Import MPG/MPEG File for Final Cut Pro, FCP X Editing (Yosemite)

Have trouble importing MPG(MPEG) files into Final Cut Pro 7, FCP X for further editing? If so, follow the quick-start guide to learn how to prepare MPG videos for editing in Final Cut Pro without quality loss.

We usually saw FCP users encounter importing issues when attempting to edit MPG or MPEG files with Final Cut Pro X. Let's see some frequently asked questions on this:

Q1: I have a camera that exports video from my camera to mpeg 2 on the computer. Does Final Cut pro support MPEG 2? Does the quality look good?

Q2: I am trying to import MPEG-2 files into FCP X. I have the raw files from a Sony Handycam HDR-SR5. These files were recorded as MPEG-2 files and copied from the camera hard drives (entire folders were copied containing the MPEG-2 files) to a local hard drive on my computer. Final Cut Pro X does not recognize the files and will not import them.

You probably would like to use Final Cut Pro to edit MPG or MPEG-2 files, especially some recordings from a camcorder to get better videos or more wonderful video files. While, some errors appeared: file import failure, audio going out of sync, video but no audio when brought into the timeline.

In fact, MPEG video compression is only ideal for recording and playback. If you want to edit MPEG-2 in Final Cut Pro X, you need to transcode them to a more edit friendly format. Now I’ll share you the best way how to work with MPEG/MPG files in Final Cut Pro(X). Get the tricks bellow.

Since the most compatible video format for FCP editing is Apple ProRes MOV. So you need to find a third party program to convert mepg-2 to ProRes first before loading to FCP. Here Brorsoft Video Converter for Mac is highly recommended to help you achieve your goal.

With this powerful video converter program, you can effortlessly transcode MPEG-2 to FCP friendly movie format ProRes (Note: it applies to all versions including FCP X, FCP 6, FCP 7, etc) keeping the original quality. Besides Final Cut, this software can also export AIC for iMovie/FCE, DNxHD for Avid Media Composer and more NLE systems. Below is the detailed guide on converting MPEG/MPG clips to Final Cut Pro X friendly videos for smoothly playback and editing.

Converting MPG/MPEG to Apple ProRes 422 MOV for Final Cut Pro X

1. Load MPG/MPEG files to the Program

You can directly drag and drop the MPG/MPEG files to the software, or click "Add" button to locate the source files into the MPG to FCP Mac converter.



2. Choose Final Cut Pro Profile

Press "Format" option and navigate the mouse cursor to choose "Format > Final Cut Pro > Apple ProRes 422 (*.mov)" as the best codec for FCP 6/7 and FCP X on Mac.



Tip: Before conversion, you can click the “Settings” icon to customize the video/audio settings: Video Codec, video size, bit rate, frame rate, Audio codec, sample rate, audio channels for Final Cut Pro.

3. Start MPG to FCP X Conversion on Mac OS X

Click the big "Convert" button at the bottom right corner, this Mac video converter will start to convert MPG/MPEG to ProRes for Final Cut Pro X immediately. Once the conversion completes, directly import the converted files to Final Cut Pro X, and then you can play, edit MPG/MPEG files in Final Cut Pro X freely.



Additional tips:

1. For FCP X users, before you try to do the conversion, don’t forget to make sure that you have installed the Apple ProRes Codec manually since the FCP X asks users to install it by themselves.

2. If you want to edit MPEG/MPG in iMovie or FCE, you just need to choose the “iMovie and Final Cut Express -> Apple InterMediate Codec (AIC) (*.mov)” as the output format in the second step.

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