Manage render files in Final Cut Pro for Mac

By default, rendering happens in the background in Final Cut Pro, but you can also manually start rendering for a project or a portion of a project.

Render files are stored in your Final Cut Pro library or in an external location you define. See Set storage locations in Final Cut Pro for Mac.

Over time, render files can accumulate and take up storage space. Unused render files can also accumulate when you do any of the following:

Make changes to a project timeline
Update Final Cut Pro, macOS, or third-party plug-ins
Move a library between computers with different versions of macOS

If you want to free up storage space, you can delete unused render files in selected events. You can also delete all render files for projects, events, or libraries. Original media files are not deleted, so you can always regenerate render files from the original media.

Note: The Delete Generated Files commands delete render, optimized, and proxy files only. See Create optimized and proxy files in Final Cut Pro for Mac.

Render all or part of a project

In Final Cut Pro, do one of the following:

Render a portion of your project: In the timeline, select the clip or clips that you want to render, then choose Modify > Render Selection (or press Control-R).
Note: The selection must be a clip selection, not a range selection. See Select one or more clips and Select a range.
Render all portions of your project that need rendering: Choose Modify > Render All (or press Control-Shift-R).

Final Cut Pro renders the portions of the project that you defined and removes the corresponding dotted render indicator. You can view the progress of rendering in the Background Tasks window.

Delete clip render files

Select one or more clips in the Final Cut Pro browser.
Choose File > Delete Generated Clip Files.
In the window that appears, select Delete Render Files and click OK.

Delete project render files

Select one or more projects in the Final Cut Pro browser.
Choose File > Delete Generated Project Files.
In the window that appears, select Delete Render Files and click OK.

Delete event render files

In the Libraries sidebar in Final Cut Pro, select one or more events in the same library.
Choose File > Delete Generated Event Files.
In the window that appears, select Delete Render Files.
Select whether to delete unused render files or all render files, then click OK.

Note: If you choose to delete all render files in an event, any project render files in that event are also deleted.

Delete render files from a library

In the Libraries sidebar in Final Cut Pro, select a library.
Choose File > Delete Generated Library Files.
In the window that appears, select Delete Render Files.
Select whether to delete unused render files or all render files, then click OK.

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Final Cut Pro User Guide for Mac