From Final Cut Pro
How to export video from Final Cut Pro for a client.
The Final Cut Pro export settings for a client master, read in Apple’s own user guide, and how the film and your client’s notes travel from there and back to your timeline.
The short answer.
To export video from Final Cut Pro for a client, choose File > Share > Export File (Command-E), set Format to Video and Audio, pick an Apple ProRes codec for the master, and save. Upload that one file to a link: your client streams a copy, leaves notes at a timecode, and downloads the master or a smaller size after they approve.
The export settings.
| Setting | Choose | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Destination | Export File | Apple’s guide calls it exporting a final mastering file. It saves a QuickTime movie, or MXF. |
| Format | Video and Audio | The mastering format with picture and sound together. |
| Video codec | Apple ProRes 422 HQ or 422 | A master the client can keep and anyone can re-encode from. The codec list depends on the project’s format. |
| Resolution | The project’s own | Final Cut sets it lower to match a lower-resolution project. |
| Captions | Separate files, or embedded | Apple says language versions can go out as embedded captions or as separate caption files. |
| Viewer, before you export | Optimized/Original | If you edited with proxies, Apple says to switch back first, for the highest quality. |
From Final Cut Pro to your client.
Switch off proxies.
If you cut with proxy media, set the viewer’s View menu to Optimized/Original before exporting.
Export the master.
Choose File > Share > Export File, or press Command-E. Set Video and Audio, an Apple ProRes codec, and save it with the job and the round in the name.
Upload it once.
On DropYourFiles, drag the file into the project. It plays in your client’s browser from a copy made for streaming, with a watermark until they approve; nobody needs ProRes to watch.
Send the link, then the next round on the same link.
Your client leaves notes at a timecode with no account. Upload the next cut over the last one and the link stays the same; earlier rounds stay a tap away.
ProRes or H.264 for the client.
Apple lists ProRes, H.264 and HEVC among the formats Export File writes, and does not tell you which to pick. For a delivery the honest answer is both: the ProRes master is what they keep and what a broadcaster or an agency can work from, and an H.264 copy is what they post. Export the master, and let the link make the smaller copies.
What comes back.
Your client pauses the film and types, and the note is kept on that frame. Download the notes for Final Cut and each one lands on the timeline as a to-do marker on the frame they paused on, red until you tick it and green after.
When they press Approve, the watermark comes off and the film downloads at Original, 4K (when the master is that big), 1080p or 720p from the same link, each with its size shown.
Free up to 5 GB. No card.
Questions.
What is the best export setting in Final Cut Pro for a client?
Apple ProRes 422 HQ in Video and Audio, at the project’s resolution, for the master. A smaller copy for posting can come from the link after approval.
Can my client play a ProRes file?
On a DropYourFiles link, yes: it plays in any browser from a copy made for streaming, and the ProRes file downloads untouched.
How do I send captions with the film?
Apple’s guide says Final Cut can export captions as separate files, including SRT, with File > Export Closed Captions, or embed CEA-608 captions in the movie.
Does this work for Premiere Pro or DaVinci Resolve?
The link and the notes do: your client’s notes download as a spreadsheet or a timecode list that any editor can read. Notes that land straight on the timeline are for Final Cut Pro today.
Where this comes from.
- Apple, Final Cut Pro User Guide: Export final mastering files, read October 29, 2026.
- Apple, Final Cut Pro User Guide: Export File and Apple Devices destinations, read October 29, 2026.
- Apple, Final Cut Pro User Guide: Supported export formats, read October 29, 2026.
- Apple, Final Cut Pro User Guide: Export closed captions, read October 29, 2026.
- Apple, Final Cut Pro User Guide: Create optimized and proxy files, read October 29, 2026.
- Apple, Final Cut Pro User Guide: Intro to markers (to-do markers are red, completed ones green), read October 29, 2026.
Keep reading.
- Client notes as Final Cut Pro to-do markers
- How to import comments into Final Cut Pro
- How to send ProRes files to a client
- How to deliver video files to clients
- FCPXML to SRT and CSV. Markers and captions, out of Final Cut
- What is a proxy in video editing
- How to send photos from Lightroom to a client
- Capture One client viewer, then the finals on one link
More in sending from your editing app, or see what DropYourFiles does.
Send your client one link for the whole job.
Free up to 5 GB. No card. Your client never makes an account.