Last updated 28th January 2024
“Final Cut Pro won’t let me export!”
If you are having issues with exporting from Final Cut Pro there are a few things to try. I’ve collected tips in the video below and that is a good place to start. It will help you find issues with plugins and resolve conflicts in your edits.
I’ve also collected some other steps and a variety of solutions that have been gathered by other Final Cut Pro users. These fixes may help you in your quest for a solution.
I continue to update page so if you have any tips or tricks that I missed or other techniques that worked for you then please let me know. You can leave a comment on the YouTube video below.
Step 1: Watch this video
Watch my Solve Export Problems video on YouTube. If this doesn’t work proceed to Step 2, 3, 4 or Step 5. Step 5 is to contact Apple and you may want to do that ahead of these steps if you are unsure of some of the technical detail below. They will be able to help you out.
Step 2: Delete Your Render Files
Sometimes render files can get corrupted and as Final Cut Pro tries to save time on re-rendering it will use those render files in the export process. Deleting them can, in some cases, help to fix any issues that are popping up.
Here are the steps:
- Select your Library in Final Cut Pro (this is the icon that looks like 4 little squares with starts in it).
- Go to File > Delete Generated Library Files…
- Select at first all the Render Files.
- If deleting all the Render files does not work then select Delete Optimized and Delete Proxy Media too. These files can be regenerated but this may take a while so you may want to try Step 3 first!
- Try Exporting again
Step 3: Delete Your Preferences
Sometimes your preferences can cause issues with Final Cut Pro. Not sure why but it is an easy step to clear them and won’t affect any of the work you have saved.
Here are the steps:
- Shut Down Final Cut Pro
- Start Final Cut Pro whilst holding down COMMAND + OPTION .
- Select Delete Preferences when prompted.
- Try exporting again.
NOTE: When you perform this step any open Libraries that you had open in Final cut Pro will not be visible when you clear the preferences. This does not mean they are deleted but as a part of deleting the preferences Final Cut Pro clears the recent list of open projects. To re-open files go to Macintosh HD > Users > (YourUserName) > Movies and you should see the purple icons of the Libraries you were working on previously. Thanks to relate with rach for highlighting this point!
Step 4: Do a complete Uninstall & Re-Install of FCPX
For this you will need FCS Remover from Digital Rebellion. This is a free program and you can download it here – https://www.digitalrebellion.com/fcsremover/ .
Here are the steps:
- Download FCS Remover here – https://www.digitalrebellion.com/fcsremover/ .
- Re-install Final Cut Pro from the App Store.
- Try exporting again.
Step 5: Use Time Machine to Restore Exporting
If you are using Time Machine to backup your Mac it may be possible to fix the export issues by going back to a previous backup when exporting from Final Cut Pro was working.
With Time Machine you can target which folders you are restoring to a previous version. One thing to do before you restore with Time Machine is to make a copy to a new location of a project if you are going back to a previous version of that.
I have not experimented with this myself but it seems like a logical step to try.
Want to setup Time Machine? Here are some affordable drives I use:
WD 4TB Elements Desktop Hard Drive
Seagate Expansion Portable 4TB External Hard Drive Desktop HDD
I am not normally worried about using expensive drives as long they have 4TB or more capacity to backup my 1TB internal drive. I normally keep 2 backups of my working drives.
Step 6: Contact Apple
Step 5 can of course come first if you have Apple Support. They have been super helpful with me in the past with a variety of issues that have popped up so don’t be afraid to get in touch with them.
They will be able to help you work through your issue and may have other steps that I’ve not included here.
Step 7: Other things to consider…
What version of Final Cut Pro and macOS are you working with? Some older versions such of Final Cut Pro 10.3 seem to be causing some issues and in this past few days (April 2020) there seem to be many more problems as people acquire Final Cut Pro. I would highly recommend doing all your updates through the App Store as this is the only way to get Final Cut Pro working correctly.
It may also be that older 2011 & 2012 Mac Laptops may not run Final Cut Pro well. Please drop me an e-mail if you have or haven’t had issues with older Macs it would be great to share any things that pop up with other Final Cut Pro users.
Additional Notes – Updated 9th January 2024
Q1: Could a flow transition cause export problems?
A1: Yes it could. If you are experiencing problems with exporting that may be transitions or effects then one way to check would be to duplicate the sequence and remove all effects and transitions and then try to export the ‘cleaned up’ timeline. If this works then you have a little detective work to do and I outline how I would approach this in the video at the top of this page.
Q2: Can dubious quality original media mixed with advanced plugins cause issues?
A2: Yes. In this reddit thread Kev describes how ‘dubious quality original media and Motion VFX mVertical Flow’ was the root of his export issues. Again removing plugin effects from your footage and trying to export along with some detective work may help you to remedy the issue.
