What is the main benefit of recording video in ProRes format on your iPhone, specifically for professional editing, compared to the standard HEVC format, even if it uses a lot more storage?

The main benefit of recording video in ProRes format on your iPhone for professional editing, compared to the standard HEVC format, is the preservation of significantly more original image data and greater flexibility for intensive post-production tasks, particularly color grading and visual effects, at the cost of larger file sizes. ProRes is a professional “mezzanine” video codec, meaning it is specifically designed to be an intermediate format for editing workflows, not primarily for final delivery or efficient storage. It employs “intra-frame” compression, where each individual video frame is compressed independently, without relying on information from surrounding frames. This approach retains a much higher level of detail, color information (color depth), and dynamic range compared to HEVC. HEVC, or High Efficiency Video Coding, is primarily a “delivery” codec, optimized for highly efficient storage and playback. It uses “inter-frame” compression, which analyzes and records only the differences between sequential frames, saving considerable storage space by discarding more image data. While HEVC excels at small file sizes, its highly compressed nature makes it challenging for editing systems to process because each frame must be computationally reconstructed from multiple surrounding frames. For professional editing, the advantages of ProRes are critical: first, its high data retention provides far more “latitude” for color correction and grading, allowing editors to make significant adjustments to exposure, white balance, and color saturation without introducing visible artifacts like banding (when smooth color transitions appear as distinct stripes) or losing fine detail. Second, because each frame is independently compressed, editing software can decode and process ProRes footage much faster and with less strain on the CPU, leading to smoother playback, more responsive scrubbing through the timeline, and quicker rendering times. Third, professional workflows often involve multiple stages of editing, processing, and re-encoding. Starting with a less-compressed format like ProRes minimizes “generational loss,” which is the cumulative degradation of image quality that occurs each time a video is compressed and decompressed, ensuring the highest possible quality is maintained throughout the entire post-production pipeline and in the final output. The increased storage usage of ProRes is a direct consequence of its design to preserve this extensive amount of image data, which is precisely why it offers these indispensable advantages for professional-grade video production.