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ProRes XQ (or ProRes 4444 XQ) was released in June 2014 as an expansion to the already very robust ProRes 4444. The new codec kept all the standard 4444 features post and VFX work have come to love (lossless 12 bit color and 16 bit with alpha), but has expanded the data rate to a staggering 396 MB/s at 1080p24 (vs 264 MB/s with 4444). This increased bandwidth gives the codec an advantage over conventional 4444 when working with expanded and high dynamic range cameras as well as better preserving data through the post process.
Apple ProRes 4444 XQ preserves dynamic ranges several times greater than the dynamic range of Rec. 709 imagery—even against the rigors of extreme visual effects processing, in which tone-scale blacks or highlights are stretched significantly. Like standard Apple ProRes 4444, this codec supports up to 12 bits per image channel. On the other hand, comparing to H.264/AVCHD, Apple ProRes delivers a crazy big size of videos, especially in ProRes 4444 XQ, ProRes 4444, ProRes 422 HQ. For example, I've been edit a 30 minutes video (less than 6GB) in Final Cut Pro, yet getting a 130GB with 26 videos after rendering ProRes finally.
Recently, I colored Purity Ring's Begin Again by Young Replicant (a great video that you need to check out). The project was shot on anamorphic (Hawk 2x) Alexa 2K (2048*1536) or (4096*1536 when desqueezed) recorded via ProRes XQ (which the Alexa can now record natively).
I run Resolve on Windows and had yet to encounter anyone using XQ since it had been introduced. When the codec was announced, I read through the white paper and other media available on it and at the time it seemed like the only thing Apple had changed between the venerable 4444 and the new 4444 XQ was the increase it bitrate. This should have meant no new encoding tricks or techniques which would make the format incompatible with NLE's or even entire operating systems. How wrong I was.
It turns out that ProRes 4444 XQ is incompatible with Windows (and Linux) and Apple has never bothered updating Quicktime for these platforms to fix this issue. Great. I had a deadline fast approaching and I wasn't looking forward to borrowing a mac to transcode tons of enormous XQ footage to more manageable 4444. I poked around the internet a bit and found lots of people looking for fixes and coming up empty. One promising lead appeared, however, in a user of a forum who said that they had a script that just changed a few internal characters and made the footage compatible - no rendering required! Unfortunately, I couldn't get in contact with this individual, but the tip set me in the right direction to get XQ playing correctly on Windows.
FourCC
FourCC (or four-character code) is a code that uniquely identifies what encoding specifications are used on a video. This helps software determine how to correctly decode that file even if it may share the same file extension as another codec. For example,
.mov
files could be SVQ3, SV10, RPZA, ap4x (yes, these are case sensitive), etc even though they all look like the same generic .mov
from the outside.When apple introduced ProRes 4444 XQ, they changed the fourCC code from
ap4h
to ap4x
even though the actual decoder did not change. This change means that decoders that work with ProRes will think they are incompatible with ProRes XQ even though they're very capable of playing it back if it was labeled with a ap4h
fourCC. QuickTime on OSX (and the many NLE's and other pieces of software that depend on it) has had its fourCC decoder lists updated while PC QuickTime (and the many NLE's and other pieces of software that depend on it) have not.Fortunately, there's a (relatively) easy fix.
The Fix
![Mac Mac](/uploads/1/2/6/5/126508735/747846907.jpg)
If you're looking for something dead simple and effective, check out FourCCchange ($24.95). The program (for which a demo version is available) finds files with a FourCC of
ap4x
(your ProRes XQ files) and changes only them to ap4h
(which will decode on Windows perfectly) without affecting anything else. It gives you the option of backing up files or simply making the change live. If you choose the later option, the whole operation only takes a few seconds.The way this software works is by editing the binary values of the file(s) and replacing every hex instance of
ap4x
with ap4h
(for which only one instance should exist in each file). For those of you who are more tech savvy, you can do this manually (or in batch) using your own preferred hex editor. Simply open the file, search for the ap4x
string (capitalization matters), replace it with ap4h
, and save the file. The new file should play perfectly well in DaVinci Resolve, Premiere Pro, or whatever NLE you need.![Mac Mac](/uploads/1/2/6/5/126508735/687070493.jpg)
For the ffmpeg jockeys out there, there's a simple command to force a new fourCC onto a file:
ffmpeg -i <inputFile> -vcodec copy -acodec copy -vtag ap4h output_FOURCC_XXXX.mov
. The key value here is the -vtag
variable which forces a new fourCC onto a video file while the -acodec copy -vcodec copy
ensures that the actual audio and video stream aren't adjusted in any way.You can take this and add it to a batch file to process an entire folder (and subfolders) at once. Here's an example code below that lets you input any fourCC code for any file extension:
For this batch file to work, you'll need to download a static build of ffmpeg and extract it to
C:/Windows/System32
(don't worry about any warnings that pop up, we're just adding files so it won't be a problem). Next, copy the contents of this file into a notepad and save it as something like fourcc.bat
- the .bat
extension being the key. Drop this .bat in the folder with the .mov's (or whatever) you'd like to convert and the run it. To convert ProRes XQ to play correctly, you'll want to input ap4h
as your desired FourCC and mov
as the desired extension.And there you go! Three different ways to enable ProRes XQ to play back on Windows. Until Apple updates the Windows QT decoder and/or NLE writers figure out a workaround, this is what you'll have to do in order to use this robust codec outside of OSX.
