Everything made in Accord Suite has to leave it in some form: a film for YouTube, a poster for a printer, a logo for a developer, stems for a broadcaster, a cut for a colourist using another program. This guide lists the ways out, page by page, with the choice each one asks you to make.
First, the rule that applies to all of it.
What is free, and what does Pro add?
Every tool is free, and every export is available. The free version limits two things only: films export up to 1080p and pictures export up to HD size — 1920 pixels on the long side. The export says so when it applies the limit. SVG, PDF, web pages and sound export free, always, at any size.
Accord Suite Pro removes both limits: films at 4K and 8K, pictures at full size. It is bought once. (On the version from this site it is a licence code, shown on its store page after you buy, that you paste into Settings ▸ Licence in Accord Suite 1.0.2 or later and that is checked on your Mac; the Accord Suite page shows its price and a Buy button when it is on sale.)
How do you export a film?
File ▸ Export Film is a submenu, because the codec decides both the file and whether transparency survives — so you choose it in the same gesture as exporting:
| Codec | Choose it when |
|---|---|
| H.264 | It has to play everywhere. Small files (HEVC's are smaller still). No transparency. |
| HEVC (H.265) | You want a smaller file than H.264 — up to 40–50% smaller at the same quality — and the viewer has a recent device. No transparency in Accord Suite's HEVC export. |
| ProRes 422 | Someone will edit or grade it afterwards. Very large files, very little loss. |
| ProRes 4444 | It will be edited afterwards and has transparency — a lower third, a logo sting, an animated title to lay over other footage. The only codec that keeps it. Largest files. |
A film's chapter markers (Clip ▸ Marker at Playhead Is ▸ Chapter) become chapters a player lists.
Several at once. File ▸ Add Film to Render Queue (same codec choice) lines up films or versions; File ▸ Render Queue… shows the list and exports them one after another.
Frames and sequences. In Anime Core's node editor, a File Output node writes several pictures from the graph at once — a beauty pass, a matte, a background — and Queue Every Frame… writes each as a numbered sequence (name.0000.png and on) through the Render Queue.
How do you export pictures?
File ▸ Export… writes the picture in one of seven formats:
- PNG — lossless, with transparency; for graphics, screenshots, anything with flat colour or text.
- JPEG — small, for photographs on the web. A Quality setting trades size for detail (lower quality cannot be undone once written).
- TIFF — lossless, for print and archives.
- HEIC — Apple's modern photo format, about half JPEG's size at the same quality.
- OpenEXR and Radiance HDR — formats that keep light brighter than white, for compositing, visual effects and lighting work.
- DNG — the picture as a RAW file: its own light at 16 bits a channel, brighter-than-white included, so its white balance and exposure can still be changed in a RAW developer that reads linear DNG, such as Adobe Lightroom or Camera Raw.
Choose the colour space — or convert to an ICC profile, CMYK print profiles included, for a printer who asks for one.
HDR photographs. For JPEG or HEIC, Keep highlights for HDR screens exports a photo whose bright sky or lamps still glow on an HDR display, in apps and browsers that show HDR photos, and that appears as an ordinary photo on screens and in apps that do not display HDR.
Layers for another editor. File ▸ Export as PSD… writes a Photoshop document.
Many photographs at once. The Batch sheet applies one operation to many files — resize to a preset, export as PNG or JPEG, and decide what happens if a file already exists.
How do you export a design?
- SVG (Picture ▸ Export as SVG…) — a drawing that stays sharp at any size; Edit ▸ Copy as SVG puts the code on the clipboard.
- Web page (Picture ▸ Export as Web Page) — a page with its text and pictures, that a browser opens.
- PDF (Picture ▸ Export as PDF…) — words that can be selected and searched. For print, set the bleed the print shop asks for (often 3 mm) and turn on crop marks.
- Chosen layers (Properties panel ▸ Export, or Picture ▸ Export Chosen Layers…) — just the logo or icon, cropped to it, at as many sizes as you list:
2x,512w,300h, each with a suffix such as@2xand a format (PNG, JPEG or SVG). Every size you list, exported together. - Social versions — one design at each of the usual social sizes, from Versions ▸ Create Social Versions; export each canvas.
- Print (File ▸ Print…), with soft proofing first: Picture ▸ Proof For shows the paper and ink before you print.
How do you export a colour look?
- Looks as .cube. On Colour Core, Tables ▸ Export this grade as .cube… writes the grade as a 3D LUT (.cube), the format grading programs read and many cameras and on-set monitors can load (check the LUT size and input log format your device accepts — cameras commonly take 17- or 33-point LUTs). Export Look (.cube)… does the same for a look.
- Looks and actions — Export Looks and Actions… takes your saved looks and recorded actions to another Mac.
How do you send a cut to another editor?
Exporting the film sends what the cut looks like. Exporting the cut sends the decisions — every clip, in and out point and track — so another program can carry the work on:
- Export Cut (.fcpxml)… — Final Cut Pro XML. Tracks given a role (Clip ▸ Track Role: Dialogue, Music, Effects, Video, Titles) arrive sorted under those roles.
- Export Cut (.otio)… — OpenTimelineIO, read by Resolve, Premiere and other editors.
- Export One per Track… — a CMX 3600 edit decision list (EDL) for each track that has film on it: the oldest interchange format, still asked for by online editors and finishing houses.
How do you export captions?
In the Captions panel, Export… writes SubRip (.srt) or WebVTT (.vtt) in each language you transcribed or translated. They are two of the most widely supported subtitle formats: YouTube accepts both and web browsers play WebVTT, though some streaming services and broadcasters ask for other formats (Netflix, for example, asks for TTML).
How do you export sound?
- The mix goes out with the film.
- Stems (File ▸ Export Stems…) — dialogue, music and effects as separate files, plus the mix, each the length of the film; Foley goes to a file of its own.
- Surround (File ▸ Export Surround Mix…) — 5.1 or 7.1, each stem placed Centre, Front, Front and Rear, or Rear, written as one file.
- Dubbing — Export DAPT Script… (the cue sheet as a W3C dubbing script), Export Cue List…, Export Every Take….
- Audio description (Export Audio Description…) — the descriptions alone, the described mix, and the script.
Before delivering, measure against the target: Music streaming (Spotify) −14 LUFS, Podcast −16, EBU R 128 −23, ATSC A/85 −24, Netflix −27 LKFS, measured on dialogue (see mixing and dubbing).
How do you export 3D?
- Export Scene as USD… — Motion Core's scene as Universal Scene Description, the format 3D programs and Apple's own tools exchange.
- Export Passes as EXR… and Export Passes as Layered PSD… — render passes for compositing.
- Export Lines as SVG… and Export Line Frames as SVG… — the lines of the 3D scene, as seen through its camera, as vector drawings: one at the playhead, or one per frame.
Can you move work between pages instead of exporting?
Inside one project, nothing needs exporting at all: View ▸ Workspace ▸ Send Frame to Photo Core makes a frame a canvas, and Place on the Timeline makes a canvas a clip. See the overview.
The guides
Importing media · Photo Core · Graphics Core · Video Core · Colour Core · Animation · Audio Core
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