Compress ProRes Video on Mac (Convert ProRes to HEVC or H.264)

ProRes stores every frame on its own, at high bitrate, so editors can scrub and cut smoothly and colorists keep headroom. It does not use the long-range tricks H.264 and HEVC use to save space. The price is size.

We generated one 6-second 1080p30 clip (a synthetic fractal, 10-bit 4:2:2) and wrote it at four ProRes profiles with ffmpeg:

HQ is about 26 MB per second here. Real footage differs, because ProRes varies with detail, but the order of magnitude is right: minutes of ProRes are gigabytes. Apple lists the target data rate for each profile in its ProRes white paper, linked below.

Three free routes, from simplest to most control.

1. QuickTime Player: open the file, choose File > Export As, pick 1080p or 4K. It writes an H.264 or HEVC .mov, depending on the option and Mac. No quality control.
2. Finder: right-click the file and choose Encode Selected Video Files. Pick a setting and an HEVC option if shown. Quick for single files.
3. Terminal, avconvert: built into macOS.

avconvert --preset PresetHEVC1920x1080 --source master.mov --output delivery.mov --replace

Presets are fixed sizes, so you cannot set CRF. For exact CRF, free ffmpeg works, but you must install it first.

We encoded the same ProRes 422 clip (104.3 MB) with free ffmpeg, medium preset, no audio, 4:2:0:

That is a 94 to 95% cut. We did not run a quality metric, and CRF values are not equivalent across codecs, so read this as size only. For delivery, 4:2:0 at these settings is normal. For more grading or compositing, it is not: stay in ProRes.

Choose HEVC for the smallest file on recent Macs, iPhones and modern browsers. Choose H.264 when the file must play anywhere, including old TVs and Windows machines. The trade-offs are in H.265 vs H.264.

Not until the project is done and approved. A ProRes master survives re-edits, color changes and later re-exports. An HEVC copy does not, because every re-encode loses detail. A common rule: archive the master, deliver the small file. For 4K sources, see compressing 4K video.

Three choices decide almost everything, in this order.

• Codec: HEVC for the smallest file, H.264 for the widest playback.
• Quality: start moderate and look at the hardest shot, such as fast motion, fine texture or dark gradients. Those show banding and blocks first. If they hold, go one step higher in CRF and check again.
• Resolution: a 4K master going to a phone, email or the web rarely needs 4K. Dropping to 1080p shrinks the file more than any CRF change.

Strip the audio track only if the clip is silent. ProRes audio is usually uncompressed PCM, so the sound is also larger than it needs to be: re-encoding it to AAC at 128 to 192 kbps is safe for delivery. Check the file in QuickTime Player on a second device before sending, since playback support differs by app and by age of the device.

One master, one delivery: Finder’s Encode Selected Video Files, QuickTime Player or avconvert is enough, and free. If you need frame-accurate color management or ProRes-to-ProRes work, use Final Cut Pro or Compressor.

Smol is worth $29 (once, one Mac) when you have a folder of masters to deliver. We dropped a ProRes Proxy .mov into Smol 1.0.35 at default settings: it accepted the file and wrote an HEVC MP4, 4.9 MB from 31.5 MB, with 10-bit color kept. You can also choose H.264, an exact CRF, or a lower resolution. Everything runs on your Mac. See batch compressing videos, the best video compressor for Mac, or buy Smol.