Instruction Manual

1053
Video and le formats overview
In Motion, you can create projects that integrate many media types using various formats.
Whether you’re using a Motion project preset or creating a custom setting, it’s important to
know what distinguishes one video format from another. This chapter details the characteristics
of video formats and explains the frame sizes, how interlacing works, the dierence between
square and nonsquare pixels, and which frame rates correspond to which video formats. For
a complete list of le formats supported by Motion, see File types supported by Motion on
page 165.
To learn more about video and le formats, choose an item in the Help table of contents (the
sidebar to the left of this window).
Popular video codecs for le exchange
You can use video compressed with nearly any video codec in Motion. When you work on a
project in Motion, it is best to use high-quality codecs with a minimum of compression. Highly
compressed video les, such as those compressed using the MPEG-4 or Sorenson codec, are
likely to be unsuitable for creating high-quality work.
For purposes of media exchange between applications, not all codecs support alpha channels.
Alpha channels dene transparency in a clip, and are useful if you’re delivering an eects shot
for use in someone else’s composition. If you are required to export a composition using a codec
with no alpha channel support, you must export the alpha channel as a separate grayscale
media le.
Note: Motion processes color in the RGB color space. Any clips that were captured or
recompressed using a Y'C
B
C
R
-aware codec, such as DV, the Apple ProRes family, or Uncompressed
8-bit 4:2:2, are converted to the RGB color space when used in a Motion project. Clips exported
from Motion using a Y'C
B
C
R
codec are converted back into the Y'C
B
C
R
color space.
Apple ProRes
Apple ProRes codecs provide an unparalleled combination of multistream, real-time editing
performance, impressive image quality, and reduced storage rates. Apple ProRes codecs take
full advantage of multicore processing and feature fast, reduced-resolution decoding modes. All
Apple ProRes codecs support any frame size (including SD, HD, 2K, and 4K) at full resolution. The
data rates vary based on codec type, image content, frame size, and frame rate.
Apple ProRes includes the following formats:
Video and le formats
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