Best Export Settings for Video in DaVinci Resolve 18

We recently covered some of the best export settings for Premiere Pro CC. It only makes sense that now we head over to DaVinci Resolve 18. I have to reiterate a point I make every time we discuss this topic that it is incredibly important to understand the various export settings.

It’s the last step you have full control over before you hand it off to whatever service or system your viewers are going to use. Make sure it is as the best quality you can achieve.

Want to get a rundown of some of the best settings? Filmmaker Jamie Fenn has a tutorial running through the export options in Resolve.

Heading to File > Export like you might do in other apps is not the right way in Resolve 18. You’ll want to head over to the dedicated Deliver tab to properly set things up.

Getting things started up he selects the YouTube 1080p preset. Following that he chooses custom export. Give it a title and destination as you see fit, but head down to where you see the Export Video checkbox for the real options.

For Format, you should go with MP4 or QuickTime. For Codec, your ideal pick is H.265. This requires Studio, so if you don’t have that you can fall back on H.264. Also, if you don’t have a more modern computer with hardware acceleration for H.265 you may find exports take ages. If this is a problem you can stick with H.264.

Image Credit: Blackmagic Design

If you work in a 1080p timeline (helps with speed) you’ll want to make a quick adjustment. Heading to the Media tab and the media pool you will need to find the timeline you are exporting. Right-click and select Timelines > Timeline Settings. Change the resolution to 4K.

Head back to the deliver tab and change the resolution to match the 4K option you just selected. Heading farther down the list you will see Quality. Don’t just leave this on Automatic.

Restrict it to a specific number, which as a good rule of thumb should be 2,000 times the frame rate. So, for 30p footage, you should be setting it to 60,000 kb/s. For busier footage you might want to increase this a touch – Jaime actually goes to 80,000 often.

In the Advanced Settings, you will find some more options. Usually, you don’t want to mess with these. One you should look at is the Gamma Tag. For SDR projects you should change from the default same as project to Rec.709-A. This should help resolve any issues with color or gamma shifts after export.

Now you can just export the project and upload it!

[source: Jamie Fenn]

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