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882Final Cut Pro User Guide
Glossary
4:3 The aspect ratio for standard-definition (SD) broadcast video. The ratio of the
width to the height of the visible area of the video frame is 4:3, or 1.33. See also
standard-definition (SD).
16:9 A widescreen aspect ratio for video. The ratio of the width to the height of the visible
area of the video frame is 16:9, or 1.78. The 16:9 aspect ratio is used for high-definition
(HD) video. See also high-definition (HD).
AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) Also called MPEG-4 Audio. A standard way of compressing
and encoding digital audio. AAC-encoded files rival the quality of audio CDs and generally
sound as good as or better than MP3 files encoded at the same or even a higher bit rate.
AC3 (Audio Codec 3, Advanced Codec 3, Acoustic Coder 3) A Dolby Digital compressed
audio format often used for encoding surround sound.
AIFF (Audio Interchange File Format) A cross-platform audio file format developed by
Apple. Like WAV files, AIFF files contain “chunks” of information, such as the Sound Data
Chunk, which contains the actual sample data, and the Common Chunk, which contains
sample rate and bit depth information.
alpha channel An image channel in addition to the R, G, and B (red, green, and blue) color
channels that is used to store transparency information for compositing. Alpha channels
are often 8-bit, but some applications support 16-bit alpha channels. In Final Cut Pro,
black represents 100 percent transparency, and white represents 100 percent opacity. Only
certain formats support alpha channels. Examples are Targa, TIFF, PNG, PSD, Apple ProRes
4444, and the QuickTime Animation codec. See also compositing, RGB.
angle editor You can open multicam clips in the angle editor to adjust the sync and the
angle order, or to add or delete angles. You can also use the angle editor to make edits
to the individual clips inside a multicam clip (such as trimming, making color corrections,
adding transitions, and so on). See also multicam clip.
angle viewer A viewer used to watch all angles of a multicam clip simultaneously while
switching or cutting to different angles in real time. You can cut and switch video and audio
at the same time or independently. For example, you can use the audio from angle 1 while
switching the video between angles 1 to 4. See also multicam clip.
animation editors See Audio Animation editor, Video Animation editor.