What are Proxies in Film Editing?

With more and more people aspiring to take the leap and begin editing films at home or as a hobby. We’re seeing increasingly more questions about basic concepts and terms in film editing. For example, aspiring filmmakers and editors that are entirely new to the process wonder about things. Like proxies, and their purpose or whether we even need them at all. What are proxies in film editing? And more importantly, what can you do about them?

What are Proxies?

Proxies are duplicate files that come from the source footage of a project. The proxies represent low-resolution footage that editors will use in a timeline. For the purpose of building their initial project. Because they render faster than the higher resolution files.

The use of proxy workflows in editing allows for large scale projects to be easily manipulated and worked with. Without major impacts on the computer’s system due to the excessively large file capacity of the full file version of the footage.

Editors create proxies so that they can manage workflows of RAW, uncompressed video. Without essentially crashing the computer that they’re working on.

Historically, editing with proxies has been used for many years. Especially in the past when computers struggled to keep up with the extensive footage of a large project. This made for the most efficient post-production pipeline.

How are Proxies Used in Film Editing?

The process of setting up an offline proxy editing environment generally begins right at the start of post-production. As source footage is watched over by the editor for the first time. The video editing application that the editor uses will begin to transcode copies of the footage files.

The editor chooses the appropriate file size and format for the proxy that will work for them going forward and will play most efficiently in their editing system. The goal is to limit resource use while providing footage that is workable for the editor, the goal is efficiency.

Swap Out

From then on, all edits are made using the proxies. When the editor has completed his or her work, the proxies are swapped out with source footage for final rendering.

The use of proxies has traditionally provided for a more efficient post-production editing process, and continues to be a means of editing footage without risking too much data or power from the computer. 

Edits Without Affecting the Source

By using proxies, the editor is able to make cuts, changes, edits and all sorts of changes to their files without impacting their original source footage.

This meant editing was safe, and efficient. And since they weren’t overloading the computer, they could focus on editing. Rather than on issues of file size, bandwidth or bitrate problems.