--- title: "How to Share ARRI RAW Footage With a Client Without Transcoding It First" author: "Cutsio Team" date: "2026-05-06" lastmod: "2026-05-06" category: "Storage & Performance" excerpt: "Stop wasting hours on manual pre-transcodes before client reviews. Upload ARRI RAW originals to Cutsio, get streamable review assets with Visual Intelligence, and keep the original camera files attached for conform and finishing." tags: ["ARRI RAW","ARRIRAW","ARRI Alexa","DIT Workflow","Client Review","Raw Footage Sharing","Visual Search","Post Production"] --- ## How do you share ARRI RAW footage with a client without transcoding it first? Upload ARRI RAW originals to Cutsio once. Cutsio creates streamable review assets, indexes every frame with Visual Intelligence, and keeps the original camera files attached for download, conform, and finishing. The client opens a share link and watches a high-fidelity review stream on any device — no manual pre-transcode, no separate ProRes proxy render, and no proprietary playback software required. ARRI RAW is the uncompressed or lightly compressed raw sensor data from ARRI Alexa cameras. The native file formats include `.ari` (the legacy ARRIRAW container), `.mxf` (the Material eXchange Format used by Alexa 35 and Alexa Mini LF), and `.arx` (the ARRI RAW Xpress format for optimized workflows). A single minute of ARRI RAW at 4.5K resolution can exceed 10 GB. For a standard 30-minute short film shoot, that translates to over 300 GB of raw sensor data. Traditional workflows demand that DITs or assistant editors spend hours manually transcoding this footage into ProRes proxies or H.264 files before sharing with the director, cinematographer, or producer for review. That manual pre-transcode wait time is pure dead time — the production is running, but nobody can look at the footage yet. Cutsio eliminates the manual pre-transcode bottleneck. ARRI RAW ingestion is available as an enterprise add-on for qualified production accounts. Once enabled, you upload the native ARRI RAW files (including .ari, .mxf, and .arx from Alexa Mini LF, Alexa 35, and Alexa SXT), Cutsio transcodes them into streamable review assets in the cloud, indexes every frame with Visual Intelligence, and retains the original raw files as attachments. The result: the client sees a review stream with accurate color metadata, and the original files are always available for download and conform. Working with raw camera footage? Check out [How to Build a Searchable Library From ARRIRAW, RED R3D, and ProRes Footage](/blog/how-to-build-searchable-library-from-arriraw-red-r3d-prores-footage). Handle proxies efficiently with [How to automatically generate proxies with Blackmagic Proxy Generator for DaVinci Resolve](/blog/davinci-resolve-blackmagic-proxy-generator-automatic-proxies). ## Why is manual pre-transcoding ARRI RAW a bottleneck in professional post-production? Manual pre-transcoding ARRI RAW is a bottleneck because it introduces a mandatory waiting period that blocks the review pipeline, consumes expensive compute resources on the DIT cart, and creates file management chaos across multiple versions of the same footage. ARRI RAW files (.ari, .mxf, .arx) use a proprietary Bayer-pattern raw format that stores the exact sensor readings without debayering. To play these files on standard non-cinema software (QuickTime, VLC, or a web browser), you must first debayer and transcode them into a mezzanine codec. Here is what that manual process actually costs: | Cost Factor | Impact | | :--- | :--- | | **Time** | A 10-minute ARRI RAW clip takes 45–90 minutes to transcode to ProRes 422 HQ on a high-end Mac Studio | | **Compute** | The DIT's laptop is tied up rendering instead of verifying cards or managing set logistics | | **Storage** | The transcode output doubles or triples storage requirements — keep the RAW and the proxy | | **Organizational Debt** | You now manage two versions of every clip with two different file names, paths, and metadata sets | | **Relink Risk** | The editor must relink the NLE timeline from proxies back to RAW for the final grade — one broken link causes "media offline" across the entire timeline | Professional DITs and post supervisors know this pain intimately. The manual pre-transcode step exists because most review tools cannot handle raw formats. Cutsio's enterprise raw ingestion solves this by handling the transcode on the backend, so the DIT can stay focused on set while the review assets are generated automatically. ## What happens when you upload ARRI RAW to Cutsio as an enterprise customer? When you upload ARRI RAW to Cutsio through the enterprise add-on, the file is ingested in the cloud — a streamable review asset is generated, Visual Intelligence indexes every frame for visual search, and the original raw files are retained as downloadable attachments. Cutsio's enterprise raw ingest pipeline works in three stages: 1. **Upload**: The DIT uploads ARRI RAW files (.ari, .mxf, or .arx) directly to Cutsio from set or the DIT cart. Cutsio supports resumable uploads for large raw files. 2. **Cloud Transcode**: Cutsio's backend transcodes the raw files into optimized streamable review assets. This is handled server-side, freeing the DIT's local hardware for other tasks. The original ARRI RAW files remain untouched and are stored as attachments. 3. **Visual Intelligence Indexing**: Simultaneously, Cutsio's Visual Intelligence engine analyzes every frame of the review stream. It identifies scene changes, detects objects and actions (e.g., "actor enters frame left," "car drives through intersection"), and transcribes any on-set audio or scratch track. The result is a fully searchable footage library. The director or DP does not need to install ARRI's proprietary Codex software, does not need a reference monitor, and does not need to download a 20 GB file. They open a share link and start watching the review stream instantly. When they need the original raw file for conform or archival, it is one click away.
