Cineform: a Great Intermediate Codec

I love CineForm! I use it a lot. I don't miss ProRes at all. CineForm is an extremely versatile codec that can accommodate multiple wrappers while maintaining higher quality at lower bitrates than ProRes. It even has its own variation of compressed RAW. Making CineForm an economical fit in many existing post workflows.

You don't have to take my word for it. Back in 2014, the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, standardized GoPro's CineForm codec, dubbing it ST 2073 VC-5, the new open standard for video acquisition and post production. If that wasn't enough GoPro has publicly stated it's intent to support Cineform, making it better as the years go by.

'SMPTE standardization of the GoPro CineForm codec as the new VC-5 standard is big news for the entire production and post production industry, as well as for GoPro and its customers,” said David Newman, senior director of software engineering for GoPro. “By further developing the VC-5 standard, we are building a new ecosystem for the industry in which we’re enabling cinema-level acquisition quality, while also providing cinematographers the workflow technology to finish their films. We are standardizing core codec technologies, and making them extensible to even support future camera formats and future post production workflows.'

— David Newman

I have noticed that it is hard to find the bitrate information for CineForm. I've taken the liberty of providing the table below for your reference:

I used Cineform codec for years. IMO it is a great master codec for Windows/PPro machines- fast, easy to digest, lossless. The only issue is the very large file size, but if storage is not a problem, you could hardly do better than Cineform. He then converts it to GoPro Cineform using GoPro Studio for editing in FCP X. But, when he exports the footage it looks terrible; green horizontal lines running throughout the frame. GoPro Cineform is a high-quality codec, similar to ProRes and DNxHD, in that it is optimized for high quality and efficient editing.

GoPro Cineform (VBR)	ProRes (VBR)	DNxHD (CBR)
Low (1) - 64 Mbps	Proxy - 36 Mbps	DNxHD 36 - 36 Mbps
Medium (2) - 77 Mbps	LT - 82 Mbps	DNxHD 80 - 80 Mbps
High (3) - 89 Mbps	422 - 117 Mbps Traktor pro 3 password.	DNxHD 115 - 115 Mbps
Film Scan (4) - 104 Mbps	422 HQ - 176 Mbps	DNxHD 175 - 175 Mbps
Film Scan 2 (5) - 170 Mbps	4444 - 264 Mbps	DNxHD 175x - 175 Mbps
4444 XQ - 396 Mbps	DNxHD 350x - 350 Mbps
(Assuming 1080p at 24fps)

Citrix ucsf. Here are the main features of CineForm:

Gopro Cineform Codec For Windows 10

Full-frame Wavelet compression for highest image integrity
Unrestricted spatial resolution
Up to 12-bit arithmetic precision
RGBA, RGB, YUV, and RAW chroma formats
Standard wrapper interfaces including AVI and MOV for broadest compatibility
OS Agnostic for workflows and file compatibility for mixed post environments
Compatible with the most popular professional applications (Premiere Pro, After Effects, Final Cut Pro, etc.)
Visual quality equivalent to uncompressed workflows but with much lower cost
Performance-optimized compression eliminates need for specialized hardware
GPU Accelerated Rendering

Workflow enhancements include:

Source format normalization to a common intermediate from virtually all camera or source files
Batch pre-processing during format conversion
Real-time renderless colour workflow using Active Metadata™
Stereo (3D) workflow compatible with most industry applications

I encourage others to embrace CineForm so that it will gain in popularity in relation to other intermediate mezzanine codecs like ProRes and DNxHD/HR. It's high quality, efficient compression, and overall versatile. I can see CineForm becoming a mainstay in many post production pipelines for the years to come. CineForm is my go to working and mastering format.

This has been the role of CineForm even before its acquisition by GoPro in 2011. The CineForm compression format was designed for speed on personal computers, so it could bridge the gap between a cutting-edge camera and the existing computer hardware that needed to present the images. CineForm has stayed well ahead of the video standards which take a long time to arrive in hardware, from our laptops to our smartphones. For the upcoming Fusion, just like with Omni, the video is stitched after capture using CineForm to hold more than today's standards can deliver.
Since it is so clearly evident that CineForm is crucial to advancing 360° imaging, GoPro is open-sourcing it to help third-party software developers accelerate high-resolution 360 and future workflows. Eventually, video standards will be the road in which high-resolution consumer 360 cameras will run, but today, where we're going…we don't need roads.

Gopro Cineform Codec Premiere

You can join the CineForm open source effort at https://gopro.github.io/cineform-sdk/