FCP Shrink for Final Cut Pro on Mac

SSDs got expensive. Get back the space you already have.

The space saver for Final Cut Pro.

FCP Shrink clears render files and the optimized and proxy media Final Cut Pro can make again, turns footage that exists twice into links, removes zips you already unpacked, and can move a library’s originals to another drive while you keep editing with its proxies. The scan is free, so you see your own number before you pay.

Coming soon to the Mac App Store Get it on the Mac App Store What is your space worth?

Free download and free scanmacOS 15 or later

Built-in Mac SSD · US price · 24 Oct 2026

for every extra terabyte of built-in SSD

Apple’s price for each terabyte you add, from 1 TB up, on MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, Mac mini and Mac Studio. In Apple’s own words: Storage can’t be upgraded later.1

The real app, with sample data from a demo drive
FCP Shrink showing a drive called Studio Archive: 8.13 GB can be freed from 4 selected libraries, split into render files, analysis files, optimized media, proxy media and duplicate media, with a card for each library and its dates.

The price of space

Storage got expensive. Inside the Mac and out.

Flash memory prices jumped in 2026, and storage prices followed. Apple raised Mac prices in June and named memory and storage chip costs as the reason.2 External drives climbed too.

US prices as of 24 October 2026, unless a date says otherwise

A $1,699 Mac mini. Then the storage.

Mac mini with M5 Pro, 512 GB included. What Apple adds to the price for more built-in storage. The Mac Studio with M5 Max charges the same.1

  • 1 TB+$300
  • 2 TB+$800
  • 4 TB+$1,800
  • 8 TB+$3,800

From 4 TB up, the storage upgrade costs more than the Mac itself.

From 1 TB to 8 TB, every terabyte costs $500.

Apple online store, US configurators for Mac mini and Mac Studio, 24 Oct 2026.

$7,500

to get 16 TB instead of 1 TB in a Mac Studio with M5 Ultra. The Mac itself costs $5,499 with 1 TB.1

  • The Mac, with 1 TB$5,499
  • 15 TB more storage+$7,500

The extra storage costs more than the Mac itself.

Apple online store, US, 24 Oct 2026.

Then and now

Prices before and after the rises.

  • Samsung T9 portable SSD, 4 TBLaunch price, Oct 2023 → list price at samsung.com, Oct 20266$439.99 to $1,144.99
  • Samsung 990 EVO Plus SSD, 2 TBDeal price, Prime Day 2025 → sale price, July 20265$113 to $363
  • MacBook Pro with 1 TB, starting priceBefore → after Apple’s increase of 25 June 20262$1,699 to $1,999
  • MacBook Air with 512 GB, starting priceBefore → after Apple’s increase of 25 June 20262$1,099 to $1,299
  • Mac mini, starting priceM4 model at launch, Oct 2024 → M6 model with 256 GB today3$599 to $899

NAND flash contract prices, change from the previous quarter

What large buyers such as PC makers pay for flash chips. Not store prices.4

  • Q1 2026estimate+85–90%
  • Q2 2026+55–60%
  • Q3 2026estimate+18–23%
  • Q4 2026forecast+15–20%
TrendForce press releases of 31 Mar, 3 Jul and 30 Sep 2026. Each bar is a rise on top of the quarter before.

We have never seen a component price increase this much, this quickly.

Apple, raising Mac prices on 25 June 2026, as reported by Reuters.2

TrendForce also reports that PC makers are putting smaller SSDs into mainstream models to cut costs.4

One terabyte, four ways to buy it

Price per terabyte, US, 24 Oct 2026

  • Built into a Mac1Apple’s upgrade price, per TB from 1 TB up$500
  • OWC Envoy Ultra 8 TB8Thunderbolt 5 portable SSD, $2,499.99$312.50
  • Samsung T9 4 TB6List price $1,144.99 at samsung.com (out of stock)$286.25
  • SanDisk Extreme Portable 4 TB7Sale price $829.99 at sandisk.com (list $1,149.99)$207.50
An external drive costs less per terabyte, but it’s no bargain either. Today samsung.com lists the T9 4 TB at 2.6 times its October 2023 launch price.6
Apple, Samsung, SanDisk and OWC online stores, 24 Oct 2026. Samsung T9 launch announcement, 3 Oct 2023. Per-terabyte figures are price ÷ capacity.

Calculator

Put a price on your space.

Pick an amount of space, or start from your footage, and see what that much SSD costs to buy today. Then let the free scan show how much FCP Shrink can actually get back on your drives.