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## How does Cutsio's Visual Intelligence make ARRI RAW review faster than a timeline? Cutsio's Visual Intelligence transforms ARRI RAW review from a linear scrub-through into a semantic search experience — you find exactly the frame you need by describing what the camera saw, rather than dragging a playhead through hours of footage. A director reviewing dailies traditionally has two options: watch the entire day's footage in real-time (hours of screen time) or rely on the DIT's handwritten notes to jump to specific takes. Both approaches are slow and error-prone. With Cutsio's Visual Intelligence, the director opens the share link and types "close-up of actor delivering line about the contract" — or "sunset golden hour shot with car" — and Cutsio returns the matching frames from the review stream. This is possible because the Visual Intelligence engine runs computer vision models against every frame during ingestion, building a dense semantic index of actions, objects, scene composition, and emotional tone. ### How Visual Search eliminates scrubbing through ARRI RAW dailies Visual Search in Cutsio works by analyzing every frame of the review stream and mapping visual concepts. When a user searches for "two-shot with window light," the system compares that natural language query against the visual index and returns matching clips ranked by relevance. This is fundamentally different from keyword-based transcript search. Visual Search understands what the camera saw, not just what was said. For ARRI RAW footage that may not have a scratch audio track — common in MOS (motor-only sync) shots — Visual Search is the only way to locate specific frames without scrubbing. ### Why Storage in Cutsio eliminates the ARRI RAW file management nightmare ARRI RAW footage is massive. A single Alexa 35 card at 4.6K ARRI RAW can hold just 15–20 minutes of footage. Managing this across multiple drives, shuttle hard drives, and cloud backup services creates organizational chaos. Cutsio's Storage feature uses a pay-for-minutes model that separates storage cost from file size. You upload a 500 GB ARRI RAW folder and pay for the minutes of footage, not the gigabytes. The review assets and original raw files are stored in an access-controlled library that the entire production team can access without downloading local copies. This eliminates the need to shuttle physical drives between the set, the DIT cart, and the post house. | Storage Pain Point | Cutsio Solution | | :--- | :--- | | Paying for raw file size in cloud storage | Pay only for minutes of footage, not gigabytes | | Managing multiple drive copies for safety | Single cloud library with redundant backups | | Shuttling physical drives to the post house | Instant share links from the DIT cart | | Version confusion with transcoded proxies | Single source of truth — review assets linked to original raw files | ## How do you send a secure ARRI RAW review link with Share? Cutsio's Share feature generates a secure, branded review link from ARRI RAW footage that includes view tracking, password protection, expiration dates, and frame-accurate commenting — without requiring the client to download or install anything. Once the ARRI RAW footage is ingested into Cutsio, sharing it for client review takes seconds: 1. Select the video or collection in your Cutsio library. 2. Click "Share" and configure access settings — set an expiration date (e.g., "link expires in 7 days"), require a password for viewing, and enable view tracking. 3. Copy the branded share link and send it to the client via email or text. The client opens the link and sees the ARRI RAW review stream playing in their browser. They can leave timecoded comments directly on specific frames. "At 00:12:04:15, the focus pull is soft — let's flag this take." The editor sees these comments appear in the Cutsio workspace instantly, linked to the exact frame. ### How view tracking protects your ARRI RAW delivery When you send ARRI RAW footage to a client — especially a high-budget commercial or film project — you need to know whether they actually watched it. Cutsio's view tracking shows you exactly when the client opened the link, how much of the footage they watched, and whether they shared the link with anyone else. This protects your production from the dreaded "I never received the link" excuse that derails review schedules. ## How do Collections organize ARRI RAW footage across multiple shoot days? Collections in Cutsio group ARRI RAW footage from multiple shoot days, cameras, and scenes into a single visual hub that the entire production team can access, search, and comment