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I have simple 10 sec animation and I want to render it into a video file for future video editing. I've used FFmpeg video format option in Blender with MPEG-4 container, H.264 codec and Lossless output quality, but generated mp4 cannot be opened in Quicktime (I use mac os), only in VLC. More importantly, I cannot open it in DaVinci Resolve (it is not recognised).

What is the best format to use, so that it won't noticeably worsen the quality and can be easily used for editing? Are AVI Raw or AVI JPEG good options?

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  • $\begingroup$ AVI Raw is true lossles, but no audio support, if it is not crucial for you. $\endgroup$
    – Serge L
    Aug 3, 2020 at 10:59
  • $\begingroup$ IMO the high quality setting of h264 does the job most of the time but for true lossless I often end up using a sequence of PNGs $\endgroup$
    – pevinkinel
    Aug 3, 2020 at 11:01

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For editing purposes, it's fairly common to use a sequence of images files, not a video file. Most editing software support them (DaVinci Resolve definitively do), and you don't have to struggle with codecs, bitrate or whatever.

In your output settings, just select a picture file format. Png is great if you have a transparent background. Lossless Jpeg is great if you've got a solid background.

There are other benefits with files sequences ; ie., you can pause the render between two frames and relaunch it later ; or render it with multiple computers (ie. a renderfarm).

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  • $\begingroup$ Never thought about that, definitely going to try using sequence. I've also found out that perceptually lossless option produces viewable video. Then I can compare these options. And by lossless jpeg you mean Quality option set to 100%? $\endgroup$
    – laser_beam
    Aug 3, 2020 at 11:42
  • $\begingroup$ Yes that's what I meant $\endgroup$
    – thibsert
    Aug 3, 2020 at 11:43
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    $\begingroup$ Overall a nice answer but... never ever render to png, recommend render to OpenEXR especially when dealing with alpha: blender.stackexchange.com/a/106671/31447 $\endgroup$
    – brockmann
    Aug 3, 2020 at 11:53
  • $\begingroup$ Thx, I never noticed issues with Png but I will try OpenEXR! $\endgroup$
    – thibsert
    Aug 3, 2020 at 11:56

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