What is a DCP?
The file a cinema projector actually plays — and what it takes to get one.
A DCP is the file format a cinema projector actually plays.
It isn't a video file you can double-click and watch; it's a package built to a strict technical spec, with the picture, sound, and subtitles split into pieces the projector's server reads directly off a hard drive or network share.
ASSETMAP.xmlwhere every other file isVOLINDEX.xmlwhich volume this isCPL_….xmlthe running order — picture, sound, subtitlesPKL_….xmla checksum for every assetj2c_….mxfpicture — every frame, as JPEG2000pcm_….mxfsound — uncompressed PCM
A cinema projector doesn't take a video file the way a laptop does.
It loads a playlist from a server, and that playlist only understands DCPs. So when a festival programs your film, the projection booth needs a DCP on the server before the lights go down — a .mp4 or a streaming link won't play. That's why almost every festival that screens theatrically will ask you for one, even if every other part of your submission was a video file.
Convert your film → from $160
Upload your master
The finished video file you already have, in whatever format you exported it.
We prepare it
We check resolution, frame rate and audio, then convert your picture and sound into the package format cinema servers read.
We validate it
Every DCP is checked against the DCI specification before it's marked done, so you know it will actually play.
It's ready
Store it, screen it yourself, or deliver it straight to a festival.
Four things that decide whether it screens
Worth settling before you upload, rather than after a festival writes back.
What frame rate should it be?
24, 25, 30, 48, 50 and 60 fps are the standard cinema rates. We'll build a DCP at another rate, but the validation report flags it — a projectionist may still turn it away, so it's worth knowing before you send it rather than after.
2K or 4K?
2K unless a festival has asked you for 4K. Whichever you pick, we pin it — left to infer it from your master, the encoder would read a 2160-pixel-tall file as a request for 4K and quietly give you one.
4K also caps your frame rate at 30. Above that we stop the DCP rather than ship it, because most projectors can't play 4K at a high frame rate.
Can I include subtitles?
Yes — an .srt, .ass, .ssa or timed-text .xml, added as its own track with the language tagged, so the projector knows what it's showing. You can supply the font too, and we'll embed it, which is the difference between your typeface and whatever the server happens to default to.
SMPTE or Interop?
Every DCP we build is SMPTE, the current standard. If a festival sends you an older Interop package we'll read and validate it, but we don't produce Interop — so if one specifically asks for it, tell us before you convert.
Ready to convert your film?
Upload a master, get a validated, screening-ready DCP.
Converting a 10-minute short is $160. A 90-minute feature, $800.
Convert your filmFree to sign up · Pay when you deliver