GB

2.65 TB

Quick sizes
Or start from your footage: 4K UHD, optimized
hours of footage
Frame rate

Final Cut Pro’s optimized media is Apple ProRes 422.10 At 3840 × 2160 that’s about 212 GB per hour at 24p, 221 at 25p, 265 at 30p, 442 at 50p and 530 at 60p, Apple’s target data rates.9

2.65 TB as built-in Mac SSD costs about

$1,325

at Apple’s $500 per terabyte1The upgrade price from 1 TB up. Smaller steps cost more: about $615 per TB from 512 GB to 1 TB.

Each square: 1 TB of built-in Mac storage, $500.

On external drives, it costs about:

  • Built into a Mac · $500/TB$1,325
  • OWC Envoy Ultra 8 TB · $312.50/TB$828
  • Samsung T9 4 TB, list price · $286.25/TB$759
  • SanDisk Extreme 4 TB, on sale · $207.50/TB$550

An estimate: the amount × each price per terabyte (1 TB = 1,000 GB, as Apple and Finder count). Apple sells built-in storage only in fixed steps, and drives come in fixed sizes, so a real purchase costs a whole step. Actual file sizes vary with your footage. US prices, 24 Oct 2026.

Before you pay $500 a terabyte, get back the space you already paid for.

The free scan shows every Final Cut Pro library on a drive and how much of it is waste, before you pay anything.

Coming soon to the Mac App Store Get it on the Mac App Store See how it works

Free downloadFree scan

Where your space goes

Final Cut Pro makes big files it can make again.

As you edit, Final Cut Pro creates render files, and optimized and proxy media if you ask for them. Apple’s guide says render files “can accumulate and take up storage space”.11 Your original media is what matters, and while it’s there, these files can be made again.

Optimized media per hour of footage

Final Cut Pro optimizes to Apple ProRes 422.10 Apple’s target data rates:9

  • 4K UHD60p530 GB
  • 4K UHD50p442 GB
  • 4K UHD30p265 GB
  • 4K UHD24p212 GB
  • 1080p HD30p66 GB
  • 1080p HD24p53 GB
Example calculation

One hour of 4K at 30p, optimized: about 265 GB. At Apple’s $500 per terabyte, that’s about $130 of built-in SSD.

Apple ProRes White Paper (April 2022), target data rates; actual rates are usually close. Final Cut Pro User Guide: “Create optimized and proxy files”.

A finished library, before and after FCP Shrink

Illustration only. The proportions are made up; your scan shows your real numbers.

Before
After

After: your media and projects stay, and media that was copied in is now a link.Final Cut Pro rebuilds render and analysis files when needed. Optimized and proxy media go only while the original media is still available.

  • Your media and projects
  • Render files
  • Analysis files
  • Optimized media
  • Proxy media
  • Duplicate media
  • Link

How FCP Shrink helps

Three kinds of waste. One careful app.

FCP Shrink finds three kinds of waste on your drives. Its three cleaners only touch files that can be made again or that already exist twice. A fourth tool, Offload, moves a library’s originals to another drive, checking every byte on the way.

Final Cut Pro libraries

Every library on a drive, with when it was created, modified and last opened, and how much of it is waste.

  • Render and analysis files are emptied. Final Cut Pro rebuilds them when needed.
  • Optimized and proxy media are removed only while the original media is still available.
  • Media copied into a library that also exists elsewhere on the drive is compared byte for byte, then becomes a link, the way Final Cut Pro stores media imported with “Leave files in place”.
  • Libraries open in Final Cut Pro, or edited in the last 14 days (you can change that), start unselected, so their render files stay while you work.

Find Duplicates

Large files that exist more than once on the drives and folders you tick: video, audio, images, archives. 100 MB and up by default.

  • Each extra copy becomes a link to one real file, so every path keeps working in Final Cut Pro, your other apps and Finder.
  • Every byte is compared twice: right after the search, and again right before a copy is replaced.
  • The copy a Final Cut Pro library uses is always the one that stays. Pick another with “Keep This One”.
  • Copies on other drives are linked only when you turn it on. Drives you mark as backups are never changed.

Works on your media drives, whatever you edit in.

Archives already extracted

Unzipped a download and kept the zip? That’s the same files twice. FCP Shrink finds zips whose every file already exists, unpacked, on the same drive.

  • Each entry is unpacked and compared byte for byte with its extracted file before the zip goes. The CRC-32 checksum is checked too.
  • Encrypted or unusual zips stay.

Works on your media drives, whatever you edit in.

Not a cleaner: a careful move

Offload and Bring Back

Offload moves the original camera files stored inside a Final Cut Pro library to a folder you choose on another drive and leaves links in their place. Proxy and optimized media stay in the library, so you keep editing with Proxy Preferred while that drive is away and get full quality when it’s connected.

Made for editing on the road. The library and its proxies come with you; the originals wait on a drive at home or in your bag.

