While the vast majority of videos open without incident in Shotcut, a small percentage may trigger a warning message similar to one of the following:

• " This file is set for "variable frame rate", which is not reliable for editing.  Do you want to convert it to an edit-friendly format? "  (See  Figure 37 , below.)
• " This file does not support seeking and cannot be used for editing.  Do you want to convert it to an edit-friendly format? "  (See  Figure 38 , below.)

Figure 37:   The image below shows one of the possible  Convert to Edit-friendly  windows (highlighted in red, and superimposed over the main Shotcut window).

Figure 38:   The image below shows another example of a  Convert to Edit-friendly  window (highlighted in red, and superimposed over the main Shotcut window).

Whenever you encounter a  Convert to Edit-friendly  (warning) window, it is highly recommended that you heed the advice and allow Shotcut to generate an alternate copy of the original video that  is  suitable for editing.  To do this, follow these steps:

1. Click the  OK  button at the bottom of the  Convert to Edit-friendly  (warning) window.  (See  Figure 39 , below.)

Figure 39:   The image below shows the same  Export to Edit-friendly  window as pictured in  Figure 38 , (this time with the  OK  button highlighted in red).

2. In the navigation pane on the left of the  Convert to Edit-friendly  ( Save as ) window that now opens, browse to the location on your computer where you would like to save the "edit-friendly" version of the video you are creating, and give the file a meaningful name with whatever extension Shotcut provides.  (In  Figure  40 (below), for example, the file is being saved to the  Desktop  with the name of " edit-friendly version.mov " (since  .mov  was the file extension that Shotcut defaulted to in this instance).

Important:   Be sure to always give the "edit-friendly" version of your video a name that is  different from the original video file .  Otherwise, if the extensions happen to match, you will be overwriting the original video with the "edit-friendly" version, and thereby irreversibly corrupting the original video file.

Figure 40:   The image below shows the  Export to Edit-friendly  (Save as) window (with the name of the file being created highlighted in red).

3. Click the  Save  button at the bottom of the  Convert to Edit-friendly  (Save as) window (see  Figure 41 , below), and wait for Shotcut to finish generating the "edit-friendly" version of the video.

Figure 41:   The image below shows the  Export to Edit-friendly  (Save as) window with the  Save  button highlighted in red.

4. Once the corresponding entry in the  Jobs  panel (to the right) indicates that Shotcut has finished creating the (alternate) "edit-friendly" version of the original video file, the newly-created video can now be edited like any other (Shotcut compatible) file.  (See  Figure 42 , below.)
5. Now that you've successfully created an "edit-friendly" version of the original video, don't forget to open it in Shotcut before attempting any editing operations.  To do this:
   1. Click the  Open File  button at the far left of the Shotcut button bar.
   2. Browse to the location on your computer where you've saved the "edit-friendly" version of the video.
   3. Once you've located the file of interest, either (1) click on the file to select it, and then click the  Open  button at the bottom of the  Open File  window, or (2) simply  double-click  on the file to accomplish the same thing.

Figure 42:   The image below shows the (now open)  Jobs  panel on the right of the main Shotcut window (with the entry for the "edit friendly" video file conversion under discussion highlighted in red), indicating that the process has completed successfully.