Apple ProRes, a lossy video compression format that developed by Apple Inc., is a appropriate format for smooth editing in Mac with Final Cut Pro. In the video industry, it's called an "intermediate" codec, which means that it is optimized for capturing and editing video. It is not designed as a "delivery" format. You edit with it, and then convert to whatever type of video you want to give to your client, or upload to YouTube or Vimeo.

The Apple ProRes comes five versions: Apple ProRes 4444, Apple ProRes 422 (HQ), Apple ProRes 422, Apple ProRes 422 (LT), and Apple ProRes 422 (Proxy). The following list describes the features of each version.

Apple ProRes 4444

The Apple ProRes 4444 codec offers the utmost possible quality for 4:4:4 sources and for workflows involving alpha channels. It includes the following features:

Full-resolution, mastering-quality 4:4:4:4 RGBA color (an online-quality codec for editing and finishing 4:4:4 material, such as that originating from Sony HDCAM SR or digital cinema cameras such as RED ONE, Thomson Viper FilmStream, and Panavision Genesis cameras). The R, G, and B channels are lightly compressed, with an emphasis on being perceptually indistinguishable from the original material.

- Lossless alpha channel with real-time playback
- High-quality solution for storing and exchanging motion graphics and composites
- For 4:4:4 sources, a data rate that is roughly 50 percent higher than the data rate of Apple ProRes 422 (HQ)
- Direct encoding of, and decoding to, RGB pixel formats
- Support for any resolution, including SD, HD, 2K, 4K, and other resolutions

A Gamma Correction setting in the codec's advanced compression settings pane, which allows you to disable the 1.8 to 2.2 gamma adjustment that can occur if RGB material at 2.2 gamma is misinterpreted as 1.8. This setting is also available with the Apple ProRes 422 codec.

Apple ProRes 422 (HQ)

The Apple ProRes 422 (HQ) codec offers the utmost possible quality for 4:2:2 or 4:2:0 sources (without an alpha channel) and provides the following:

-Target data rate of approximately 220 Mbps (1920 x 1080 at 60i)
-Higher quality than Apple ProRes 422

Apple ProRes 422

The Apple ProRes 422 codec provides the following:

- Target data rate of approximately 145 Mbps (1920 x 1080 at 60i)
- Higher quality than Apple ProRes 422 (LT)

Apple ProRes 422 (LT)

The Apple ProRes 422 (LT) codec provides the following:

- Roughly 70 percent of the data rate of Apple ProRes 422 (thus, smaller file sizes than Apple ProRes 422)
- Higher quality than Apple ProRes 422 (Proxy)

Apple ProRes 422 (Proxy)

The Apple ProRes 422 (Proxy) codec is intended for use in offline workflows and provides the following:

- Roughly 30 percent of the data rate of Apple ProRes 422
- High-quality offline editing at the original frame size, frame rate, and aspect ratio
- High-quality edit proxy for Final Cut Server

For a complete comparison of the relative data rates of the Apple ProRes codecs, see Apple ProRes Format Specifications.

Advantages of Apple Prores format as an editing codec

- Maintains superb quality even after multiple encoding/decoding generations
- Provides real-time editing performance comparable to or better than that of any other HD codecs in Final Cut Pro
- Be encoded at any frame size-;SD, HD, 2K, 4K, or other
- Variable bit rate encoding
- Preserves subtle gradients of 10-bit sources (sunsets, graphics, and the like) with no visible banding artifacts
- Ensures consistent quality in every frame, with no artifacts from complex motion, and speeds up editing.
- Delivers high-quality, real-time playback and faster rendering times
- Edit more streams with more real-time effects on slower drives, or have more users accessing the same media over shared storage devices.
- Workflow options for any video format that does not have native Final Cut Pro support
- Better rendering for native editing: Can be used to render long-GOP MPEG-2 formats (such as HDV and XDCAM HD) to speed up editing and avoid MPEG-2 reencoding artifacts before output.

Why Need to Transcode HD Videos to Apple ProRes For Final Cut Pro?

Many of today's HD formats were developed under significant camcorder(Panasonic, Sony, Canon, JVC, Nikon, etc.) engineering constraints and therefore limit the full quality that can be carried in an HD signal. Other camera codecs preserve full quality but are too complex to achieve the software decoding speeds required for real-time editing. Uncompressed HD formats deliver the highest image quality, but the high-bandwidth, RAID-storage requirements of uncompressed HD video are daunting for most users' budgets. Well, the Apple ProRes codecs provide an excellent solution for the most demanding modern post-production workflows.

If you're facing problems editing AVCHD, MTS, M2TS, M2T, MXF, MOV, MP4, XAVC, XAVC S, AVI, MKV, TiVo, etc. footage with Final Cut Pro X or FCP 7/6, you're highly recommended to convert them to Apple ProRes for smooth editing.

To do the video to ProRes conversion easily and quickly, here EaseFab Video Converter for Mac (macOS Monterey compatible) is highly recommended. This program features high efficiency and seamless conversion. With it, you can do batch conversion from any video to Apple ProRes 422, Apple ProRes 422(HQ), Apple ProRes(LT), Apple ProRes(Proxy), Apple ProRes 4444 for smoothly editing in Final Cut Pro X/7/6 in simple clicks of mouse. Besides, the program also exports other advanced encoders like Apple Intermediate Codec, DNxHD, MPEG-2, which ensures maximum editing quality and efficiency when working with iMovie, Avid Media Composer or Adobe Premiere and more.