How to import XAVC video to Final Cut Pro

XAVC is a new video format released by Sony that uses level 5.2 of H.264/MPEG-4 AVC which is the highest level supported by that video standard which can support 4K resolution (4096 × 2160 and 3840 × 2160) at up to 60 fps and it can also record video with 2K resolution.

Currently, only two Sony camcorders named Sony PMW-F55 and Sony PMW-F5 record videos in XAVC format. And there are only a few video editing program support editing XAVC videos.

If you want to know whether you can edit XAVC video in Final Cut Pro, I can give you a positive answer. But to transfer XAVC video to Final Cut Pro you need to download a plug-in named XAVC/XDCAM Plug-in for Apple (PDZK-LT2) and make sure that your Final Cut Pro is Final Cut Pro X 10.0.8 or higher.

If you didn't get the latest version of Final Cut Pro or you didn't download the plug-in built by Sony, it is better for you to convert XAVC video to Final Cut Pro compatible ProRes MOV video.

However, even the latest version of Final Cut Pro X, you can't still transfer XAVC video to Final Cut Pro X directly either. Videos imported into Final Cut Pro must be first transcoded to ProRes MOV format (a native video format by Final Cut Pro) before transferring to Final Cut Pro.

Anyway, the easiest and most direct way to import XAVC video to Final Cut Pro is to convert XAVC video to ProRes MOV directly for free editing XAVC video in Final Cut Pro. This can be done with XAVC Video Converter for Mac which is specially designed to convert XAVC video to ProRes MOV video for editing in Final Cut Pro (any versions supported including Final Cut Pro) and iMovie.

Step by step to convert XAVC to Final Cut Pro

Step 1: Load XVAC videos

Click "Add Video" to load individual videos, otherwise you can "Add from folder" to load all the videos recorded by Sony PMW-F55 or Sony PMW-F5 to Sony XAVC to Final Cut Pro Converter.

Step 2: Choose ProRes MOV as output format

Hit “Format” bar to choose output format. Here, you can choose “Final Cut Pro" > "Apple ProRes 422 (HQ) (*.mov)”.

Step 3: Convert Sony XAVC to Final Cut Pro

Click “Convert” button at the right bottom corner to start Sony XAVC to FCP Conversion. As the Apple ProRes 422 (HQ) has extremely high quality, please make sure you have enough space to store the generated ProRes 422 (HQ) MOV files.