System requirements and formats

System

The footage can sit on any drive, including a network one. Drive speed affects how long the sync takes: for a large project move the footage to an SSD first.

Video and cameras

.mp4 .mov .mxf .braw .mts .m2ts .avi .mkv .m4v .mpg .mpeg .m2t .ts .mod .tod .dv .3gp .3g2 .wmv

Sound and recorders

.wav .mp3 .m4a .aiff .aif .flac .caf .aac .ogg .opus

Multichannel recorder files (poly-WAV with three or more channels) are read in full, each channel going to its own track. More on the Multichannel recorders page.

Worth knowing about particular formats

• Blackmagic RAW. Syncs like everything else. Final Cut Pro does not import such files, so use the DaVinci Resolve export for them.
• Old camcorders (.mpg, .mod, .tod). They sync. CamHeard leaves them out of the Resolve and Final Cut exports, because one such file stops those editors from importing the whole timeline; the Premiere Pro export keeps them.
• Files with no audio track (a drone with the microphone off and so on) are accepted, but there is nothing to sync them with. They go to the end of the timeline, see Why material is at the end.
• Editor proxies (Resolve Optimized Media, clip_Proxy.mov next to clip.mov) are skipped if the original is loaded too.