Quicktime Reference Files are not self contained movies, they are referencing the actual source footage through an “on the fly” wavelet extraction and played through Quicktime player using our Redcode plugin. Reference files have the ability to extract up to Half of the source file’s image data, so if you were to shoot in 4K 2:1 and view the H quality reference file in Quicktime you would be seeing a 2K version of your source footage. Quicktime Reference Files contain 4:4:4 color sampling, a REC709 color space which is the standard for HD video and a 2.2 REC709 Gamma Space.

• The H quality Reference File is always accessing HALF of the source image data (R3D file)
• The M quality Reference File is always accessing HALF of the H quality reference file (so if you shot 4K 2:1 the M quality Ref File would be 1024×512).
• The P quality or PROXY Reference File is always accessing HALF of the M quality Ref File (so if you shot 4K 2:1 the P quality Ref File would be 512×256).

Reference Quicktime Movies are useful for offline editing of RED ONE material as they do not require any render time, however, you will be limited to straight cuts and a few fades/dissolves as most of FCP’s filters and effects will require self contained movies which will need to be rendered before playback.