Saving a video project

How do you save a video project in Blender? To keep your source files and project saved for future reference and updates, you should always save the project. How does Blender handle video files?

Before we discuss how Blender deals with video files, you can save any project by going to the File menu and choosing Save As... like most other tools.

It will create a file with a .blend extension. The file will feature all animation and Sequencer data, but none of the external files, unless you explicitly ask Blender to incorporate them into the project.

For instance, suppose you have a project containing two external video files named video1.mp4 and video2.mp4. The first thing you should do is to create a folder in your system to store all the files for that project. Copy all important media to that folder.

In Blender, save the .blend file to that folder. Once you import the footage to the Sequencer, you will be able to have relative paths to the media. It would be something like \video1.mp4 and not a full system address.

Why is that important? Because, with relative paths to media files, you can open the project anywhere without any broken links. It will be possible to place the project on network drives or flash storage to move it around.