![\"Screenshot](\"https:\/\/sb-wp-assets.storyblocks.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/27102106\/media_offline2-1024x561.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nWhile this doesn\u2019t tell us where the file currently is, it does tell us where it was originally located. From here, you can work out exactly what has happened. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you\u2019ve reorganized your folder structure or connected your media drive to a different USB port, registering it as a different directory, then fixing this issue is relatively easy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
How to fix it<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
To fix unlinked clips, all you need to do is select all the offline media files in the media pool, right-click, then select Relink Selected Clips<\/strong>. This will open your Folder Explorer. From here, you\u2019ll need to locate the folders that house your clips.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If it\u2019s just one clip, you can relink it individually. If it\u2019s an entire folder, you\u2019ll want to click the folder itself and then select Relink Folder<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once you\u2019ve done that, Resolve will relink the connected media, and the offline message of the media will disappear. Now, your clips will be linked to their new location.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\u2019ve created a complex folder structure and separated your media into different days or scenes, Resolve will recognize that not all clips have been relinked and that there are additional folders to search through. In this case, it will prompt you to perform an advanced search after relinking to find other missing clips. This feature is handy if you\u2019ve created a new folder structure after importing your media into Resolve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Of course, the key takeaway here is to create your folder structure before moving into DaVinci Resolve. In an ideal post-production process, you shouldn\u2019t adjust the media file’s original location once imported and you\u2019ve started editing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\u2019ve renamed your original file, selecting Relink Video Clip will not work. This is because Resolve specifically looks for the original file name that your clip had when it was imported into the project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In this case, select \u201cReplace Video Clip\u201d and replace it with the renamed file. Just like with moving your files to a new location, renaming your files after you\u2019ve started editing is generally not recommended, as it can lead to headaches like this further down the line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The second common reason you may experience media offline files if you accidentally deleted them from your media pool. Look, it happens to all editors at some point or another. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Resolve has a lot of keyboard shortcuts<\/a>, which means it’s easy to make mistakes when you\u2019re hitting different keys and navigating between different folders. You could\u2019ve removed a folder collection, thinking it wasn\u2019t needed, only to realize that one of the clips was indeed being used on the timeline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As a note, you can easily check to see if a file is being used within the timeline, since the media clip, along with the exact length of the clip being used, will be highlighted with a red stroke. As you can see here in this folder configuration, it looks empty at first glance, but in fact a portion of clip 172_0350 is being used on the timeline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You\u2019ll know this has occurred when you right-click the clip on the timeline, select Find in Media Pool<\/strong>, and Resolve does nothing. If this happens to you, just re-import the file back into Resolve and it will automatically return online. <\/p>\n\n\n\n While the two instances above are the main reasons that cause media offline issues, there are a variety of other scenarios that could also cause this problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The first is when using a media file with a variable frame rate (not to be confused with a variable bitrate). A variable frame rate is a technique used in video encoding where the actual frame rate of the video changes depending on the content being displayed. Unlike the standard 24 frames per second, where 24 frames are accounted for each second, a variable frame rate allows for a fluctuating number of frames per second.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While this can provide flexibility in terms of storage and video quality<\/a>, it can cause issues with software that requires a fixed frame rate for video editing purposes. If you absolutely need to use footage with a variable frame rate and reshooting is not an option, you\u2019ll need to transcode the footage into a constant frame rate. Since you can\u2019t import the file into Resolve to transcode it, you\u2019ll need to use third-party software like Handbreak<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another less common cause is when DaVinci Resolve doesn\u2019t like the format or codec used for your media file. Given Resolve\u2019s extensive compatibility library, it\u2019s rare to encounter a format that it doesn\u2019t process. However, if you don\u2019t have the HEVC codec installed on your computer, this could cause an issue. You can acquire this codec from Microsoft themselves on the Windows store<\/a> to fix this. <\/p>\n\n\n\n While Resolve doesn’t struggle with many formats, it can be temperamental with MKV files, particularly those generated by OBS. These files often lead to offline media errors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As a side note, having used OBS myself, I’ve found that these files can be troublesome to play back normally, often requiring transcoding. To avoid these issues, it’s best to convert the file to MP4<\/a> first. Similar to variable frame rate footage, these files must be transcoded into a more compatible format for smoother processing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally, using 10bit H.265 media with the free version of DaVinci Resolve can also cause media offline issues. To use 10bit H.265 media, you need to upgrade to the studio version of Resolve (which, in my opinion, is well worth it).<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Before we wrap this up, there is one important factor to consider. We\u2019ve previously discussed generating proxies or optimized media<\/a> to improve DaVinci Resolve performance, particularly if your machine is struggling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, if you\u2019ve created proxies, you\u2019ve essentially generated a separate media file from the original video files. So if you have Use Proxy Media or Use Optimized Media if Available activated, you might not immediately realize that these media files are missing. This is because, on the DaVinci Resolve timeline, it appears that the media is in place. However, what you\u2019re actually seeing is the generated lower-resolution media, not the original files.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you were to render your project without checking the footage, you would end up with a lot of blank spaces in your video.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Out of every potential issue you could encounter while video editing, the media offline error is undoubtedly one of the easiest to fix. All you need to do is track down your files and relink them inside of DaVinci resolve. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If you’re troubleshooting more DaVinci Resolve issues or want to learn how to do more with the software, check out our other DaVinci Resolve tutorials<\/a>. If you’re looking for ways to speed up your editing process, explore the wide variety of DaVinci Resolve templates<\/a> available from the Storyblocks library, as they can save you even more time in the future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When you run into the media offline error, something’s gone wrong. But don’t worry, in this article, we’ll explain how to fix the media offline error in DaVinci Resolve and more importantly, how to prevent it from happening in the first place.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":102,"featured_media":29553,"template":"","topic":[22,14],"class_list":["post-29552","tutorial","type-tutorial","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","topic-davinci-resolve","topic-video-editing"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.storyblocks.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tutorial\/29552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.storyblocks.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tutorial"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.storyblocks.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/tutorial"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.storyblocks.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/102"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.storyblocks.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.storyblocks.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.storyblocks.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic?post=29552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Screenshot](\"https:\/\/sb-wp-assets.storyblocks.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/27102105\/media_offline3-edited.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/sb-wp-assets.storyblocks.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/27102104\/media_offline4.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nLinking multiple folders<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
2. Your clips are missing<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/sb-wp-assets.storyblocks.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/27102103\/professional-gamer-interacting-with-fans-during-livestream-disappointed-after-losing-e-SBI-350056193-1024x576.jpg\")
![\"Screenshot](\"https:\/\/sb-wp-assets.storyblocks.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/27102103\/media_offline5.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n3. You\u2019re using unsupported file formats <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Variable frame rate<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Unsupported format or codec<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
A note on using proxies<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Final Thoughts <\/h2>\n\n\n\n