Tutorials Video

Proxy Editing: Smooth Edits on a Slow Computer

By Infinite Creation · Beginner · ~20 min

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A 1960s mid-century comic book style editorial illustration showing a video editor and a director reviewing the cut together, with an edit timeline on a large screen, a calibrated monitor, stacked storage drives visible in the frame.

Overview

4K and high-bitrate footage can make even a solid laptop stutter during playback and scrubbing. Proxy editing solves this by editing with small, easy-to-decode stand-in files, then relinking to your original full-quality footage only at export. The same workflow professional editors use regardless of how powerful their machines are.

What You Need

Your original footage (4K, high-bitrate, or otherwise heavy to decode)
An NLE with built-in proxy support (Premiere, DaVinci Resolve, Final Cut all include this)
Enough drive space for a second, smaller copy of your footage

Steps

Import your original high-resolution footage

Bring your full-quality footage into the project as normal, proxies are generated from these files and referenced, not a replacement import step.

Generate proxy media

In Premiere: right-click clips in the Project panel → Proxy → Create Proxies. In Resolve: right-click in the Media Pool → Generate Proxy Media. Both create smaller, easier-to-decode versions (typically half or quarter resolution, a lightweight codec) linked to your originals.

Switch to proxy mode for editing

Toggle the proxy indicator (a small icon in the playback controls in both Premiere and Resolve) to edit using the lightweight proxy files, playback and scrubbing become smooth even on modest hardware.

Edit normally

Cut, trim, add effects, and colour grade exactly as you would otherwise, everything you do references timecodes that map identically back to your full-resolution originals.

Switch back to full-resolution for export

Before your final export, toggle proxy mode off so the render uses your original high-quality footage, proxies are for editing speed only and should never be your delivered output quality.

Pro Tips

Generate proxies overnight or during a break. It's a one-time cost per project that pays off across every subsequent editing session.
Always double-check you've switched back to full-resolution before exporting, accidentally rendering from proxy media is a common, avoidable mistake.
Delete proxy files once a project is finished and delivered. They're disposable and easily regenerated if you reopen the project later.

Tested: what a proxy saves in decoding, jumping and disk

We tested steps 2 and 3, the Knowledge Base's codec advice and the drive space line on 2026-09-29 with FFmpeg 8.1.2 on an Apple M1 Max Mac running macOS 26.6.2. Ten seconds of computer-generated 4K video at 30 frames a second was encoded the way a camera file is, as H.264 and as HEVC at 100 Mbps with a keyframe every 30 frames. The proxies were made from the H.264 file, as an editor makes them. Decode speed is the whole file decoded to nothing by FFmpeg, the median of three runs. The jump column is the time to reach one frame at a random position and decode it, the median of ten, and includes about 40 ms of FFmpeg starting up.

File	Size for 10 s (MB)	Share of original	Decode speed (frames a second)	Times live at 30 fps	One frame after a jump (ms)
Original: 4K H.264, 100 Mbps	131	100%	82	2.7	871
Original: 4K HEVC, 100 Mbps	126	96%	51	1.7	834
Original: 4K H.264, hardware decode in FFmpeg	131	100%	54	1.8	not measured
Proxy: ProRes Proxy, half resolution	46	35%	743	24.8	68
Proxy: ProRes Proxy, quarter resolution	13	10%	2428	80.9	46
Proxy: H.264, quarter resolution, 2 Mbps	3	2%	2309	77.0	59
Proxy: H.264, quarter resolution, every frame a keyframe	10	8%	1245	41.5	63

Steps 2 and 3 hold. The half resolution ProRes Proxy decoded 9 times faster than the 4K original and the quarter resolution proxies 30 times faster. Jumping to a new place took 871 ms in the original and 46 to 68 ms in the proxies, which is what scrubbing waits on. To show one frame the decoder has to start from the nearest keyframe and decode forward, and every frame in between is 4K.

