Solved Proxy files

Good evening. Sorry if this might seem a stupid question to you more knowledgeable users in here, but can somebody let me know where proxy files are saved/stored. I have looked in my folders but cannot see any at present. This really harps back to my previous PC where I did not have vast storage capacity and I would delete a project along with the generated proxy files to free up space. Cheers John

John, I believe they are in the same folder as your originals. You should only need to create them if you're using 4K. From memory the proxies are 720 so aren't small files.

Thanks Eric. I have a couple of *.sfk files in there would that be them?

No that's the waveform file.

I've just done a proxy in MS14 Trial I've recently downloaded of a 1080 file and the proxy is bigger in file size! It's mts.sfvp0 as below:

According to what's in Help you won't see the files in your Media Pane or Explorer window. So you need to look for them outside of MS.

Thanks for taking the time on this Eric, will have a look later. Not sure then what these *.sfk files are then.

Re .sfk, this is straight from the online Help of MS 13 P:
"Peak Data File
The file created by Movie Studio Platinum when a file is opened for the first time. This file stores the information regarding the graphic display of the waveform so that opening a file is almost instantaneous in direct edit mode. This file is stored in the directory that the file resides in and has a .sfk extension. If this file is not in the same directory as the file, or is deleted, it will be recalculated the next time you open the file in direct mode."

And from the old SCS KB article: "software creates SFK files, or peak files, for all audio events imported into a project. These files contain data which helps draw the waveform on the screen. They allow files, especially large ones, to be opened quickly."

The online Help has also a chapter on "Creating proxy files for high-definition editing", which of course confirms what ericlnz wrote.

Thank you to both of you for your answers on this.

Hi John,

In addition to ericlnz and vkmast, (and you may already be aware).......

If your source media is 4K, the proxy files will normally be smaller in physical size than the originals, but not by much, maybe 20-25%. As ericlnz points out if your source is 1080, the proxy physical size may be a bit larger, and the proxy id 720 HD.

When you are previewing a proxy file, the preview setting must be set for 'Draft' or 'Preview' for the preview window to use the proxy file and thereby gain the advantage of smoother preview by using a proxy. If the preview setting is set for 'Good' or 'Best', the preview window will use the original source media and ignore the proxy file.

If we want to preview a proxy at 'Good' or 'Best' preview quality, we must manually make our own proxy files and manually manage the replacement before final rendering. The proxy feature in Movie Studio of course does all this automatically behind the scenes and removes that headache.

When I'm using the Movie Studio proxy feature and have a need to view in 'Good' or 'Best', I just switch it on for the period of time I want the higher quality preview, for example to check the focus or detail of a frame, then switch back the 'Preview' mode for smoother viewing.

The automatic proxy builder of 4K source media is a setting you can switch off and on under 'Options', 'Preferences', 'Video' tab, 'Automatically create video proxies for Ultra HD media' (check or uncheck). I have this turned off because most of my 4K source media runs smooth without proxies. However by default this box is checked to automatically create the proxy files when adding them to the timeline.

And, even though I have this feature turned off, I can at anytime manual create a proxy by right clicking on the source media within the Project Bin and selecting 'Create Video Proxy'. If that option is grayed out, it would indicate a proxy has already been created and thereby available. When manually selecting and creating a proxy, it has to be done before the source media is added to the timeline. I think it is almost always better to have Movie Studio set to defaults to automatically create the proxies, that way everything is automatically done and we let the system manage it.

Thank you George that clears up a lot of the mystery of the use of proxy files for me. My son has just bought a new camera and had asked me if I could edit some footage of paintballing and put it on a DVD for him. So thanks once again. John