Every heavy project has the same shape: beautiful camera files the machine cannot play. Proxies replace playback, not quality, and in a browser workflow they are the difference between a slideshow and a working timeline.
A proxy is a lighter copy of a camera file made for playback only: same length, same framing, smaller resolution and a codec the machine can decode in real time. The timeline shows the proxy; the export reads the original.
Generate proxies when playback stutters, which in practice means above 1080p on a thin machine, or any codec the decoder dislikes. A quarter resolution proxy is usually indistinguishable on a laptop screen.
Turn proxies on for the cutting phase and switch back for the colour and delivery passes. Because exports read the originals, nothing about quality depends on how long the proxies lived or where they were made.
In the browser studio proxies are managed alongside the project: playback rolls into the lightest source for heavy media, and the final render always reaches for the original files on the storage side.
Proxy workflow questions that come up before a first render.
No. Proxies exist for playback; exports read the original camera files. A proxy workflow can be left on for an entire edit without touching a single delivered pixel.
No. 1080p footage that plays smoothly needs nothing. Proxies pay for themselves when the source resolution, the codec or the machine makes scrolling a timeline painful.
A quarter of source resolution is the common default and holds up on laptop screens. Half resolution helps when the screen is large and the codec is still heavy.
They can be discarded: the project resolves to originals for any future export. Archive the originals plus the project and leave the proxies out.
The studio is one project with several pages. These are the pages that usually come before and after this one.
Open the studio with the camera files that usually stall an editor and let the proxy side of playback do its job.
