Apple Dropping Cineform and Other Formats in Future mac OS Releases

Apple recently put out a supporting note stating future versions of macOS won’t support legacy video formats anymore.

The note gives some information that should in theory help video shooters and filmmakers through the process and what they should do to prepare, however it’s a little simplistic and doesn’t go into very specific details.

Formats Being Dropped:

GoPro CineForm Format – In theory this codec is a competitor to the ProRes workflow, so one could make the argument that Apple won’t go out of its way to support CineForm in Final Cut Pro. Of course you can still record in other formats with the GoPro, it's nevertheless a nuisance for camera operators and videographers who constantly shoot with GoPro since existing Cineform footage won’t be able to be opened in future releases.

Sony HDCAM-SR cameras – If there are filmmakers and camera operators still using these types of cameras and edit in Final Cut Pro I assume they transcode the video footage into ProRes anyway. So this modification could make sense to some people.

Video files in the Avid DNxHD/DNxHR format created with software – The key point here is “created with software”. For example if you generate DNxHR video footage from an Atomos external recorder or directly from an Alexa, you should be fine. However rendering to DNx from other transcoders such as Media Composer or Resolve won't work.

Footage shot with many other older cameras, or files modified with older software – This could mean a number of older formats, the statement is quite vague and there is no further information on it.

How This Affects Video Shooters and Filmmakers:

Of course many filmmakers and videographers avoid updating their OS to avoid such matters. However, apps such as Resolve many times require new versions of macOS for specific workflows and features, so avoiding updates might only work to a certain point in these specific cases.

This whole process obviously affects mostly Final Cut Pro video editors, other NLEs such as Premiere Pro should in theory still support these formats as long as they keep creating parsers for them.