DCPs for film festivals
Your film got in and the tech sheet says “DCP”. Here's what that means, and how to get from master file to a package in the festival's hands.
Festivals screen from cinema servers, and cinema servers play DCPs.
Even a festival that took your submission as a screener link will ask for a DCP once you're programmed: the projection booth loads a package onto its server before the screening, and a video file won't play there.
Most festivals ask for the same few things.
A SMPTE DCP, usually 2K, at 24 or 25 fps, named to the ISDCF convention, with subtitles if your film isn't in the festival's language. Unencrypted is the norm; if yours is encrypted, the festival needs a key for its projector.
Make it — or bring the one you have
Upload your master and we encode the DCP, or upload a DCP a lab already made. Either way it ends up on the same film, next to your master and trailer.
Validate it before you send it
Every DCP on FilmVault goes through the full DCI check, including whether the package name agrees with what's actually inside. You find a broken package now, not at a tech check the week of the festival.
Check a DCP → free, no card
Deliver it to the festival
Send it straight into the festival's FilmVault inbox, submit it through the festival's upload link, or send a private download link their team can pull from. Revoke access when the screening's done.
What filmmakers ask before delivering
Do festivals accept Interop DCPs?
Some still do, but SMPTE is the current standard and what most tech sheets ask for. Every DCP we build is SMPTE; we'll validate an Interop package you already have, but we don't produce one.
What is an ISDCF name?
The naming convention on the package — for example YOUR_FILM_FTR_F_EN-XX_2K_SMPTE_OV — that tells a projectionist what's inside: content type, aspect ratio, language, resolution and standard. FilmVault Validation warns when the name disagrees with the package's contents.
Do I need a subscription for one festival?
No. Single Festival Delivery is $19 per film, with 30 days of hosting and no subscription. Keeping the film online all year is a Vault.
The festival wants a screener too. Do I upload twice?
No. Keep the DCP, the playable master and the trailer on the same film. A watch link streams a watermarked screener in the browser without handing over the file.
Does it cost the festival anything to receive my DCP?
No. Festival accounts are free to receive submissions. A festival that wants to keep what it receives adds pooled storage for that — receiving itself is free.
Getting your film festival-ready?
Make the DCP, check it and deliver it — from one account.
Converting a 10-minute short is $160. A 90-minute feature, $800.
Get startedFree to sign up · Pay when you deliver