wish to change it, you can deselect the “From Source” option, and choose a different sample rate from the menu. The sample rate refers to the number of audio samples per second of audio, and is similar to frame rate of a video signal. Higher sample rates don’t necessarily bring a perceptible improvement in audio quality, but they can allow for more extensive editing to be done without audible damage to the signal. CD audio uses 44.1 KHz, while digital video typically uses 48 KHz.