Media bin and source monitor

In video mode, Import media adds a reusable source to Assets. It does not place a clip until you choose Place or drag a source range onto the timeline. The bin supports folders, search and sorting. Imported metadata shows duration, resolution, source frame rate and audio channel count when the platform can probe them. Unavailable metadata is stated rather than guessed.

Select an asset to open its source monitor. Scrub independently of the project playhead and use I and O while the source monitor has focus to mark its range. Marks belong to the asset, so repeated placements reuse them. The placed clip stores its own trim and timeline window; later changes to bin marks do not retime existing clips. Fractional source rates are converted through source time rather than treated as the project’s frame rate.

Choose Place to use the active lane and playhead, or drag the marked range to a compatible lane. Locked or incompatible lanes refuse the placement visibly. Audio ranges also preserve their placement offset and source trim. The source monitor’s Listen from playhead action auditions audio; the channel label identifies the mono preview mix. Stop listening ends the audition.

Desktop imports keep file references. Browser imports keep bounded session bytes and save them in the project bundle, including assets that remain only in the bin. Save and reopen preserve folders, metadata and marks without changing the render digest. A plain file-reference project still needs its referenced files at their saved paths.

Browser video preview supports MP4/MOV containers and codecs available through WebCodecs. Other containers report the required conversion. Desktop decoding uses FFmpeg. Source and timeline decode failures offer visible errors; a filmstrip can be retried after the media becomes available again.

See Media and bundles for portability and Workspaces for layout and disclosure.