What are proxy files in video editing?

Proxies are low-resolution, low-bitrate stand-in copies of your original footage. You edit against them so playback stays smooth on modest hardware, then switch back to the originals for colour grading and final export. The proxy is never in your finished film — it exists purely to make the editing process responsive.

How do I create proxies in Premiere Pro?

Select your clips in the Project panel, right-click and choose Proxy > Create Proxies, then pick a preset and destination folder. Alternatively enable Create Proxies in the Ingest Settings panel of the Media Browser so Premiere generates them automatically on import. Add the Toggle Proxies button to the Program Monitor via the wrench icon to switch views.

What codec should I use for proxies?

ProRes Proxy on Mac, DNxHR LB on Windows, or H.264 if storage is tight. The important property is that the codec decodes cheaply — ProRes and DNxHR are intra-frame, meaning every frame stands alone, so scrubbing and reverse playback stay responsive. H.264 makes much smaller files but is inter-frame, so it scrubs less smoothly.

Do proxies reduce the quality of my final export?

No, provided the relink works correctly. Proxies are only used for playback during editing. When you export, the software reads from the original media. Always confirm you have toggled back to full resolution before final grading and export, since colour decisions made on a proxy can be misleading.

Why won't my proxies relink to the original footage?

Almost always because the original files were moved, renamed, or stored on a drive that is not mounted. Proxy attachment depends on a stable path and filename to the original. Set your folder structure before generating proxies, and never rename source clips afterwards — rename them before ingest if you need to.

How to Create Proxy Files for Video Editing (Premiere, Resolve, Final Cut)

By Hieu DinhPublished July 31, 2026

How to Create Proxy Files

Camera footage has outrun editing hardware. A modern mirrorless camera shoots 6K in a 10-bit codec; a drone produces high-bitrate HEVC; a cinema camera produces raw. Drop any of it on a timeline and a perfectly capable laptop starts dropping frames, because decoding that footage in real time is genuinely expensive work.

Proxies solve this by lying to your editor. You generate small, cheap-to-decode copies of your footage, edit against those, and switch back to the originals when it matters. The proxy never appears in your finished film.

The creation step is straightforward in every NLE. The parts that cause trouble are codec choice, where you put the files, and relinking — so this guide covers those properly rather than just listing menu commands.

What a Proxy Actually Is

A proxy is a lower-resolution, lower-bitrate copy of a source clip, in a codec chosen to decode cheaply rather than to look perfect or store efficiently.

Two properties matter, and the second is the one people miss.

Resolution. A 1080p or 720p proxy of a 6K source means the decoder handles a fraction of the pixels per frame.

Decode complexity. This matters more. Modern delivery codecs like HEVC and AV1 are inter-frame — most frames are described as differences from other frames, so displaying one frame may require decoding several. That is superb for file size and hostile to scrubbing, where you jump around the timeline unpredictably.

Proxy codecs like ProRes Proxy and DNxHR LB are intra-frame: every frame is compressed independently. Files are larger than an equivalent H.264, but any frame can be decoded on its own. Scrubbing, reverse playback, and J/K/L shuttling all stay responsive.

This is why "just transcode to small H.264" is not quite the same thing. It shrinks the file without fixing the decode-complexity half of the problem.

Choosing a Proxy Codec

Codec	Platform	Size	Scrubbing	Use when
ProRes Proxy	Mac (Windows decode)	Moderate	Excellent	Default on macOS
DNxHR LB	Cross-platform	Moderate	Excellent	Default on Windows
H.264	Everywhere	Smallest	Adequate	Storage is tight
Cineform	Cross-platform	Larger	Excellent	Legacy pipelines

On Mac, use ProRes Proxy. It is hardware-accelerated on Apple Silicon, integrated throughout the ecosystem, and it is what Final Cut Pro generates natively.

On Windows, use DNxHR LB. Equivalent intra-frame design, no Apple dependency.

Use H.264 when disk space is the binding constraint — laptop editing, location work, tight SSDs. Files can be a fraction of the ProRes size. You give up some scrubbing smoothness, which is a real but often acceptable tradeoff.

Proxy resolution

6K/8K source → 1080p proxies
4K source → 1080p proxies
1080p source → 720p proxies, or skip proxies entirely

If your source is already 1080p H.264 and playback stutters, the problem is more likely disk throughput or an underpowered decode path than resolution.

Creating Proxies in Premiere Pro

Premiere offers two routes.

Route 1: after import

Select clips in the Project panel.
Right-click → Proxy > Create Proxies.
Choose a format (QuickTime for ProRes, MXF for DNxHR) and a preset.
Set a destination — choose "Next to Original Media" only if your originals live somewhere sensible; otherwise pick a dedicated folder.
Adobe Media Encoder handles generation in the background.

