I’m using the FlashBack Software for screen recording. In order to keep the highest quality I used to export the .fbr files into .avi using the Microsoft Video 1 codec. The problem was that the exported files were so huge that made editing them in Shotcut unbelievably slow and painful.
I have recently figured out that I can also use the XVid codec with quite the same quality result but maybe on tenth of size. Since then the editing speed have improved significantly.
The problem is that I sometimes need to go back and make some changes to the old, already edited videos which is really painful. In addition the original .avi videos steal huge unnecessary hard disk space.
Is it possible to export the editing meta data i.e. cutting, splitting, speed changes, filters etc. into a file and then import it into anther project and apply it?
If possible, I could export my .fbr videos again but this time with XVid codec and then import and apply the editing meta data to them. This way I get the videos edited without having to start from scratch. I also can free up a lot of space on the hard drive.
This sounds like the best option. If the .fbr files are re-exported with the exact same names as the originals and saved in the exact same place as the originals (overwriting the originals), then Shotcut will use the Xvid files instead of the originals and you shouldn’t have to modify the project at all. It would be immediately ready for export.
It’s okay to create an Xvid file with a .avi extension. This may be incorrect in a technical sense, but Shotcut should still be able to read it anyway due to ffmpeg being extremely forgiving.
If it comes to this, this basically sounds like copying the MLT file to a second file using any OS file manager then editing the second file. The MLT is just a text file containing paths to media and edit points and such, so it can be copied and tweaked as many times as needed.
The easiest way (if you are not confident to edit XML) is to break the linkage between the project file and the media by either moving the project file, moving the old media, or renaming the old media. Then, open the project in Shotcut, and it will complain about missing files. Next, use the missing files dialog to choose the replacement media.
I meant edit the second file as a project inside Shotcut like any other project. No XML editing needed.
Same media, but a tweaked MLT project using it. Sorry I wasn’t more descriptive.