ProRes vs DNxHR for Editing: Which Should You Use?

What are ProRes and DNxHR?#

ProRes and DNxHR are intraframe intermediate codecs: families of editing formats that store every frame as a complete picture, so an editor decodes one frame to show one frame. ProRes belongs to Apple; DNxHR belongs to Avid. The practical difference is where each one is native, not how the picture looks.

Both families exist for the same job. A delivery codec like YouTube’s VP9 or AV1 packs most frames as changes from their neighbors, which keeps files small and makes scrubbing, reverse play and trimming heavy. An intermediate codec trades disk space for a timeline that responds instantly, and it survives several rounds of rendering with little visible loss.

For downloaded web video the choice is lower stakes than for camera originals. As of September 2026, the best streams YouTube serves are usually VP9 or AV1 with 4:2:0 color, and they carry far less data than the lightest tier of either family. Converting adds no detail, as best format to download YouTube videos for editing explains; it removes decoding cost.

Ema Zamboni, who built B-ROLL, edits YouTube videos in DaVinci Resolve Studio on Windows 11. On that timeline, 4K60 AV1 downloads were heavy to play back, and AV1 or VP9 downloads crashed Resolve at times. That problem is why B-ROLL converts downloads to ProRes or DNxHR automatically.

How do ProRes and DNxHR compare?#

ProRes and DNxHR differ in owner, bit depth per tier and native editing app, while matched tiers have similar data rates. The comparison table sets them side by side for downloaded YouTube footage, with a recommendation per row.

The DNxHR rates are Avid’s DNxHR bandwidth specifications at 1920 x 1080 and 29.97 fps, converted from megabytes to megabits: 5.39 MB/s x 8 = 43.1 Mbps for LB, 25.99 MB/s x 8 = 207.9 Mbps for HQ and HQX.

The ProRes figures are the target rates in Apple’s ProRes white paper (April 2022) at 1920 x 1080 and 29.97 fps: 45 Mbps for Proxy, 102 for LT, 147 for 422 and 220 for 422 HQ. B-ROLL uses the same four values as its ProRes reference when it picks a tier, and scales them for larger frames and higher frame rates.

Paired by data rate at 1080p 29.97, ProRes 422 Proxy matches DNxHR LB, ProRes 422 matches DNxHR SQ (17.21 MB/s x 8 = 137.7 Mbps), and 422 HQ matches DNxHR HQ. ProRes 422 LT at 102 Mbps has no DNxHR twin; it falls between LB and SQ.

The tier pages carry the details: ProRes Proxy vs LT vs 422 vs HQ and DNxHR LB vs SQ vs HQ vs HQX. What each tier costs in gigabytes per minute is in ProRes and DNxHR file size per minute.

Which works better on Windows, ProRes or DNxHR?#

On Windows both work, and DNxHR is the safer default for DaVinci Resolve because Resolve, Premiere Pro and Avid Media Composer all handle it on Windows. ProRes on Windows is equally usable in Resolve 20, which the DaVinci Resolve 20 codec list shows decoding and encoding in .mov on Windows.

B-ROLL makes ProRes on Windows with ffmpeg; a macOS build is planned, not released. B-ROLL tries ffmpeg’s prores_aw encoder first and prores_ks second, both forced to 10-bit 4:2:2. These encoders are not Apple’s own, so the files are ProRes-compatible rather than Apple-encoded. DNxHR comes from ffmpeg’s dnxhd encoder with DNxHR profiles only, and a failed HQX conversion falls back to DNxHR SQ.

Apple’s ProRes white paper is blunt about ffmpeg: it calls FFmpeg implementations unauthorized and warns they may lead to decoding errors, incompatibility and instability. Import one converted clip into your editing app before you convert a whole batch; when a client or post house asks for ProRes, render that deliverable from your editing app instead of passing the converted downloads along.

Both conversions run in software, one file at a time, on every CPU core. The conversion starts after the download finishes, and if it fails, B-ROLL keeps the MKV master instead of leaving you empty-handed. The whole pipeline is described in download YouTube videos in ProRes or DNxHR.

Which should you pick for Resolve, Premiere, Avid or Final Cut Pro?#

For YouTube sources, pick DNxHR for Avid and Windows-first Resolve, ProRes for Final Cut Pro. Premiere Pro handles both families on Windows and macOS, so there the deciding factor is who receives your project files.

When to pick DNxHR:

• You finish in Avid Media Composer, where DNxHR is the house codec.
• You edit in DaVinci Resolve on Windows and the project stays on Windows machines.
• A mixed room shares media between Resolve, Premiere Pro and Avid.

When to pick ProRes:

• You or a colleague finish in Final Cut Pro on a Mac.
• The source is 10-bit HDR and you want 10-bit files at the lightest tier, not only at DNxHR HQX.
• Your team already standardizes on ProRes media across Mac and Windows machines.

The verdict for a Windows editor cutting b-roll from YouTube: choose DNx in B-ROLL’s Format menu unless a Mac running Final Cut Pro is anywhere in the chain, and then choose ProRes. Either way, the quality of the downloaded stream sets the ceiling, so neither choice makes the footage look better or worse.

Some editors keep the YouTube file and generate proxies instead of converting. For a compressed web source a single conversion is usually simpler, as proxies vs transcoding for YouTube footage lays out. Step-by-step setups live in download YouTube videos for DaVinci Resolve and download YouTube videos for Premiere Pro and After Effects.

Can you make ProRes for Final Cut Pro on Windows?#

Yes. A Windows PC can encode ProRes with ffmpeg, which is how B-ROLL turns a YouTube download into a ProRes .mov for Final Cut Pro on a Mac. Final Cut Pro itself runs only on macOS, so the Windows machine prepares the files and the Mac edits them.

Final Cut Pro is the NLE where ProRes is the clear pick. Apple’s Final Cut Pro supported media formats list includes Apple ProRes in all versions, H.264 and HEVC, and lists no DNxHD, DNxHR, MKV, WebM, VP9 or AV1. B-ROLL’s MP4, MKV and WEBM options keep YouTube’s own streams, often VP9 or AV1, so for Final Cut Pro the ProRes option is the dependable one.

The Final Cut Pro import notes set Apple’s documentation next to what B-ROLL produces.

The ProRes tier B-ROLL picks depends on the source bitrate, resolution and frame rate; a 10-bit tier is used every time because all ProRes 422 tiers are 10-bit.

How do you bring Windows-made ProRes files into Final Cut Pro?#

Copy the .mov files from the Windows PC to the Mac, then import them into a Final Cut Pro library like camera media. The files need no rewrapping or conversion on the Mac, because ProRes in a .mov is already Final Cut Pro’s native format.

Each ProRes .mov also carries 16-bit PCM audio, the first audio track only, so the clip plays with sound without a separate audio import.

More codec comparisons for downloaded footage are collected in codecs and formats for editing YouTube footage.