DaVinci Resolve does not have one fixed list of export formats — it has whatever your machine currently offers. The reference manual says so directly about the Deliver page: the Format dropdown "gives access to the container formats that are currently available on your system."
That single sentence is why two editors comparing screenshots can see different menus and both be right.
The Format dropdown, item by item
These are the container formats the DaVinci Resolve 21 Reference Manual documents in the Deliver page Format menu, with the manual's own wording:
| Format | What the manual says |
|---|---|
| AVI | "A now-deprecated file-based media format that, despite its age, remains popular with Windows applications." |
| Cineon | "An older uncompressed image sequence format developed by Kodak", which "delivers RGB 10-bit" |
| DCP | "Native DCP encoding and decoding for creating unencoded DCP files only." |
| DPX | "An uncompressed image sequence format favored by the film industry for mastering" |
| easyDCP | Listed as available "when installed" |
| EXR | "a high-dynamic-range image sequence format developed by ILM" |
| GIF | Web animations and memes "in up to 256 colors" |
| HEIF | "a still image in a higher quality and smaller file size than jpeg" |
| IMF | "No additional licenses or plugins are required to output to IMF." |
| JPEG | "still the primary still image format used worldwide" |
| JPEG 2000 / MJ2 | Listed in the menu |
| MKV | "lets you encode your video for playback in a wide variety of computer video players, and home video servers" |
| MP4 | "Dedicated MP4 encoding lets you export H.264-encoded movies." |
| MXF OP-Atom | "conforms to the SMPTE 390M standard", "often used when delivering DNxHD" |
| MXF OP1A | "conforms to the SMPTE 378M standard" |
| PNG | "compressed full color still images with an optional alpha channel" |
| QuickTime | "Apple's file-based media format", covering ProRes, DNxHD/DNxHR, H.264, HEVC, H.265, Photo JPEG, VP9 and uncompressed |
| TIFF | "an image sequence format compatible with many desktop video applications on many platforms" |
| WebP | "can be used to export animated video losslessly or with compression for internet delivery" |
Three of those entries carry the same warning in the manual: JPEG, PNG and HEIF are described as "a still image format only, if you output a video timeline it will render as an image sequence of still images." Cineon, DPX, EXR and TIFF are image sequence formats by definition. So of the full menu, the genuinely movie-shaped outputs are a much shorter list than the dropdown's length suggests.
The three conditions Blackmagic attaches to the list
The manual does not present this menu as "what DaVinci Resolve supports." It presents it with three qualifiers, and all three matter:
- Your system. The formats are the ones "currently available on your system" — not a universal feature list.
- Installed software. "The available options depend on whether you have Final Cut Pro and QuickTime installed."
- Your OS. The same sentence continues: "and on the operating system you're using."
The manual then adds a fourth caveat about time: "This list is constantly growing, as new file formats are added over time, so be sure to check each new version for the latest supported formats."
Practical consequence: if a format is missing from your dropdown, that is not necessarily a bug or a licensing wall. Before hunting for a fix, check which of those three conditions applies to your machine.
Where the container list and the codec list disagree
The manual's MP4 entry names exactly one codec — "lets you export H.264-encoded movies" — while the QuickTime entry lists H.264, HEVC, H.265 (single or multi-pass) and VP9 among others. Read on its own, that explains the common complaint of not finding H.265 under MP4.
But Blackmagic's separate Supported Formats and Codecs document (cover dated July 2025) has mp4 rows for H.265 with encode values filled in. The two official sources are not saying the same thing, and Blackmagic has not published a reconciliation, so check the official documentation for your platform and version rather than trusting either one alone. We break the container question down further in MP4 vs QuickTime export in DaVinci Resolve.
When the format you need isn't in the dropdown
Because the menu depends on your system, the reliable move is to deliver into a container that is definitely present — QuickTime and MP4 are the two that the render presets themselves lean on — and change the wrapper afterwards. The H.264 Master, H.265 Master and ProRes Master presets all default to "the Format set to QuickTime", so a .mov is what you get unless you override it.
Try it right here
Runs in your browser. Your file is not uploaded anywhere.
That runs in your browser tab, so the render never leaves your machine. If you need Matroska instead, MP4 to MKV does the same job on the other side of the export.
Audio-only exports use a different Format list
Turning off the video changes the menu entirely. The manual describes the switch: "Turn this checkbox off if you want to render the source audio all by itself; this disables all video controls, and shows an Audio Format dropdown menu in the audio section of settings."
That audio Format menu is documented with seven entries: MXF OP1A(IMF), MXF OP-Atom, QuickTime, MP4, WAVE, MP3 and FLAC. Worth knowing before you go looking for WAV in the main container list — it is not there, because it lives on the audio side.
One inconsistency to be aware of: the manual's description of the Audio Only preset says it defaults to MXF OP-Atom with Linear PCM at 16-bits and that "the QuickTime, MP4, and WAV formats are also available", without mentioning MP3 or FLAC, while the Format dropdown documentation a dozen pages later lists both. See DaVinci Resolve audio-only export for the full set of audio controls.
The codec list PDF trap
If you want to verify any of this yourself, be careful which PDF you download. Blackmagic's document server hosts three files in the same series, and all three respond:
| File name | Pages | What it says about itself |
|---|---|---|
DaVinci_Resolve_19_Supported_Codec_List.pdf | 15 | Cover reads "August 2024" |
DaVinci_Resolve_20_Supported_Codec_List.pdf | 14 | Cover reads "July 2025" |
DaVinci_Resolve_21_Supported_Codec_List.pdf | 11 | Every page footer reads "DaVinci Resolve 15 BETA Supported Formats and Codecs" |
So the file named after the newest version carries the oldest content, and the current one is filed under 20. This is not trivia: the manual's Bypass re-encode section tells you to consult the "Supported Codec List" for "which video formats are compatible with Bypass Re-encode on macOS, Windows, and Linux, as well as which formats are compatible with Alpha channels" — and only the July 2025 file has those two columns, labelled "Alpha Exports" and "Codec Passthrough(1)". Download by version number and you get a document without them.
FAQ
Does DaVinci Resolve export MP4? Yes. MP4 is in the Format dropdown, described as "Dedicated MP4 encoding lets you export H.264-encoded movies." Whether it appears for you still depends on the three conditions above.
Why are some formats missing from my Format menu? The manual states the menu shows the containers "currently available on your system", and that the options depend on whether Final Cut Pro and QuickTime are installed and on your operating system. Those are the documented reasons; anything else is guesswork.
Can DaVinci Resolve export a still image or an animated GIF? Both. JPEG, PNG and HEIF are in the list, each flagged as "a still image format only", and GIF is documented for web animations "in up to 256 colors". See exporting a GIF from DaVinci Resolve for what that colour ceiling means in practice.
Is the export format list different between the free version and Studio? The Format menu itself is documented as system-dependent rather than tier-dependent, but several specific capabilities are marked Studio-only in Blackmagic's own documents, including the IMF preset, codec plugins, and encoding at higher resolutions. We cover that boundary in 4K export and the Studio requirement.
Which format should I pick for general delivery? For anything that will be watched rather than mastered, MP4 or QuickTime with H.264 is the pragmatic default — it is what every one of Resolve's social presets uses. Keep MXF, DPX, EXR and IMF for the workflows that explicitly ask for them.
Format descriptions quoted from the DaVinci Resolve 21 Reference Manual and Blackmagic's Supported Formats and Codecs document, checked 16 September 2026. Blackmagic notes that "Specifications format and codec support subject to change without notice" — verify against the current documents before relying on them. More browser-based converters: all Clapr tools. More specification breakdowns: limits and requirements.