All Apple ProRes codecs support all frame sizes (including SD, HD, 2K, 4K, and 5K) at full resolution. The data rates vary based on codec type, image content, frame size, and frame rate. Apple ProRes includes the following formats.
To bring the same performance, quality, and ease of use introduced by Apple ProRes to raw media, use Apple ProRes RAW. Learn more about ProRes RAW.
Apple ProRes 4444 XQ*
Apple ProRes 4444 XQ is the highest-quality version of Apple ProRes for 4:4:4:4 image sources (including alpha channels). This format has a very high data rate to preserve the detail in high-dynamic-range imagery generated by today’s highest-quality digital image sensors. Apple ProRes 4444 XQ preserves dynamic ranges several times greater than the dynamic range of Rec. 709 imagery. This holds true even against the rigors of extreme visual effects processing in which tone-scale blacks or highlights are stretched significantly. Like standard Apple ProRes 4444, this codec supports up to 12 bits per image channel and up to 16 bits for the alpha channel. Apple ProRes 4444 XQ features a target data rate of approximately 500 Mbps for 4:4:4 sources at 1920x1080 and 29.97 fps.
ProRes 4444 XQ is supported on OS X Mountain Lion v10.8 or later.
Apple ProRes 4444*
Prores Codec
Apple ProRes 4444 is an extremely high-quality version of Apple ProRes for 4:4:4:4 image sources (including alpha channels). This codec features full-resolution, mastering-quality 4:4:4:4 RGBA color, and visual fidelity that is perceptually indistinguishable from the original material. Apple ProRes 4444 is a high-quality solution for storing and exchanging motion graphics and composites, with excellent multigeneration performance and a mathematically lossless alpha channel of up to 16 bits. This codec features a remarkably low data rate compared to uncompressed 4:4:4 HD. It has a target data rate of approximately 330 Mbps for 4:4:4 sources at 1920x1080 and 29.97 fps. It also offers direct encoding of and decoding to both RGB and Y’CBCR pixel formats.
Apple ProRes 422 HQ
Apple ProRes 422 HQ is a higher-data-rate version of Apple ProRes 422 that preserves visual quality at the same high level as Apple ProRes 4444 but for 4:2:2 image sources. With widespread adoption across the video post-production industry, Apple ProRes 422 HQ offers visually lossless preservation of the highest-quality professional HD video that a single-link HD-SDI signal can carry. This codec supports full-width, 4:2:2 video sources at 10-bit pixel depths, while remaining visually lossless through many generations of decoding and reencoding. The target data rate is approximately 220 Mbps at 1920x1080 and 29.97 fps.
Apple ProRes 422
Apple ProRes 422 is a high-quality compressed codec offering nearly all the benefits of Apple ProRes 422 HQ, but at 66 percent of the data rate for even better multistream, real-time editing performance. The target data rate is approximately 147 Mbps at 1920x1080 and 29.97 fps.
Apple ProRes 422 LT
Apple ProRes 422 LT is a more highly compressed codec than Apple ProRes 422, with roughly 70 percent of the data rate and 30 percent smaller file sizes. This codec is perfect for environments where storage capacity and data rate are at a premium. The target data rate is approximately 102 Mbps at 1920x1080 and 29.97 fps.
Apple ProRes 422 Proxy
Apple Prores Download
Apple ProRes 422 Proxy is an even more highly compressed codec than Apple ProRes 422 LT, intended for use in offline workflows that require low data rates but full-resolution video. The target data rate is approximately 45 Mbps at 1920x1080 and 29.97 fps.
Apple Prores Codec For Windows
* Apple ProRes 4444 and Apple ProRes 4444 XQ are ideal for the exchange of motion graphics media because they are virtually lossless. They are also the only Apple ProRes codecs that support alpha channels.