EDL . the universal project file ?

bum · Post by **bum** » Sun Oct 31, 2004 11:23 pm

I found about this a while ago, but only just thought of brigining it up. Open whatever vid editor you use and fo to file>save as, but instead of the default project file, see if thiers anything els you can save it as. Their should be an option called EDL. From what I've found out though quickly looking at the vegas .hlp file, EDL project files are a text summary of a project. They're basic. They put all cuts on one video track, transitions are limited to crossfades and thiers a max of 4 audio tracks (though for most of us, that shouldnt be much of a problem) . Thing is though, any NLE saved with any vid editor can (or should, software is never perfect) open up in any compatible vid editor (which is basicaly most, if not all, mid-high enc editors).

Anyway, this is interesting. I'l surely have a dig around the net for into on it sometime. Oh and, i put up the EDL file for my latest amv here if you care (best save the file to your hard disk and open it work wordpad, looks best in it. though its still a bit messy to the end)

Org Profile · Post by **LantisEscudo** » Sun Oct 31, 2004 11:39 pm

EDL is an abbreviation for Edit Decision List, and (if what I remember is correct) they're mainly used in film editing. EDLs were designed to allow editors to specify to negative cutters exactly what frames to splice together in what order. The limit on effects to crossfades only is because most other optical effects would be done in a lab and would have their own reel to edit into the project from.

I'm really not sure what benefit EDLs offer to people who work completely digitally like we do, though the cross-editor compatability is pretty neat and could be useful if you're working with multiple editing programs at once.

trythil · Post by **trythil** » Sun Oct 31, 2004 11:50 pm

Anything which gives you a list of edits is an EDL. That includes all project files.

This will never be universal, because people like to keep file formats proprietary. (Why, I don't know.)

AbsoluteDestiny · Post by **AbsoluteDestiny** » Mon Nov 01, 2004 4:09 am

Yeah there was some talk of trying to make an edl > avisynth converter on doom9.... I can't see that working