Q3: “Every time I go to export the master file (command > E or File > share) FCPX quits displaying the message <Final Cut Pro quit unexpectedly>. I’m on a late 2017 15″ MacBook Pro, 16gb RAM. I’m on OS Sierra which I thought might be the issue but I can’t update because several of my music software plugins don’t yet support the latest macOS. How do I fix this?”
A3: “I upgraded my FCPX to fix this problem, but, in order to do so I had to update my macOS which involved going through every one of my music plugin manufacturers websites to check compatibility. End result = could only safely upgrade to Mojave but I was able to upgrade my FCPX and the export problem has been resolved!”
Q4: “On my older iMac with macOS High Sierra or Final Cut Pro 10.2 installed I cannot export? Why?”
A4: The first question to ask is why not upgrade? This seems to have solved some recent problems users have had with export issues that pop up a “com.apple.CompressorKit.ErrorDomain error -1” or similar message. If your iMac or MacBook Pro is an older Mac back to 2011 or even maybe a little before you should be able to upgrade to Mojave which will currently (May 2020) allow you to then install the latest version of Final Cut Pro. If your older Mac is second hand and it came with Final Cut Pro you may find yourself in the situation where it won’t upgrade and so you will need to purchase your own license of Final Cut Pro.
Solution from David Addison in August 2021: Great advice about exporting ranges and problematic plugins. However, my problem was storage, but not that the hard drive I was exporting to was full, the external SSD I was editing from was full. I made the mistake of turning on ‘Background Render’ which created hundreds of GB of render files, filling up my 500GB SSD. A quick delete of the render files and the project exported fine. [Note: you can learn how to clear your hard-drives render files here – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTAPVfZGsuU ]
Solution from a Final Cut Pro user: I think my Library (or project) was corrupted. I heard this issue happens sometimes. My solution was to copy all the files and paste them in a new project and it worked fine. It was just strange that I made new edits but the old edit continued to save instead. Even after closing out EVERYTHING, shutting the CPU off for minutes, and booting it back up.
Solution from a Final Cut Pro user: Tried everything on the web to fix this but managed to find this fix online… basically the file in this folder – /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/MobileDevice.framework updated itself in the last few weeks. I went to a previous backup before it was updated and restored the previous file and can now export without FCPX crashing. Ridiculous but it worked – hope this helps someone. Read more discussion of this topic on fcp.co >>
Solution from Reddit thread “Please please please help”:
QUESTION: I finished editing a video that took me a pretty long time. I went to go Render it and right when I clicked render it crashed. File opens for a split second then crashes fcp again. When I share it (without opening the file) I can scrub through it from the share screen. I click export and boom crashes again. I’ve tried to delete media files, render files, chrome. Restart my computer. Makes copies. Move to other hard drives and still won’t work.
ANSWER: Try selecting the project without opening. Then go to File, and export it as an xml. Then import the xml. That should create a new, identical project. Try opening that.
View the original thread here >>
Solution for Exporting OMF: You cannot export OMF audio directly from Final Cut Pro. X2PRO will allow you to export https://x2pro.net and you can check the features list to make sure it will export the file type you need. You can then use roles to export out separate audio and video filed.
Solution for Exporting MXF & DVCPRO HD from Final Cut Pro: Export MXF / DVCPRO HD from Final Cut Pro [+ TIPS FOR BROADCAST EXPORTS MXF XDCAM, HDV]
Solution for Exporting Separate Audio & Video Tracks:
Export Separate Track Files in Final Cut Pro
[AUDIO, VIDEO, TITLE & GRAPHIC FILE EXPORTS]
Fix Green Flashes in Final Cut Pro
[TIMELINE RENDER GLITCHES]:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqF7kW_rplg
mBundle Film – LUTs, Transitions, Titles & More*
Take your Final Cut Pro edit to the next level with this amazing collection of plugins.
mFilmLook Plugin – 60 cinematic presets, 30 LUT colour grades
mFlare 2 Plugin + 100 lens flare presets
mLut Film 2 Plugin – 30 professional LUTs
mLut Film Plugin – 25 professional LUTs
mTransition Shade plugin – 71 FCPX transitions
mTitle Cinematic Plugin – 50 FCPX titles
mLUT Plugin – Professional LUT loading tool
*affiliate link
My Older Video on Solving Export Problems
The YouTuber Pack 3.0 for Final Cut Pro
Youtubers! This is your complete pro-Kit for your channels, use it in Final Cut Pro and Apple Motion! We’ve reworked the entire underlying logic so Final Cut Pro-only-users can benefit from this amazing pack in a breeze! Check out The YouTuber Pack 3.0 here.