  • Each original is copied and compared byte for byte with its copy before its link replaces it. Bring Back returns them the same way.
  • Clips without proxy media stay in the library unless you tick them.
  • Connect the drive before you open the library, or close and reopen it, and Final Cut Pro uses the originals again. No relinking.
  • Once offloaded, that drive holds the only copy of those originals. Back it up like any media drive.
  • Bring Back leaves the copies on the other drive unless you ask for them to be removed.
  • What it frees depends on your media: originals that Final Cut Pro imported from the same drive can be clones of their source files and free little or nothing.
A library called Nordlicht, Brand Film, opened in FCP Shrink: 590.3 MB of render files, 461.4 MB of proxy media and 817.9 MB of duplicate media, with a list of three clips that will become links to files in the Footage folder.
The real app, with sample data from a demo drive. Copied media becomes a link.

  1. Pick a drive or a folder

    FCP Shrink finds every Final Cut Pro library on it. Apps from the Mac App Store open only the drives and folders you choose.

  2. See what you’d get back, free

    Every library with its dates and its waste, by category. Finished libraries start ticked; the ones you’re working on don’t.

  3. Clean what you choose

    Removed files go to the Trash by default. Afterwards, each drive’s note says what is free now, what is still in the Trash, and what local snapshots still hold.

Safety

Careful by design. Checked at every step.

Byte for byte

Duplicates, zip entries and offloaded originals are compared byte for byte before anything is replaced or removed.

Journaled swaps

After a crash, a power loss or an unplugged drive, FCP Shrink repairs an interrupted swap, offload or bring back. Repairing is always free.

Trash by default

Removed files go to the Trash, so Finder’s Put Back returns them. “Delete immediately” is an option in Settings.

Links, not clones

Finder shows the space you really got back, and each link with a small arrow, like an alias.

Every link checked

The Links screen lists every link FCP Shrink made and checks each one without changing anything. If a real file went to the Trash or moved on its drive, Put Back or Move Back fixes it.

An honest space report

What is free now, what is still in the Trash and what local snapshots still hold. Empty the Trash to free its part; macOS frees what snapshots hold by itself when the space is needed, usually within a day.

Hands off

Find Duplicates and the zip check never touch camera cards, network or read-only drives, cloud and sync folders, Photos and Music libraries, or files another app has open.

Activity log

Every link, removal, offload, bring back, repair and kept-aside original is written to an activity log.

As with any app that removes files, keep a backup of your drives. After an offload, the other drive holds the only copy of those originals, so back it up too.

Pricing

See your number first. Pay once if it’s worth it.

To start

Free

Download, scan and see your number before you pay anything.

  • Free downloadFrom the Mac App Store.
  • Free scanShows what your libraries, duplicates and unpacked zips would free.
  • Your first 10 GB are freeOn each Mac, whether you clean, link, remove zips or offload. Bring Back and repairs are always free.

Then one in-app purchase: “Unlock FCP Shrink”

$14.99$17.99 one time

US launch price through Tue 1 Dec 2026, then $17.99.

US price.

  • Unlocks cleaning, linking, zip removal and Offload for good
  • No subscription. Updates included.
  • Local prices differ by country; the App Store shows yours
  • macOS 15 or later, native on Apple silicon and Intel
  • Collects no data. No account. The app makes no network connections of its own; purchases go through the App Store.
Coming soon to the Mac App Store Get it on the Mac App Store

Already bought it on another Mac? Choose FCP Shrink › Restore Purchase.

Support

Questions? Answers.

Contact

Questions, bugs or ideas? Email us. Please include your macOS version and what you were doing.

support@fcpshrink.com
Privacy Policy
What’s free, and what does it cost?

Scanning is always free, and so are the first 10 GB you free on your Mac by cleaning, linking, removing zips or offloading. After that, one in-app purchase unlocks all of them for good, including updates. No subscription. Bring Back and repairs are always free. Already bought it on another Mac? Choose FCP Shrink › Restore Purchase.

Is it safe to delete render and analysis files?

Yes. Final Cut Pro regenerates them whenever it needs them. Optimized and proxy media are only removed while the original media is still available.

What happens to “duplicate media”?

If a clip was copied into a library and the identical file also exists elsewhere on the same drive, the copy inside the library is replaced with a link to that file, the same way Final Cut Pro stores media imported with “Leave files in place”. Both files are compared byte for byte first. Media that exists only inside the library is never touched. Afterwards the library uses that file, so keep it where it is: deleting or moving it takes the clip offline in Final Cut Pro.

What happens to my originals when I offload?

They move to a folder you choose on another drive, and links take their place in the library. Each original is copied there and compared byte for byte with its copy before its link replaces it. Proxy and optimized media stay in the library, so while that drive is away you keep editing with Proxy Preferred. Clips without proxy media stay in the library unless you tick them. When the drive is back, connect it before you open the library (or close and reopen the library) and Final Cut Pro uses the originals again at full quality. Once they are offloaded, the other drive holds the only copy of those originals, so back it up like any media drive. Bring Back copies them into the library the same way and leaves the copies on the other drive unless you ask for them to be removed.

