Once you’ve finished editing your video in Final Cut Pro, go to File > Export > Quicktime Movie…
Locate the Settings option.
For footage shot using DV NTSC (4:3 aspect ratio), select DV NTSC 48 kHz. For DV NTSC Anamorphic (16:9 aspect ratio) footage, select DV NTSC 48 kHz Anamorphic. For any High Definition footage, select the Apple Pro Res 422 (HQ) setting based on the size and frame rate of your footage.
Then give your work a descriptive title, click Save, and wait for it to export. After it has finished, play your .mov file to ensure that it exported properly.
To compress your footage for the web, go to File > Export > Quicktime Conversion… in Final Cut Pro.
Once the dialog box appears, select the Options button.
Apply the correct settings shown below depending on whether your footage was shot on Standard Definition (SD) or High Definition (HD):
Correct SD settings
Correct HD settings
The first option, Compression, should read H.264. If it doesn’t, click the settings button, and choose H.264 in the top pull-down menu. Also make sure the other settings, such as Bitrate (shown below as Data Rate), are correct. The correct settings are shown below.
SD settings
HD settings
The next important step is the Size option, which you can change by clicking the Size button in the Options menu. They should look like this:
SD size settings
HD size settings
Finally, you need to make sure the audio settings are correct. The format should be AAC, sample rate should be 44.100 kHz, and Bit rate should be 320 kbps (as pictured in the second image below).
Sound settings for all videos (HD or SD)
Once you have properly set everything, hit OK. Make sure to give your video a descriptive title. Once your video is done exporting, you are now ready to upload your file to Vimeo.
