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Linked media and project links

Kitlig normally copies every file you import into the project folder. That keeps a project self-contained, but it also means a 40 GB archive of episodes costs 40 GB again in every project that cuts from it. Linking skips the copy: the asset points at the file where it already lives.

There are two kinds of link:

  • Linked files are single files used from anywhere on disk, like footage on a drive or another project's media.
  • Project links are live links to another Kitlig project's Timelines, Kitlig Assets or whole folders. They stay in sync with that project.
  1. Open the File menu and choose Link Media….
  2. Pick one or more files.

Each file shows up in its usual folder (video/source, images/source and so on) with a chain icon on its thumbnail. Nothing is copied. You cut, analyze, optimize and export a linked file exactly like any other asset.

The project now depends on that file

If the file moves, is renamed or its drive is unplugged, the asset goes offline. The chain turns into a red broken chain. See Relink media to fix it.

Make a file local

When you want the project to stand on its own again, copy the file in:

  1. Right-click one or more linked assets.
  2. Choose Make Local.

The file is copied into the project at the asset's own place in the tree. It keeps the same asset, so every timeline, channel and Kitlig Asset that uses it carries on as before. The original outside the project is left alone.

Editing a linked file in place

A few actions rewrite a file in place, like Rotate with Overwrite. On a linked file that would change someone else's original, so Kitlig stops and asks you to make the file local first. Click Make Local and continue to copy it in and run the action on the copy.

Deleting a linked asset only removes it from the project. The original file is never deleted, and neither renaming nor moving the asset touches it.

Files go offline when a drive letter changes, a footage folder moves, or someone renames a file.

  1. Right-click the offline asset (or a selection of them) and choose Relink Media…. To see everything that's missing in the project at once, use Relink Media… in the File menu.
  2. Click Locate… next to one file and pick its new location.
  3. Kitlig looks for the rest in two ways: files that moved the same way as the one you picked, and files with the same name in the folder you picked. Everything it finds is ticked for you.
  4. Check the list, locate anything it missed, then click Relink.

If a relinked file's contents changed, every viewer reloads it.

Link from Project… in the File menu opens one window for everything you can share between projects.

  1. Pick a project from your recent projects, or click Browse for a project folder….
  2. Choose what to bring in, on any of these tabs:
    • Timelines: whole edit or redub timelines.
    • Kitlig Assets: library entries with their Takes and channels.
    • Folders: every file in a folder, for example a project's video/source.
    • Files: single files. Select all shown works with the filter box.
  3. Leave Bring descriptions, tags and Describe & Tag moments with each file on to carry over the analysis, so nothing needs describing again.
  4. Click Link.

Nothing is copied. Linked folders land in <top folder>/linked/<project> (video/source from a project called ComputerChronicles becomes video/linked/ComputerChronicles/source). Single files go to the folder you type, or the same default.

Timelines, Kitlig Assets and folders are live. Kitlig re-syncs them from the other project every time this project opens, and whenever you choose Refresh Links in the File menu. Renamed timelines, recut clips, new files in a linked folder and updated descriptions all come through.

A linked Timeline or Kitlig Asset is read-only here, and a yellow bar says so. Any edit opens a "This is a live link" message instead, because the next sync would overwrite it. You have two choices:

  • Edit it in the project it comes from.
  • Click Make Local on the bar. It becomes this project's own editable copy and stops following the other project. Its media stay linked until you make those local too.

The Links in this project tab lists every live link with its last sync time. Each row has:

  • a sync button, to re-sync that link now
  • Make Local, which turns a Timeline or Kitlig Asset into an ordinary copy. You can also copy its media in at the same time.
  • a remove button. For a Timeline or Kitlig Asset it asks whether to delete it or keep it as an editable copy. For a folder, the files stay linked.

When the other project has moved, its links show an error and a Relink Project… button. Point it at the project's new folder and every link, along with every linked file inside it, follows.

Backups and packages

Backups (zip or copy), Export ▸ Package and a timeline's Package each need to work on their own, so they copy linked files in. Before they start, Kitlig warns you how many linked files that is, since it can make the output much larger. Linked files that are offline at that moment are left out. In a restored backup, the copied-in files are ordinary local files.

Linking across machines

A link stores the file's full path on this machine. Opening the project on another computer, or in the Docker build, shows those files as offline until you relink them to where they live there.