Variable frame rate not reliable for editing.. what can happen?

When I tried to import a file I got the message “Convert to Edit-friendly… This file is variable frame rate, which is not reliable for editing”, and the option to convert to different format.

I’d like to ask a question: what can happen if I work with the file as is?

  • Will I eventually get audio out of sync?
  • Will I most probably get audio out of sync?
  • Will I get a rendered video different from the video preview?

NOTE. Just in case some other user incurs in the same questions, I’d like to share a suggestion: Handbrake program works very well for converting variable to fixed frame rate. Instead, the job created inside Shotcut, when you press “OK” to the dialog I said at the beginning, will create huge files that, in my case, filled disk space causing job to fail.

Please get more disk space even if it is external HDD. You are losing quality by using Handbrake because it compresses heavily in a lossy manner.

The answers to your questions are:

  • maybe
  • yes
  • possibly, due to less accuracy of seeking to in points

Yes, you can try to use the file directly but it is more risky with regard to what-you-see-is-what-get.

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Thank you for your reply!

I got this message too. I hit the don’t ask me this again thinking it would automatically convert any other files that need it…I was wrong! Do you know how I get this feature back? (Please be kind I am ok on computers but new to this program and video editing so I don’t understand much yet)

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