on — without downloading a single file. A typical feature film shoot generates ARRI RAW footage across 20 to 60 shoot days. Without Collections, the DIT manages a sprawling folder hierarchy: `Day_01/A-Cam/Scene_1/Take_1.ari`, `Day_01/B-Cam/Scene_1/Take_1.ari`, and so on. Navigating this in traditional cloud storage requires drilling through endless folders. Collections create a flat, visual gallery of all footage organized by project, scene, or any custom grouping. Each video thumbnail shows a preview from the review stream. Team members can browse the entire shoot visually, apply filters (e.g., "show only takes marked as good"), and share the entire Collection as a single review link. ## How does Agentic Chat let you search ARRI RAW footage using natural language? Agentic Chat in Cutsio is a conversational AI interface that understands natural language queries about your footage and returns frame-exact results from the ARRI RAW library — no timeline scrubbing, no folder navigation, and no complex search syntax required. Instead of teaching a director or producer how to use your footage management system, you tell them to simply ask. Examples: - "Show me all the master shots from Day 3 where the lighting is warm." - "Find the close-up where the lead actress says her name." - "Which takes have the boom mic in the top of frame?" Agentic Chat processes these queries by combining Visual Search (understanding what the camera saw), transcript search (understanding what was said), and metadata filters (understanding how the footage was organized). It returns a curated list of matching clips in seconds. ## How do you integrate ARRI RAW review into your existing post-production pipeline? ARRI RAW footage reviewed in Cutsio stays compatible with the post-production pipeline because Cutsio exports standard industry formats — including EDL, FCPXML, and CSV — that map directly back to the original file names and timecodes of the ARRI RAW source. The workflow is: 1. **Upload**: The DIT uploads ARRI RAW files from the day's shoot cards to Cutsio through the enterprise add-on. This can happen directly from set or from the DIT cart. 2. **Review**: The director, DP, and producers review the footage through share links. They leave timecoded comments on specific takes. 3. **Curate**: The assistant editor uses Visual Search and Collections to flag the best takes, organize them by scene, and mark notes. 4. **Export**: Cutsio exports an EDL or FCPXML that references the original ARRI RAW file names and timecodes. This imports directly into DaVinci Resolve, Premiere Pro, or Avid Media Composer. 5. **Finish**: The editor opens the NLE, links the EDL to the original ARRI RAW files on the local RAID, and begins the conform. The original raw files were never modified — they are exactly as they came off the card. The entire pipeline eliminates the manual pre-transcode step on the DIT cart. The footage that was reviewed links cleanly to the footage that will be graded. ## FAQ ### Is ARRI RAW ingestion available for all Cutsio accounts? ARRI RAW ingestion is available as an enterprise add-on for qualified production accounts. Contact the Cutsio sales team to enable raw format support for your production. ### What happens to my original ARRI RAW files after upload? The original ARRI RAW files are retained as attachments in your Cutsio library. They are available for download at any time — no compression, no modification, no quality loss. The review stream is a separate asset generated from the original. ### Can clients download the original ARRI RAW file from the share link? Yes, for authorized users. If the client needs the native .ari, .mxf, or .arx file for archival or ingest into their own system, they can download it directly from the share link — at full original quality. ### Does the review stream preserve the ARRI look and color space? The review stream is generated with the ARRI LogC color metadata preserved where possible. For critical color decisions, always refer to the original ARRI RAW files in your NLE grading environment. ### How long does it take to upload ARRI RAW footage to Cutsio? Upload time depends on your internet connection speed. A 100 GB ARRI RAW card uploads in approximately 30–60 minutes on a standard fiber connection (500 Mbps upload). Cutsio supports resumable uploads, so if the connection drops, the upload picks up where it stopped. ### How do I enable ARRI RAW ingestion for my production? Contact the Cutsio team through the studio dashboard or reach out to sales. They will configure your account for raw format ingestion and provide the necessary onboarding.

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