A Shotcut export preset is not a snapshot of every export setting — the user guide describes it as "a list of thing to change from the defaults." That single sentence (the wording is the official guide's own) explains most of what goes wrong when people save one: they keep everything the plus button shows them, instead of keeping only the handful of lines they actually changed.
This walkthrough covers making a preset, saving it correctly, finding the file on disk, and handing it to someone else — including the step that is easy to miss and makes a shared preset look broken.
Before you start
You need a project open in Shotcut and a rough idea of what you want the export to do differently from the default. Two things from the official Shotcut User Guide are worth reading before you touch anything.
First, the Export panel is where files get made at all: "The Export panel (also File > Export Video...) is used to create a new video or audio file from your project because File > Save saves a project file."
Second, Shotcut explicitly tells you a preset is optional: "NOTE: It is not necessary to choose a preset! Shotcut comes with default values that creates a high quality H.264 MP4 file at a reasonable size and speed that automatically adapts to the resolution, frame rate, and visual complexity of your project. Clicking Reset or the preset named Default restores the panel to its default values."
So make a custom preset when you have a repeating requirement — a client spec, an archival format, a draft render you run twenty times a week — not because you think exporting requires one.
The guide also sets expectations for the panel you are about to open: "Using presets assumes you understand the implications of the selected settings."
Step 1: Pick a starting point instead of a blank slate
Open the Export panel and choose the stock preset closest to your goal, then modify it. Shotcut's FAQ gives its own shortlist for common destinations:
- Upload to a video-sharing web site: "H.264 High Profile or YouTube"
- Extract the audio: "Ogg Vorbis, FLAC (lossless with compression), or good old MP3"
- Save to an intermediate file to use with another tool: "DNxHR HQ or ProRes 422 - really depends on what the other tool accepts"
- Put onto my own web site: "WebM and/or Default (moderate quality H.264)"
- Screen recording (Linux only): "intermediate/MJPEG"
Worth noting: the FAQ calls Default "moderate quality H.264" while the user guide calls the same defaults "high quality." The two official pages word it differently, and neither gives a bitrate or CRF figure — so treat Default as a sane baseline rather than a known quality tier.
Step 2: Open Advanced and change only what you need
Click Advanced to expose the full set of controls. Shotcut attaches an unusually blunt warning to this button: "However, by clicking Advanced you should understand that Shotcut expects you to be advanced and know what you are doing. There are simply too many combinations of settings and options that Shotcut's advanced export mode lets you create invalid combinations and does not protect you from yourself."
One quirk of the panel to know up front: "By default the next time you restart Shotcut, the advanced mode is turned off again. However, you can pin it to the on or enabled state by clicking the checkbox next to Advanced."
If you need parameters the form fields do not expose, the Other tab takes overrides: "Most essential parameters are written by the presets and various form fields of Export > Advanced but you can override them here (must use the correct name, of course). Some parameters are appended to the generated ones. For example, you can supply a x265-params , and the Codec tab will prepend values needed for rate control."
Step 3: Save it with the plus button — then delete the rest
Click the plus button next to the preset list. Shotcut shows you a text box, and this is where the official framing matters: the preset "is really a list of thing to change from the defaults."
Keep the lines that represent your actual changes. Every line you leave in is a value your preset will force on every future export — including on machines where that value is a bad idea. A three-line preset that sets a container, a codec, and a quality target is more portable, and easier to debug, than a forty-line dump of the entire panel.
Step 4: Test it on a short range, not the whole timeline
Do not validate a new preset with a forty-minute render. Put a range marker over a demanding few seconds and export just that: "Export > From lists all range markers (duration longer than 1 frame). Selecting a marker here allows the exporting of just that section of the timeline."
While the job runs, leave the app alone — the Quick Start Guide is explicit: "Do not close Shotcut until the export finishes." If the job fails, right-click it in the Jobs panel and use View Log, which the guide calls "Essential for diagnosing "Failed" exports."
If all you need is a smaller file from an already-exported video, a preset is a detour. This runs in your browser, nothing is uploaded, and no install is involved:
Try it right here
Runs in your browser. Your file is not uploaded anywhere.
For the settings-level version of that job, see compress video, or browse all Clapr tools if you need a format conversion instead.
Step 5: Find the file and share it
Presets are plain files, and Shotcut says so: "Presets are saved as files in the presets > encode folder in the app data directory (Settings > App Data Directory > Show). You can share these with others. You must restart Shotcut after manually adding preset files in order for Shotcut to see them."
Read that last sentence twice, because it is the single most common reason a shared preset appears not to work. Copying a preset file into the encode folder does nothing until Shotcut is restarted. The person you sent it to will open the preset list, not see it, and assume the file is bad. It is not — the list is only scanned at startup.
The Settings > App Data Directory > Show route is the reliable way to get there on any platform; the FAQ additionally states that on Windows the presets live under %LOCALAPPDATA%, and on macOS under ~/Library/Application Support/Meltytech/Shotcut/.
Common mistakes
- Saving the whole panel instead of the differences. See Step 3. The preset is a diff, not a snapshot.
- Assuming the hardware encoder travels with the preset. Shotcut is clear that the checkbox still has a say: "Presets may include hardware encoders. However, the Use hardware encoder checkbox will still affect which codec is used unless you choose a hardware codec that Shotcut does not manage, for example ProRes."
- Assuming a graceful fallback on the other person's machine. The guide lists three outcomes side by side when the hardware encoder is unavailable: "The export may fail Shotcut may fall back to software encoding Results may differ from expectation." Two of those are not recoveries.
- Building an invalid combination. Named pitfalls include "Choosing a codec not supported by the selected container Enabling hardware encoding with unsupported formats Mixing incompatible pixel formats or profiles" — and the listed consequences are blunt: "Cause export failure Produce unplayable files Result in silent audio or missing video." A preset that exports silent video is usually this, not a bug.
- Expecting a preset to carry project settings. Officially, "Export presets are not: Project templates Guaranteed-safe configurations Automatically compatible with all codecs or hardware encoders."
FAQ
Where does Shotcut store custom export presets?
In the presets > encode folder inside the app data directory, reachable via Settings > App Data Directory > Show. They are ordinary files, which is why they can be shared.
Why doesn't a preset someone sent me show up in the list? Because Shotcut only reads manually added preset files at startup: "You must restart Shotcut after manually adding preset files in order for Shotcut to see them." Quit the app fully and reopen it.
Do I need a custom preset to export at all? No. Shotcut states it is not necessary to choose a preset, and that Reset or the Default preset returns the panel to its default values. Make one for requirements you repeat.
What should a preset for web delivery contain? The guide's own example for online platform delivery lists "Container: MP4", "Codec: H.264" and "Frame rate: Match source", used for "YouTube, Vimeo, general web delivery." It also suggests a mid-range quality percentage for draft exports and a somewhat higher one for web delivery — see the guide for the exact numbers.
Can one preset serve both drafts and masters? Not well. The example scenarios split them: the fast preview export is "H.264 (hardware encoding enabled)", while the archival/master export is "Container: MOV or MKV" with "Codec: ProRes or high-quality H.264" and "Quality: High or lossless." Save two presets and switch.
Everything quoted here comes from the official Shotcut User Guide (June 2026 edition) and the Shotcut FAQ, checked 17 September 2026. Shotcut changes export behaviour between releases — verify against the current documentation before relying on a detail. More walkthroughs like this one live in the how-to guides.
