Like any other video editing software out there DaVinci Resolve can support a lot of file formats and codecs. Nevertheless, it can also render out your project in many types of file formats, each of them meant for a different purpose. If you plan to start learning how to edit your videos in Resolve, how to render DaVinci Resolve projects as mp4 is one of the things you must know.
Mp4 Format
This format is one of the widest used file extensions out there because it is used by Youtube, Facebook, Instagram, and many other online platforms out there. Mp4 can be easily read by browsers, low-end laptops, smartphones and it doesn’t have big dimensions. Although small in size, it can still give you good video quality.
If you plan to work as a freelance video editor or as an employee in a postproduction studio, mp4 will be your main video format to work with.
Clients won`t buy high-end workstations for themselves or their employees in order to smoothly play that 4k beefy Quicktime or AVI file format, they can`t preview a PNG, TIFF, or Jpeg Sequence. Here is where mp4 comes in, you can offer them a small preview file and they will be able to see your work and give feedback easily.
How to Render DaVinci Resolve Projects as mp4
If you want to know how to render DaVinci Resolve projects as mp4, you have to follow these simple steps:
- After you finish editing your video, set Resolve to Deliver mode at the bottom of the screen;
- On the left side of the window, you will see all the settings and options;
- Choose a name and a location for your video;
- Set the format to MP4, the codec will automatically update to H.264;
- Set resolution and framerate to the values of the timeline or whatever values you desire;
- Choose the final quality of your video, depending on the purpose of the video;
- Press on the “Add to Render Queue” button, this will add your video in the render queue situated on the right side of the window;
- Press the “Start Render” button.
Keep in mind that you have to adjust the bitrate of your video. For instance, if you choose the Automatic mode in the Quality setting, the default value will be set on “Best”.
I recommend that you type in manually the bitrate so that you will not have to deal with big video files.
You can do that by checking the “Restrict to” option, by default it is set to 80000 kb/s. If you plan to send a preview version of your work, something like 3000 kb/s or 4000 kb/s is more than enough. However, if you plan to upload to Youtube or Facebook, 16000 kb/s will suffice.
This is it! Now you know how to render DaVinci Resolve Projects as mp4! You can use the same method for every kind of format or codec, just try them out and learn more about each one of them. From my experience, you will use almost all of them at some point so better get to know them sooner.
