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EDL / XML / AAF Compatibility Checker

Check NLE-to-NLE timeline interchange support and see what transfers, what breaks, and what to rebuild.

Why this tool is useful

Timeline interchange fails silently. An AAF opens in the destination application, the cuts are in the right places, and everything looks fine, so the handoff gets marked complete. The missing pieces surface later: audio panning gone, speed ramps rounded, titles vanished, a grade that did not travel. By then the material is with another team and the reconstruction work lands on whoever finds it.

This checker maps what actually survives between EDL, XML/FCPXML, AAF, and OTIO across Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve, Avid Media Composer, Final Cut Pro, After Effects, Flame, Baselight, and Nuke Studio. For each of twenty timeline elements it shows whether the element transfers cleanly, transfers with caveats, or is lost, along with the specific caveat and the recommended workaround.

From to

NLE pair selector

From NLE

to

To NLE

Premiere Pro to DaVinci Resolve

Format recommendation

EDL

Limited support

XML/FCPXML

Recommended

AAF

Partial support

OTIO

Partial support

Timeline elements

Compatibility matrix

EDL

XML/FCPXML

AAF

OTIO

EDL

XML/FCPXML

AAF

OTIO

EDL

XML/FCPXML

AAF

OTIO

EDL

XML/FCPXML

AAF

OTIO

EDL

XML/FCPXML

AAF

OTIO

Variable remaps are not consistently portable.

Workaround: Render and replace or rebuild with a reference.

EDL

XML/FCPXML

AAF

OTIO

EDL

XML/FCPXML

AAF

OTIO

EDL

XML/FCPXML

AAF

OTIO

EDL

XML/FCPXML

AAF

OTIO

EDL

XML/FCPXML

AAF

OTIO

EDL

XML/FCPXML

AAF

OTIO

EDL

XML/FCPXML

AAF

OTIO

EDL

XML/FCPXML

AAF

OTIO

EDL

XML/FCPXML

AAF

OTIO

EDL

XML/FCPXML

AAF

OTIO

EDL

XML/FCPXML

AAF

OTIO

EDL

XML/FCPXML

AAF

OTIO

EDL

XML/FCPXML

AAF

OTIO

EDL

XML/FCPXML

AAF

OTIO

EDL

XML/FCPXML

AAF

OTIO

XML/FCPXML

Step-by-step export guide

  1. 1. In Premiere Pro, duplicate the timeline and simplify unsupported effects.
  2. 2. Export XML/FCPXML with source timecode, reel names, and at least 120-frame handles where available.
  3. 3. Import into DaVinci Resolve, relink media, then compare against a reference export.
  4. 4. Rebuild anything listed in the checklist before final QC.

Checklist

What will I need to rebuild?

Audio track routing
Third-party plugin effects

Example use cases

  • Preparing a turnover to sound or color

    Check what an AAF carries to a sound facility and what needs to be flattened, baked, or documented separately before it goes out.

  • Moving a cut between NLEs

    Work out the least destructive interchange format for a project changing from Premiere to Resolve mid-flight, and what will need rebuilding.

  • Diagnosing a failed handoff

    Identify why elements disappeared from a timeline that imported without an error, and what the correct export would have been.

  • Writing a turnover checklist

    Build a facility handoff document from the known limitations of the format rather than from whatever went wrong last time.

FAQ

It depends on what you are handing over. AAF is the standard for audio turnover to sound post: it carries clip gain, audio keyframes, panning, and handles reliably, and it is what Pro Tools and Avid workflows expect. XML and FCPXML carry more picture-side information, including speed changes, markers, and basic effects, which makes them the better choice for color and finishing handoffs. Sending both, with a reference render alongside, is standard practice on anything complex, because they fail in different places.
An EDL is a text list of cuts, source timecodes, and reel names. It was designed for tape-based online conform and carries essentially nothing beyond edit points. Effects, titles, grades, audio levels, speed ramps, nested sequences, and captions are all lost by design rather than by failure. That simplicity is why EDLs remain useful for straightforward conform where only the edit decisions matter. For anything with effects or audio work, use XML or AAF, and send a reference render so the receiving team can see what the timeline is supposed to look like.
Anything that depends on the sending application to exist. Third-party plugin effects never survive unless both systems have identical plugin versions installed. Variable speed changes and time remaps are inconsistently portable and should be rendered when the timing is locked. Titles and motion graphics use application-specific text engines and should be exported as alpha renders or MOGRTs. Nested sequences and compound clips should be committed. Adjustment layers are a timeline concept rather than media, so bake their effect into the clips beneath them.
It improves the situation without solving it. OpenTimelineIO is an open, well-specified format designed specifically for timeline interchange, and it handles the structural layer, cuts, timing, markers, and metadata, more cleanly than the formats it competes with. What it does not do is make application-specific effects portable, because that is a fundamental limitation rather than a format one: there is no representation of a Resolve grade that Premiere can render. OTIO is a good choice where both applications support it well, and it still requires the same discipline around baking and documentation.