Do not read the decode speed as the whole story. This Mac decoded the 4K H.264 original at 2.7 times live speed on its own, so the decoder alone kept ahead of playback. In an editor, decoding shares the machine with effects, colour and the display, and a proxy gives that time back. The HEVC original was slower still, at 1.7 times live speed. At 60 frames a second the same footage would leave half that headroom, 1.4 times live for the H.264.

The Knowledge Base's codec advice needs a qualification. At the same quarter resolution, ProRes Proxy decoded at 2428 frames a second and the 2 Mbps H.264 at 2309, about the same, and the H.264 file was 19 percent of the ProRes file's size. Going from half to quarter resolution with the same codec was worth 3.3 times the speed. In this test the number of pixels bought the speed. The codec mainly decided the size on disk, so a low bitrate H.264 decoded as fast as ProRes Proxy at the same resolution here and took a fraction of the space.

The drive space line holds and is small. The half resolution proxy was 35 percent of the original's size, the quarter resolution ProRes 10 percent and the H.264 quarter resolution 2 percent. Our video is noisy, which makes every file bigger than a typical clip would be. FFmpeg's hardware decode was no faster than its software decode here (54 against 82 frames a second), so do not assume a hardware decoder removes the need for proxies. Test your editor.

One proxy in the ProRes Proxy format at quarter resolution with FFmpeg, from a 4K original: ffmpeg -i clip.mp4 -vf scale=960:540 -c:v prores_ks -profile:v 0 -c:a pcm_s16le clip_proxy.mov

Validated. Measured 2026-09-29 with FFmpeg 8.1.2 (libx264, hevc_videotoolbox, prores_ks and FFmpeg's software decoders) on an Apple M1 Max Mac running macOS 26.6.2, with other software running, so times will differ on another machine and on an idle one. The video is computer-generated with added noise. We did not test Premiere, Resolve or Final Cut, whose playback uses their own decoders and caches, or a slower computer. Median of three runs for decode speed and ten jumps for the jump time.

Knowledge Base

Why Proxies, Not Just a Faster Computer

Even high-end editing workstations use proxy workflows for demanding formats (RAW, high-frame-rate 4K/8K) because decoding heavy codecs in real time is expensive regardless of CPU/GPU power. Proxy editing isn't a workaround for weak hardware exclusively. It's standard professional practice for keeping any editing session responsive.

Proxy Resolution and Codec Choices

Common proxy settings use a much lower resolution (often quarter-resolution) in a codec designed for fast decode rather than small file size or high visual quality. ProRes Proxy or a low-bitrate H.264 are typical choices. Visual quality doesn't matter for proxies since you never export from them.

What Happens If You Forget to Switch Back

Exporting while still in proxy mode renders your final video at the proxy's lower resolution and quality, always visually confirm the proxy toggle is off, or check your export settings' resolution field, before starting a final render.

Where This Fits

Proxies keep the edit moving, and Video Production Fundamentals covers how the edit fits between capture and delivery.

FAQ

Q: Do I need proxies for 1080p footage?
A: Usually not, unless your machine specifically struggles with it: proxy editing earns its keep most clearly on 4K+, high frame rate, or RAW footage.

Q: Can I share a project with proxies to a collaborator who only has the originals?
A: Yes, as long as file/folder structure and names match, most NLEs can relink proxies to originals (or vice versa) automatically when you reopen the project on a different machine.

Vocabulary

Proxy media. Smaller, easier to decode copies of footage used while editing. Identical in duration and timecode to the originals, which is what allows a swap back before export.

Relink. Reconnecting a project to a different set of media files, such as switching from proxies to originals. Depends on consistent naming, which is why proxy generation follows a strict scheme.

Offline and online. Offline editing works with low quality copies to make decisions, and online finishing reconnects to full quality material for the final render. A workflow inherited from tape and still useful.

Playback resolution. The reduced quality a timeline is played at to keep it responsive, separate from the media itself. Worth checking before diagnosing a performance problem, since it is frequently already turned down.