Cutsio Blog

How to Fix Offline Clips in DaVinci Resolve

Stop staring at red screens. Discover the common causes and solutions for offline clips in DaVinci Resolve.

The "Media Offline" warning in DaVinci Resolve is a common hurdle, but it's rarely a sign of a corrupted project. It simply means Resolve has lost the map to your source files.

Here is how to fix offline clips in DaVinci Resolve and get your timeline back in working order.

Understanding the "Media Offline" Warning

DaVinci Resolve uses absolute file paths (e.g., D:\Projects\Video\Interview_01.mp4). If any part of that path changes—the drive letter, the folder name, or the file name—Resolve can no longer find the file, and the clip goes offline.

The Standard Fix: Relinking Media

The most direct way to fix offline clips is to tell Resolve where the files are now located.

  1. Navigate to the Media Pool (available on the Media, Edit, or Color pages).
  2. You will see a red icon indicating missing media. Select all the clips that are offline.
  3. Right-click the selected clips and choose Relink Selected Clips.
  4. In the file browser, navigate to the folder that currently contains your media. You don't need to select the exact file; just selecting the folder (or the hard drive) is enough.
  5. Click OK/Select. Resolve will scan the directory and reconnect the clips.

The "Change Source Folder" Method

If you moved an entire project from one hard drive to another (e.g., from a Mac to a PC), the root drive letters or mount points will be completely different. Instead of relinking, you can swap the paths.

  1. Right-click the offline clips in the Media Pool.
  2. Select Change Source Folder.
  3. The dialogue box will show the "Original" path (where Resolve thinks the files are) and the "New" path.
  4. Click the "..." button next to the "New" path and select the new root folder on your current hard drive.
  5. Click Change. Resolve will instantly update the file paths for all selected clips.

Fixing Intermittent Offline Clips (Flashing Red)

Sometimes, clips will flash "Media Offline" during playback, even though they appear linked in the Media Pool. This is a different issue entirely:

* Cache Issues: Your render cache might be corrupted. Go to Playback > Delete Render Cache > All to clear it and force Resolve to rebuild the cache.

* Drive Speed: Your hard drive might be too slow to feed the data to Resolve, causing the software to drop frames and show the offline warning. Try moving your media to a faster SSD or generating Proxy Media.

* Variable Frame Rate (VFR): Footage from smartphones or screen recordings often uses VFR, which Resolve hates. The fix is to transcode the original footage to a constant frame rate using a program like Handbrake, then relink the offline clips to the new transcoded files.