Export XML, EDL or OTIO to Premiere, Resolve and Final Cut

Why hand an edit to another editor?

Because finishing is often someone else's job. The cut is yours, but the grade may belong to a colourist in Resolve, the sound to a mixer in Pro Tools, and the final version to a client whose team works in Premiere. A hand-off moves the decisions, not the pictures: which clip, which stretch of it, where it lands and on which track. The other editor rebuilds the cut from the same media, so a single join can still be changed without starting again.

This is the last lesson in the Learn Sharpy course. It assumes a finished cut, and it pairs with how to export a video, which covers finished files.

Which format should you export for Premiere, Resolve or Final Cut?

The one the receiving editor reads best. Three formats cover nearly every case:

Format	What it carries	Opens in
FCPXML	A whole timeline: clips, speed changes, dissolves, markers, ratings and keywords	Final Cut Pro (File ▸ Import ▸ XML), DaVinci Resolve (File ▸ Import ▸ Timeline)
CMX 3600 EDL	Cuts and simple transitions on one video track, as plain text	Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve, Avid Media Composer and nearly every editor
OpenTimelineIO	Clips, tracks, transitions and markers, in an open format	DaVinci Resolve, and Premiere Pro from version 26.0

A common surprise: Premiere Pro does not read FCPXML. Adobe's own migration guide says Premiere reads the older Final Cut Pro 7 XML but not the .fcpxml files Final Cut Pro writes today, and points to a separate converter. So for Premiere, send OpenTimelineIO if you both run Premiere 26.0 or later (Adobe's release notes list OTIO import and export from that version), or an EDL for a straight cut. What is FCPXML compares the formats in depth, and what is an edit decision list shows how to read an EDL line by line.

Sharpy also writes AAF, the multitrack format Avid Media Composer and Pro Tools trade in.

How do you hand off an edit from Sharpy?

In four steps, with the footage kept where it is:

Decide the finished size first. Open File ▸ Decide the Finished Piece… and give the shape. The export hands Final Cut a timeline at the size you typed or decided, rather than a guess.
Ask the agent for the hand-off. "Hand this cut to Resolve as FCPXML", or "write an EDL for Premiere". The agent uses its interchange tool, and the file's ending picks the format: .fcpxml, .edl or .otio.
Read the reply. It lists everything the format could not hold, by track and time, before you send anything.
Send the file with the media. The timeline points at the original recordings, so the receiving editor needs the same files, ideally in the same folders.

What arrives is exact. FCPXML carries each clip's speed as a time map and its dissolves, and writes every time on the sequence's own timebase, so an importer has nothing to round. Picture clips go as picture only, and a clip you switched off stays switched off. Sharpy's FCPXML validates against Apple's FCPXML 1.10 definition, and an edit written out and read back is the same cut.

Your logging travels too. A chapter becomes a chapter marker in Final Cut, a question or a fault becomes a to-do, and a note becomes a marker, each placed on the shot or gap it falls in. Ratings, keywords and subclips go across as well; logging footage with markers and bins covers making them.

What does not travel, and how do you know?

Anything the format has no place for, and Sharpy says so every time:

The grade, masks, keys and animations stay in Sharpy, and the FCPXML file says so in its comment rather than dropping them.
Sound chains (the clean-up, EQ and compression on a clip) have no documented home in any interchange format. Every export names each chain by track and time: in the FCPXML file's comment, in NOT CARRIED lines in an EDL, and in the reply to whoever asked.
Levels in an EDL or OTIO. Neither can hold clip gain, a level curve, fades, a track's fader and balance or the master fader, so each is named. FCPXML carries each clip's gain, level curve and fades, with the track's fader and the master folded in.
Busses and sends are named as staying behind.
Bins. FCPXML writes the files into one event and says the bins stay in Sharpy.
Reference videos. A video you fetched only to study its style is refused in the file, as it is in any render, because another editor would render it.

Nothing is dropped silently, so the person receiving the edit knows exactly what to rebuild.

How do you give a mixer or a colourist what they need?

Send the timeline plus the parts it cannot carry:

For a mixer, stems. Ask the agent to render with stems, and every sound track or bus going to the master comes out as its own 24-bit WAV, the full length of the render. They add back to the mix: on a real 20-second recording with a music bed, the master minus the sum of its stems measured at most −138.5 dBFS, effectively silence. Undipped stems are there too, with no ducking, for a mixer re-setting the music under a voice in another language.
For an editor laying your titles over their picture, ProRes 4444. It keeps the see-through background, so a lower third drops onto their timeline as it looked in yours.

A sound mixer in headphones works the faders of a large console in a dark studio, screens of audio tracks above it. — A mixer rebuilds the sound from stems: each track alone, adding back exactly to your mix.Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko on Pexels

How do you open the edit on the other side?

Set up the project first, then import:

Match the frame rate. An EDL carries timecodes but no frame rate, so the project must match the footage.
In Final Cut Pro, choose File ▸ Import ▸ XML and pick the .fcpxml file.
In DaVinci Resolve, choose File ▸ Import ▸ Timeline. Resolve builds the timeline and looks for the clips.
In Premiere Pro, choose File ▸ Import and pick the .edl or .otio file.
Relink anything offline. If the footage sits somewhere new, point the editor at the folder.

Can you bring a timeline back into Sharpy?

Yes. Sharpy reads an FCPXML or OpenTimelineIO timeline into a new edit, so a cut started in Final Cut or Resolve can be finished here. Every file the timeline plays is looked for where the timeline says; if one is missing, it is named and nothing is made. Import never writes over an edit already there.

When footage has moved (a card ejected, a folder renamed, the project opened on another Mac), choose File ▸ Find Missing Media…. Sharpy names the missing files before it starts and finds them again under the folder you point to, reporting what it found, for example "relink: found 2 file(s)". It asks before relinking, because relinking rewrites paths. Files are matched by name, so a wrong match shows in the first frame.

Frequently asked questions

How do I move a project from Final Cut to Premiere?

Premiere does not read FCPXML, so export an EDL for a plain cut, use a converter that turns FCPXML into Premiere's older XML, or route it through DaVinci Resolve, which reads FCPXML and writes formats Premiere opens. From Sharpy, write OpenTimelineIO or an EDL straight away.

What is the difference between EDL and XML?

An EDL is a short text list of cuts and simple transitions on one video track. XML formats such as FCPXML describe a whole timeline: every track, clip, speed change, marker and level. Use XML when the edit needs to arrive intact.

Does the colour grade travel with the edit?

Not from Sharpy: grades, masks and keys stay behind, and the file says so. Colourists usually prefer an ungraded timeline anyway, so they can grade from the original footage.

Do I need to send the footage as well?

Yes. A timeline file holds decisions, not pictures. Send the original media with it, or the other editor sees every clip offline.

Can Sharpy export an AAF for Pro Tools?

Yes. Sharpy writes AAF as well as FCPXML, CMX 3600 EDL and OpenTimelineIO, and stems for the mix.

Sources

Checked on 18 October 2026.