What is an EDL in video editing?
An EDL, or edit decision list, is a plain text file that describes a cut as a list of events. Each line says which source clip was used, which part of it, and where it sits in the programme, in timecode. Colourists and online editors use an EDL to rebuild a cut from the original media in their own system.
An EDL is the oldest way of describing a cut that is still in daily use. It comes from the days when an edit was made by copying tape to tape, and the list told the machines which piece of which tape went where. The tapes are gone. The list is still how a cut travels to many grading and finishing systems.
What is inside one
An EDL is a text file you can open in any text editor. After a title line, each event is one line. A cut in the common CMX 3600 format looks like this:
001 A001C003 V C 14:22:10:05 14:22:14:17 01:00:00:00 01:00:04:12Read left to right:
- Event number. The order of the edits, starting at 001.
- Reel or source name. Which clip or tape the shot came from.
- Track. V for picture and A for sound.
- Transition. C for a cut, D for a dissolve with its length in frames, W for a wipe.
- Source in and out. The part of the clip that was used, in its own timecode.
- Record in and out. Where that part sits in the programme’s timecode.
Lines starting with an asterisk are comments. Editors use them to carry the clip’s file name, because the reel name in a CMX 3600 list is short.
What an EDL can and cannot carry
It carries the essentials: which shot, which frames, where, and simple transitions. It does not carry most of what makes a modern cut a cut. Effects, titles, colour, several layers of picture and detailed sound work are left out or simplified, and speed changes come across only in a basic form. That is why EDLs are usually made one picture track at a time.
When to send an EDL, and when an AAF
- Send an EDL to a colourist or an online editor who will rebuild the picture from the original media, one track at a time.
- Send an AAF to a sound team, or to anyone who needs every track, the clip names and the levels in one file.
Many turnovers include both: an AAF for sound, and an EDL with a reference video for picture.
Before you send one
- Simplify the timeline to the picture tracks the grade needs.
- Make sure each source has a reel or clip name the colourist can find.
- Send a reference video with burned-in timecode, so they can check their rebuild against your cut.
How B/side handles it
B/side exports the cut as an EDL or an AAF, and a change list when the cut moves after turnover. Handing work to another facility is part of the Editor seat and Production plans. Exporting your own cut as an H.264 file is on every plan, including Free.
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