Hi Guys, I am just curious to know what you guys use to edit the footage from a Go Pro HD on a Mac? I have Final Cut Express, but it won't read them, and iMovie turns them into rubbish!

I have all this go pro footage and it wont let me import it into final cut express. Any help? Thanks

I have FCE4 and I can't seem to import any footage from my GoPro HD. I've tried directly from the camera using USB, SD Card & Exporting Final Cut XML. The footage is shoot in 60fps. I'm obviously missing something.

We found these posts from the Apple Support forum, and noticed that there are quite a few GoPro users met the similar trouble in importing GoPro MP4 files to Final Cut Express 4. Fortunately, there is an easy way to fix this issue. Let's find it out here.

Why Final Cut Express can't handle GoPro footage

As we all know, the GoPro HD cameras records videos in .mp4 file type. The file type is a compressed output format and not an ideal editing format. Meanwhile the .mp4 file type is not supported by Apple's Final Cut software including FCE, FCP and iMovie'11. Therefore, directly editing GoPro videos in Final Cut Express is just a blue moon.

What if We Import GoPro HD MP4 files to Final Cut Express

To ingest GoPro MP4 files to FCE, the easy workaround is to convert your files to a more editing friendly format for FCE. To get work done, you must use 3rd party software such as Brorsoft Video Converter for Mac, which is an ideal tool for you to trim clips download and export the clips you'll want to use in your edit. With it, you can effortlessly transcode GoPro MP4 to Apple InterMediate Codec(*.mov), which will do fine for keeping the GoPro quality the same and creating a Final Cut Express friendly file format. Just Get it and follow the tutorial below to transfer your GoPro HD footage to Final Cut Express for smooth editing.

Free Download the GoPro Camera Video Converter:

(Note: Click here for OS X 10.5)

How to transcode GoPro HD MP4 footage to AIC MOV for Final Cut Express

Step 1: Install and launch Brorsoft Video Converter on your Mac, and then click "Add Files" button to import your GoPro MP4 files to the software.

Tip: If you wanna combine GoPro MP4 files into one file, you can click the "Merge into one" box.

Step 2: Click "Format" bar to choose iMovie and Final Cut Express > Apple InterMediate Codec(*.mov) that is compatible with FCE as output format on the drop-down menu.

Step 3: Adjust the video and audio parameters in the Settings profile, including Bitrate of Video&Audio, Video Size, Sample Rate, Frame Rate, Audio Channels, etc.

Step 4: Tap the Green Arrow button on the main interface to start transcoding GoPro HD MP4 files to FCE supported AIC MOV.

Once the conversion is finished, click "Open" button to find the generated videos, and then you can transfer the converted GoPro MP4 files to Final Cut Express for editing without problems.

Related Guides:
How to ingest GoPro videos to iMovie
How to edit GoPro MP4 files in Final Cut Pro
How to add GoPro 60p MP4 files to Premiere Pro CS6
How to import GoPro MP4 videos to Avid Media Composer