Video Notes

If you’ve ever generated proxy media in DaVinci Resolve and then checked the file sizes, you may have noticed something surprising: your proxy files can actually be much larger than the original footage. In my case, a clip that was only about 25 MB ballooned into a proxy file over 2 GB. Another went from under 25 MB to more than 4 GB.

At first glance, this feels completely backwards. Proxy media is supposed to make editing lighter and faster, so why are the files getting bigger?

The reason comes down to how proxy media works. Proxy files aren’t designed to be smaller in size, they’re designed to be easier for your computer to play back. Most original footage (especially from phones or screen recordings) is stored in highly compressed formats like H.264 or H.265. These formats are great for saving space, but they’re more demanding for your system to decode during editing. When DaVinci Resolve generates proxies, it often converts your footage into editing-friendly formats like ProRes or DNxHR. These formats are much less compressed, which makes them significantly larger, but also much smoother to work with.

In many cases, this tradeoff is perfectly fine. If you have plenty of disk space, larger proxy files aren’t a problem and can make your editing experience noticeably better. However, if you’re working on a laptop or managing multiple projects, those large proxy files can quickly add up and become difficult to manage.

Fortunately, you can adjust your proxy settings to strike a better balance between performance and file size. Here are the steps to do that:

1. Delete any existing proxy media.
2. Open Project Settings (gear icon).
3. Navigate to Master Settings → Optimized Media and Render Cache.
4. Lower the Proxy Media Resolution (for example, down to 1/16 of the original).
5. Change the Proxy Media Format from something like ProRes 422 HQ to H.264.
6. Save your settings and regenerate your proxy media.

With these adjustments, the difference in file size can be dramatic — often reducing proxies from gigabytes down to something much more manageable.

There is a tradeoff to be aware of. Smaller proxies mean lower visual quality while you’re editing, since you’re working with heavily compressed versions of your footage. However, this only affects your preview. At any point, you can disable proxies to view the full-resolution media, and when you export your project, Resolve always uses the original high-quality files.

The key takeaway is that proxy media is about improving performance, not minimizing file size. By default, Resolve prioritizes smooth playback, even if that means creating larger files. But with a few simple adjustments, you can tailor proxy settings to better fit your system and your available storage.