# Export and import FCPXML

> Saving the rough cut out of RoughCut, importing it into Final Cut Pro, and what every item in the Export menu contains.
>
> Verified against the current RoughCut app on 28 August 2026
> https://www.roughcuteditor.com/docs/export-fcpxml

Click Export for Final Cut Pro on the ready banner and save the file, which is named after your source clip and ends in RoughCut.fcpxml. In Final Cut Pro choose File, then Import, then XML, and pick that file. The timeline that appears references your original media in place, so do not move, rename, or delete the source before importing; if clips show as offline, use File then Relink Files. The toolbar Export menu offers the FCPXML, an XML pack, a debug bundle, and a way to open the job folder, and is disabled until the job finishes. The debug bundle contains your transcript and cut decisions, so review it before sharing. DaVinci Resolve and Premiere Pro can import the FCPXML too. Exporting copies a small file; it does not render a video.

## Prerequisites

- A finished rough cut showing the `Your rough cut is ready` banner.
- Any review changes already applied with [Recompute Cuts](/docs/recompute). Export reflects the last computed plan, not pending toggles.
- Your original video still in the same folder, under the same name.

## Steps

1. On the finished job, click `Export for Final Cut Pro…` in the ready banner.
2. In the save panel, choose where to put the file. The default name is your source clip's name followed by ` — RoughCut.fcpxml` — for example, `Interview_take3 — RoughCut.fcpxml`. Keep it next to your footage if you want the two to stay together.
3. Save. RoughCut reveals the exported file in Finder and confirms the export on screen.
4. Open Final Cut Pro and choose `File → Import → XML`.
5. Select the exported `.fcpxml` file and confirm the import.
6. Check the new timeline. Your rough cut appears as a sequence of clips, and your original footage links automatically.

## Expected result

A Final Cut Pro project containing only the segments RoughCut kept, cut on frame boundaries and linked to your original media. Nothing was re-encoded and no second copy of your footage exists — what you imported is a set of edit decisions pointing at the file you already had.

## Exporting is not rendering

This is the single most common misunderstanding. `Export for Final Cut Pro…` writes a small text file describing where the cuts go. It does not produce a video, it does not transcode, and it takes about as long as saving a document. Your finished video comes out of Final Cut Pro when *you* export it there, after you have finished the edit.

## Do not move the media

The exported timeline points at your original file **where it was when the job ran**. Until the import is done and the clips show up in Final Cut Pro:

- do not move the source file
- do not rename it
- do not delete it
- do not unmount the drive it lives on

If clips do show as offline, the fix is Final Cut Pro's own: `File → Relink Files`, then point it at the media in its new location.

## The Export menu

The toolbar `Export` menu holds everything the job produced, in this order:

| Menu item | What you get | Default save name |
|---|---|---|
| `Export FCPXML…` | The deliverable timeline | `<stem> — RoughCut.fcpxml` |
| `Export XML Pack (zip)…` | The FCPXML plus the machine-readable removal list | `<stem> — RoughCut XML Pack.zip` |
| `Export Debug Bundle (zip)…` | The full diagnostic set, for support | `<stem> — debug.zip` |
| `Reveal Job Folder in Finder` | Opens the job's folder on disk | not applicable |

A divider separates `Reveal Job Folder in Finder` from the three export commands above it. `<stem>` is your source clip's filename without its extension, and the dash in every save name is a **spaced em dash**.

The whole menu is disabled until the job finishes. A transcription-only job has no timeline, so it shows only a way to reveal its folder — its exports live on the transcript screen instead, covered in [Export SRT captions](/docs/srt-captions).

## What is inside each artifact

**The FCPXML** is the timeline itself: one clip per kept interval, on the primary storyline, with dialogue audio roles and the source media referenced in place by its location on disk. Cut points are quantised to whole frames.

**The XML Pack** adds the removal decision list next to the FCPXML in one zip. Take it when you want a record of *why* the cut looks the way it does alongside the cut itself, or when you are handing the job to someone who wants to inspect the decisions.

**The Debug Bundle** is the diagnostic set: the word-level transcript, an SRT of the full original transcript, the removal lists before and after the refine pass, the Second Look record, the cut plan, the frame-quantised clip placements, the provider and model accounting for the AI call, and the FCPXML. It exists so support can reproduce what your job actually did.

> ! **The Debug Bundle contains your transcript and every cut decision — that is, the words you said.** Review it before sending it to anyone, and treat it as you would the recording itself. If the content is confidential, say so when you contact [support](/docs/contact-support) rather than attaching the bundle by default. Note also that the bundle is written on the original run: if you have recomputed since, export it *before* recomputing, because it will not reflect the newer cut. See [Recompute after review changes](/docs/recompute).

## Other editors

Final Cut Pro is the primary target and the format RoughCut writes is Final Cut Pro's own.

The same file also imports into **DaVinci Resolve** (`File → Import → Timeline`) and **Adobe Premiere Pro**. RoughCut's own export notice says so. What arrives is still a cut list pointing at your original media, and the same rule applies: leave the footage where it is.

> Menu wording in Final Cut Pro, DaVinci Resolve, and Premiere Pro is set by their makers and changes between versions. Where a label here does not match what you see, follow the application's own documentation and look for the equivalent XML or timeline import command.

## Common mistakes

- **Exporting with pending review changes.** Click `Recompute Cuts` first, then export.
- **Recomputing and reusing an older exported file.** Export again — a saved file does not update itself.
- **Moving the footage between export and import.** This is the usual cause of offline clips.
- **Expecting a movie file.** The export is an edit decision file.
- **Sharing a Debug Bundle without reading it.** It contains your transcript.
- **Exporting the XML Pack when you meant the FCPXML.** Final Cut Pro imports the `.fcpxml`; the pack is a zip you must unpack first.

## Troubleshooting

**The Export menu is greyed out.** The job has not finished. Wait for the ready banner.

**`<name> is not ready yet.`** That artifact was not produced for this job. A silence-only cut, for instance, has no AI accounting to record.

**Final Cut Pro imports nothing, or reports an error.** Confirm you picked the `.fcpxml` file and not the zip, and that the job finished without a failure banner.

**Clips import offline.** Use `File → Relink Files` in Final Cut Pro and point it at your footage.

**Playback stutters or the cut points drift.** If the job showed a variable frame rate warning, transcode the source to a constant frame rate and process it again — the warning is on the job for exactly this reason.

For anything else, see [Troubleshooting by symptom](/docs/troubleshooting) and the [error reference](/docs/error-reference).