Guides

Clear, practical explainers for the formats post-production runs on — transcripts, edit decision lists, and subtitles — plus exactly how to convert between them.

Premiere review cut

Your producer rearranges the cut on the video you already rendered. You accept what you want and download your own .prproj back with the changes and their notes as markers.

Final Cut review cut

Export XML from Final Cut, share it with the review video you rendered, and import the accepted version back with your producer's notes on the timeline.

Resolve review cut

Export the .drp, share it with the review video you rendered, and import the accepted version back into Resolve with your producer's notes as markers.

A checked Premiere → Resolve handoff

Follow the handoff from project file to Resolve. Includes a real six-clip example, native save/reopen results, and the checks that still need original media.

Export SRT from a Premiere transcript

The direct export, the captions workaround, and the no-Premiere-needed conversion. Which to use and when, with the version caveats Adobe glosses over.

Premiere .prtranscript → SRT

Why a saved .prtranscript will not open as text, and how to get clean, timed subtitles out of one, speaker labels included.

What is an EDL?

The CMX3600 edit decision list, decoded: structure, a real example, how to open an .edl, EDL vs XML vs AAF, and getting one into a spreadsheet.

EDL vs XML vs AAF

The one-table answer to what each format carries, when to send which, and why post houses still want an EDL alongside everything else.

Import a transcript into Premiere

Reuse a Rev, Otter, Word, or SRT transcript in Premiere's Text-Based Editing with sample files and instructions for importing timed JSON.

Corrected transcript greyed out

The merge needs an existing transcript and the right panel context. The checklist that un-greys the option, and the JSON route when it still won't budge.

Rev/Otter transcript → Premiere

What to export from Rev, Otter, and Descript (and the one setting everyone misses), then how to convert it for Premiere's transcript import.

Import SRT into Avid

SubCap only reads Avid caption TXT and STL. How to convert an SRT, get the frame rate right, and fix the imports that silently fail.

Avid captions → SRT

Export Caption Data writes Avid's own TXT, not SRT. The export step, the conversion, and the hour-one timecode surprise that catches almost everyone.

Transcript → SRT subtitles

The one requirement (timestamps), the formats that convert directly, how cue timing really works, and the honest answer on untimed text.

EDL file example

Download a working sample EDL, then read what every line means: events, dissolves, AX reels, audio tracks, and the comments conform depends on.

Add SRT subtitles in Resolve

The native import path, the timecode gotcha that hides your subtitles an hour away, and the FCPXML route when you want styleable titles instead of captions.

Export SRT from Resolve

Two clicks when your subtitles live on a subtitle track, and the honest workaround via FCPXML when they are Text+ titles Resolve won't export.

Convert SRT to Word

Why translators want subtitles as .docx, the converter that keeps timestamps and speakers, the honest manual route, and the round trip back to SRT.

Convert a .prproj to XML

The in-Premiere export, the no-Premiere-needed converter, and why a .prproj is secretly XML already, plus the DaVinci Resolve import that follows.

Open a newer .prproj in older Premiere

The version-lock error, why there's no "Save As previous version," and the three ways out: side-by-side installs, FCP7 XML, and the direct converter.

Open a .prproj without Premiere

There's no .prproj viewer, but the converter plus free DaVinci Resolve gets you the full timeline: tracks, cuts, clip names, and the media paths inside.

MacCaption alternatives

Final sale 2022, support ended May 2023, and the official successor is Windows-only. The real options, split by what you actually used MacCaption for.

What is a DRP file?

Resolve's project export, decoded: what's actually inside the ZIP, why nothing else opens it, .drp vs .dra, and your options without Resolve.

Resolve project → Premiere

The two-minute route from a .drp someone sent you to an editable Premiere sequence, no Resolve installation required.

Premiere project → Resolve

Native .drp or FCP7 XML: both routes read the .prproj itself, so they work when Premiere is not installed or will not open the project.

How we verify conversions

References we didn't write: reference decoders, published test corpora, property matrices, and independent implementations, documented format by format.

Export subtitles from CapCut

Use caption export or extract timed text from a readable CapCut draft. Find the project file and handle unreadable or encrypted drafts.

EditingTools.io alternative

$19-27/month buys a genuinely broad suite, but a single conversion shouldn't cost a $13 day pass. Where each tool wins, honestly.

What is an AAF file?

The Avid-to-Pro-Tools workhorse: what an .aaf contains, the embedded-vs-linking trap, what opens one, and how to convert it to XML without Avid.

SRT vs VTT vs iTT

Same captions, three containers. The comma/dot trap, the iTT frame-rate gotcha, and a destination-by-destination answer to "which format?"

Import SRT into Final Cut Pro

The native caption import, the insertion-time setting that puts subtitles an hour off, and the FCPXML route when you want styleable titles instead.

Whisper JSON → SRT

What verbose_json actually contains, the converter route, the CLI flag that skips the problem, and the timestamp math that breaks hand-rolled scripts.

Export an EDL

File > Export > EDL, the Media Pool right-click, and the List Tool, with the CMX3600 constraints that surprise people the first time.

Export SRT from Final Cut Pro

The native Export Captions route (and its two settings that matter), the hour-offset trap, and the FCPXML converter rescue when subtitles are titles.

Add subtitles in Final Cut Pro

Generate Captions, the SRT import, or converted titles: which of the three routes fits which job, and how to get the subtitles back out.

Premiere ↔ Resolve roundtrip

The XML default, when AAF or EDL wins, the what-survives table, and the pre-flight checklist that saves a re-export.

What is FCPXML?

The FCPXML vs FCP7 XML naming trap, rational timing, the version rules, and the subtitle workflows the format makes possible.

Drop-frame timecode

Why color TV created 29.97, the 3.6-seconds-per-hour drift, the exact skip pattern, and the DF-vs-NDF choice, with a calculator that does the math.

What is a .fcpxmld?

Final Cut's XML bundle is secretly a folder. The two-click way in, the flat-file export option, and the converter that accepts the bundle whole.

What is an SCC file?

The broadcast caption format decoded: what the hex pairs mean, why timing is drop-frame 29.97, SCC vs SRT, and the converters for both directions.

What is an MCC file?

The HD caption delivery format decoded: caption distribution packets, checksums, MCC vs SCC, and the converters for both directions.

What is an EBU-STL?

Europe's broadcast subtitle format decoded: GSI and TTI blocks, the ISO 6937 accent model that breaks other tools, and converters for both directions.

SCC vs MCC vs STL

The broadcast caption decision table: how to tell which format your delivery spec is asking for, what differs under the hood, and one SRT to all three.

Premiere edit → Avid AAF

Read the .prproj directly and write an AAF that references your media. Cuts, trims, gain and markers carry; nests, retimes and effects are warned. Media Composer acceptance is unverified.

Premiere edit → Final Cut Pro

Final Cut cannot read a .prproj or Premiere's XML export. Convert the project file to FCPXML 1.10 instead: a Final Cut project per sequence, with cuts, transitions, markers, keyframes and media references.