How to export 4K into 1080?

[Hidala]

Hello everyone!
I have a question which might sound stupid but I am a newbie, so please be patient 🙂
I have some footage shot in 4K, which I would like to export as 1080.

Do I use a 4K sequence and then export in 1080, or do I use a 1080 sequence in the first place? Or it doesn't make any difference? And will the footage lose a lot in terms of quality?

Thank you everyone

[Michael Grenadier · Accepted solution]

Either workflow is fine.  You will by it's intrinsic nature lose quality when you downrez from 4k to 1080, but it will at least be very close in the quality you would have gotten  if you shot on 1080 to begin with.   

[Richard M Knight · Accepted solution]

If you use a 1080 sequence you will be able to zoom in and reframe the shots if needed.

[Hidala]

Thank you very much!

[R Neil Haugen]

Just set the Preferences option for scaling to "Set to framesize" and use a 1080 sequence. The clips will all "land" with the image filling the sequence borders. And you can re-size without the hit of resolution drops you would get from "Scale to framesize" as a preference.

Neil

[Kevin-Monahan]

Off topic, but it should be said that some want to do the opposite. Shoot and edit in 1080 but upload to YouTube in 4K. I say, try it and check those results.

Yes, you can shoot and edit in 1080 and blow up the sequence to 4K. I do that in Media Encoder. Some say they cannot see the difference between a scaled up 1080 cut from 1080 source and one that originated in 4K and was exported in 4K. I think that's pretty cool. Yay, Media Encoder!

Kevin

[salvo34]

put the 4k into a full hd sequence and export full hd.

: )

don't upscale... that interpolation is handled better at your TV end than from editing program.

[Andy 1968]

Either workflow will work. Premiere Pro allows you to change the frame rate, resolution and even the aspect ration during export. You will not find more export settings in a NLE than what Premiere Pro has to offer. The video below demonstrates this at about two minutes in.