How much space does Offload free?

It depends on your media, so FCP Shrink doesn’t promise a number. Originals that Final Cut Pro imported from the same drive can be clones of their source files: they share their space, and moving them frees little or nothing. By default, the originals in the library go to the Trash once their links are in place, and the space is freed when you empty it. When an offload is done, FCP Shrink shows how much went to the Trash (or was freed, if you chose to delete instead), and the space report shows what is free on the drive now.

Should I quit Final Cut Pro first?

Yes, that’s recommended. Libraries open in Final Cut Pro are marked “In use” and start unselected. You can still clean them, but it’s safest with Final Cut Pro closed. Offload and Bring Back start only once the library is closed in Final Cut Pro.

Why does the app ask for access to my drive?

Apps from the Mac App Store can only open drives and folders you choose. Allow access once per drive; the app remembers it.

Can I undo a clean?

Yes, as long as you haven’t emptied the Trash. Removed files go to the Trash by default, and Finder’s “Put Back” returns them to their library. If you chose “Delete immediately” in Settings, removed files can’t be restored. Drives without a Trash (some network shares) are only cleaned with “Delete immediately”.

Do I need a backup?

Yes, as with any app that removes files. FCP Shrink is careful: it checks that originals exist, compares duplicates byte for byte and moves files to the Trash by default. Still, keep a backup of your drives, for example with Time Machine, before you clean libraries you can’t replace. After an offload, back up the drive that holds the originals too: it has the only copy.

Sources

Apple prices are US prices from apple.com, read on 24 October 2026. Apple changed Mac prices twice in 2026, so check the current price before you buy. Store prices of external drives can change any day; sale prices are marked.

  1. Apple online store, US configurators for MacBook Air (13- and 15-inch, M5), MacBook Pro (14-inch M5 and M5 Max, 16-inch M5 Pro), iMac (M4), Mac mini (M6, M5 Pro) and Mac Studio (M5 Max, M5 Ultra), including the storage help text “Can I add storage later? Storage can’t be upgraded later.” Read 24 Oct 2026.
  2. Reuters, “Apple raises prices of MacBooks, iPads as memory costs skyrocket”, 25 Jun 2026, with Apple’s statement, as published by The Star and The Korea Times.
  3. Tom’s Hardware, report on Mac mini prices (the $899 M6 model and the $599 M4 launch price), 25 Aug 2026.
  4. TrendForce press releases on NAND flash contract prices: 31 Mar 2026 (Q1 2026 estimate, in the table “1Q26–2Q26 DRAM and NAND Flash Price Projections”), 3 Jul 2026 (Q2), 30 Sep 2026 (Q3 estimate, Q4 forecast, and PC makers reducing SSD capacities).
  5. Tom’s Hardware (Stephen Warwick), report on SSD prices a year into the component crisis (Samsung 990 EVO Plus 2 TB: $113 as a Prime Day 2025 deal, $363.49 on sale in July 2026), 29 Jul 2026.
  6. Samsung, Portable SSD T9 on samsung.com (4 TB in the capacity picker: $1,144.99, shown out of stock on 24 Oct 2026); T9 launch announcement (4 TB MSRP $439.99), 3 Oct 2023.
  7. SanDisk, SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD 4 TB on sandisk.com: $829.99 sale price, $1,149.99 list price, 24 Oct 2026.
  8. OWC, OWC Envoy Ultra 8 TB on eshop.macsales.com: $2,499.99, 24 Oct 2026.
  9. Apple, Apple ProRes White Paper, April 2022: target data rates for ProRes 422 at 3840 × 2160 and 1920 × 1080.
  10. Apple, Final Cut Pro User Guide: Create optimized and proxy files.
  11. Apple, Final Cut Pro User Guide: Manage render files.

Calculations. $500 per terabyte is the step between Apple’s listed storage options from 1 TB up (for example, 2 TB to 4 TB costs $1,000 more). About $615 per terabyte from 512 GB to 1 TB is $300 for 488 GB. “More than the Mac itself”: $1,800 and $3,800 against the Mac mini’s $1,699. Per-terabyte drive prices are price ÷ capacity, for example $1,144.99 ÷ 4 TB ≈ $286.25. 2.6 times is $1,144.99 ÷ $439.99. One hour of 4K ProRes 422 at 30p: 265 GB × $500 per terabyte = $132.50, about $130. 1 TB = 1,000 GB, as Apple and drive makers count. TrendForce figures are contract prices paid by large buyers, not store prices.