Route 2: on ingest

Open the Media Browser.
Tick Ingest and choose Create Proxies.
Select a preset and destination.
Import as normal — proxies generate and attach automatically.

Route 2 is better for a project with a defined shape, because it means proxies exist from the moment footage lands.

Toggling proxies

Premiere does not add the toggle by default, which confuses a lot of people:

Click the wrench icon (Button Editor) under the Program Monitor.
Drag Toggle Proxies onto the button bar.
Click it to switch between proxy and full-resolution playback.

Blue means proxies are active. Check this before grading.

Creating Proxies in DaVinci Resolve

Resolve has two distinct mechanisms, and conflating them causes confusion.

Generated proxy media

Project Settings > Master Settings → set Proxy generation location.
Select clips in the Media Pool.
Right-click → Generate Proxy Media.
Choose format and resolution.

These are real files on disk, equivalent to Premiere's proxies.

Proxy Mode

Playback > Proxy Mode > Half / Quarter Resolution is different. It does not create files — Resolve decodes at reduced resolution on the fly, leveraging its resolution-independent architecture.

It costs no disk space and requires no generation time, but it still decodes the original codec, so it helps less with codecs that are expensive to decode in the first place.

Use both. Generate proxy media for heavy source formats; use Proxy Mode as a further playback aid during heavy grading. Resolve also offers Optimized Media, which is essentially proxy media under a different name, generated with its own project setting.

Creating Proxies in Final Cut Pro

Final Cut has the simplest implementation of the three.

Select clips in the browser.
Right-click → Transcode Media.
Tick Create proxy media.
Final Cut generates ProRes Proxy files inside the library or its external media location.

To switch: View menu in the top-right of the viewer → Proxy Preferred or Optimized/Original.

Proxy Preferred falls back to originals when a proxy is missing — safer than Proxy Only, which shows a missing-media error instead. If you are already working with Final Cut Pro exports or Apple Compressor, proxies fit into the same media-management layer.

Storage: Get This Right First

Most proxy pain is storage pain. Three rules:

Put proxies on your fastest drive. They exist to be read constantly during editing. A proxy on a slow external drive defeats the purpose entirely.

Keep them in a dedicated folder, separate from originals. Something like:

ProjectName/
├── Footage/          ← originals, never touched
├── Proxies/          ← generated, disposable
├── Audio/
└── Project/

The reason is that proxies are disposable and regenerable. Originals are not. Keeping them apart means you can delete the whole proxy folder to reclaim space, or exclude it from backups, without any risk to your source material. Our folder structure guide covers the wider layout.

Never rename or move originals after generating proxies. Proxy attachment depends on a stable path and filename. Establish your naming convention before ingest — see file naming conventions — because renaming afterwards is what breaks relinking.

Relinking Problems and How to Avoid Them

When proxies detach, the cause is nearly always one of:

Originals moved or renamed after proxy generation
External drive not mounted when the project opened
Proxy folder relocated without updating the project
Different machine with a different drive path

Fixes:

Premiere: right-click the clip → Proxy > Reattach Proxies, then point at the folder.
Resolve: right-click in the Media Pool → Relink Proxy Media.
Final Cut: the library tracks proxies internally; use File > Relink Files and choose the proxy location.

The reliable preventative is a folder structure set up before you generate anything, on a drive that mounts at a consistent path.

Before You Export

The most expensive proxy mistake is grading on one.

Proxy codecs are lower bit depth and often carry a different colour transform than your originals. Colour decisions made while a proxy is displayed can look substantially different at full resolution — and you will not discover it until the export.

Always toggle back to full resolution before colour grading and final export. Confirm it visually rather than trusting that you remembered.

Export itself always reads from originals regardless of the toggle, so the export is safe. It is the decisions made on proxy footage that are not.

Proxies Are Not the Same as Compression

Worth being precise about, because the two get conflated.

Proxies are an editing performance tool. Temporary, disposable, never delivered, deliberately larger-than-necessary in exchange for cheap decoding.

Compression is a delivery tool. Permanent, shipped to viewers, optimised for the smallest file that still looks good — using inter-frame codecs precisely because they are efficient.

They pull in opposite directions on purpose. A good proxy codec makes a poor delivery codec, and a good delivery codec makes a poor proxy.

You will generally need both: proxies to edit, then a proper compression pass on your finished export for whatever platform receives it. Our guides on compressing video on Mac and reducing video file size without losing quality cover the delivery side.

For the Delivery Side

Once the edit is done and you have exported a master from originals, that master still needs compressing for wherever it is going — and platform ceilings are unforgiving.

Compresto handles that on macOS. Hardware-accelerated H.264 and HEVC via VideoToolbox, target-size mode when a platform imposes a hard limit, batch processing for delivering the same cut to several destinations, and fully local processing so unreleased work never leaves your machine.

Download Compresto for Mac →