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Suddenly, Compressor will not output FCPX files

All of a sudden, Compressor will not render my videos. I have to restart my Mac Studio everytime I want to use compressor. It starts the process, hangs for a few minutes, then the job disappears. It did this before but Apple changed something and it was working great for a couple years, now... Here we go again.

Mac Studio (2022)

Posted on Jul 8, 2024 11:09 AM

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9 replies

Jul 8, 2024 2:23 PM in response to jketelaars

OMG. Pixel Film or someone else? You’re not supposed to put plug-ins inside the application. That’s so stupid of developers to do. It’s also a violation of licensing agreements that absolutely prohibit modifying applications. Plugins are either loaded with an installer into libraries or they’re put in the Motion Templates folder. The settings are not reset when the application is reinstalled as they’re inside Application Support and aren’t part of the application.

Jul 8, 2024 11:43 PM in response to jketelaars

In addition to everything Tom said already: if you are having such problems using Send to Compressor, the obvious workaround is to export a video from FCP in ProRes and then bring that into Compressor to create whatever versions you need. Yes, it is an extra step, but it may even be faster this way... Compressor can use multiple instance when you use videos, but only one when sending an FCP project.


And it is never to much to reiterate how stupid it is to install plugins inside the application...

Jul 8, 2024 1:57 PM in response to Tom Wolsky

I will work on a video. Any kind, no particular setting, vertical or horizontal. Different resolutions, some with titles, some without. Some with plugin effects, some without. Regardless of length, number of cuts, or colour grading. Video from iPhones, some from DJI drones. Raw, D-log, V-Log, audio or no audio, when it comes time to send to the compressor, it looks like it will process. However, the blue progress line never shows up, and at some point, between two and five minutes, the project in Compressor disappears. Sometimes, it leaves orphaned bits in the destination folder, and sometimes, nothing.


In some cases, it exports a couple of times, but when I edit something, again, it's not the same thing, just a cut here or there or shortened a clip; in one case, I just fixed a spelling mistake, and it stops exporting.


Sometimes, I close FCPX and Compressor, reopen them, and try again. Sometimes, the old project reappears in Compressor, and the progress line completes, but no file is rendered, and then the new file works. Sometimes, nothing happens. Then I have to restart MAC Studio, and it works.


I have uninstalled Compressor and reinstalled it. It works a few times until the same thing happens.


I do not want to reinstall FCPX because, as you likely know, that is a nightmare.


Compressor did this a few years ago, but a couple of updates corrected the course. I spoke to Apple, and they said to uninstall and reinstall. It's sort of reminiscent of the Microshaft years.


Anyway, I am baffled. Any thoughts or ideas are welcome. I have been using Sonoma 14.5 on an M1 Ultra Mac Studio since Late 2022. I am saving onto the internal HD which has plenty of room.


[Edited by Moderator]

Jul 8, 2024 2:54 PM in response to jketelaars

Obviously reinstalling will be a problem if there are plugins inside the application. LUTs are stored externally and should be accessible to the application. I’m concerned that if you’re send to Compressor the applications might have problems with plugins installed inside the application, which is complete non-standard and I don’t know how they handle this.

Suddenly, Compressor will not output FCPX files

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