DPX is a digital file format used to transfer and store film images. Its flexibility in handing visual effects and color make it a movie industry favorite. Get to know more about its history and uses, plus some of the DPX format’s pros and cons. Learn how to create your own DPX image with Adobe.
DPX stands for Digital Picture Exchange. It’s a file type known as raster — that is, made from pixels — that stores individual scanned film frames in a lossless digital format. DPX files are often exported as a stream because one file corresponds to one single frame. Flexible and lossless, users can import DPX files to a variety of post-production and digital effects software.
The DPX format is popular in the film industry because of the specific way it stores color information and spaces. When you first view DPX images, they may appear washed-out — but because they’re designed to contain all the color density from the filming process, you can grade them to meet your production’s unique aesthetic demands.
Kodak created the DPX file format to scan film. They based the DPX format on their earlier CIN files, and the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) adopted its use soon after. Kodak released the first version in 1994 and the second in 2004.
Since then, the SMPTE has adapted the DPX format to suit industry-specific technology, including Academy Color Encoding System support and extensions for high dynamic range (HDR).
The film industry uses DPX files to:
Film scanning captures each frame of a movie as an individual DPX file, which is then exported to editing and post-production programs like Adobe After Effects or Adobe Premiere Pro.
The DPX file’s versatility ups its value to the post-production process. You can crop, color, and add special effects to the files with few limitations. DPXs have also significantly improved film color grading.
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To make an informed choice before working with DPX files, first consider both the advantages and disadvantages.
Follow these easy steps to open a DPX file stream with Adobe After Effects:
To import individual files, follow the same process but don’t select Import as sequence. It also helps to keep individual DPX files separate from existing sequences.
Your video scanning device should create a DPX file by default. You can then upload the file using Premiere Pro by following the same steps as described above.
Several file viewers and raster image programs can open individual DPX files. However, to open a DPX stream, you’ll need a specific software like Adobe Premiere Pro or Adobe After Effects.
Adobe Photoshop is compatible with the DPX format. You can use Photoshop to open, edit, and export DPX files as individual images.
DPXs are a raster file type, meaning they’re built from pixels rather than the mathematical algorithms and formulas used to create vector files. Drawings and logos tend to work better with vector files while photographs display best as raster files.
Kodak created the CIN file type. The DPX file type was adapted from the original CIN file, but even today, there’s still not much difference between them. However, DPXs do contain some additional information in their file header.
DPX files are not RAW files. They’re uncompressed, lossless files that maintain key data and information from the filming process.
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