compatible cross platform codec for editing?

what would be a good codec to use for making a file that can be stored and kept for editing later - so the file could be opened in a linux editing program like Kdenlive or if on windows sony vegas or premiere guess I am wanting a very compatible one I have seen Lagarth and Utvideo being mentioned but Utvideo encoded video can not be opened in Kdenlive on linux

perhaps DNxHD or prores or possibly something bigger (png mov, anim-rle mov ..) p.s. for ut video decoder you would have to update ffmpeg on linux.

Intra-only H.264 would be an option to consider. Can be "very high-quality" or even "true lossless". Supports 4:2:2/4:4:4 subsampling as well as 10-Bit. And it's widely supported nowadays. (Most OpenSource tools use libavcodec anyway, so H.264 should be no problem at all. Commercial video editors support it as well, though "consumer" products may not support all the "advanced" features like 4:2:2/4:4:4 or 10-Bit)

You could also use a system like store everything supported by Matroska in .MKV and if needed remux it in the applications compatible format :) this has some advantages in terms of system complexity since some issues with .ts got fixed it seems to be also much more stable now to utilize this for Transport streams even Multiplexed ones should be possible to transfer seamlessly :) MKV -> MOV (VFR isn't easy to maintain yet though) MKV -> MPG MKV -> MP4 (VFR isn't easy to maintain yet though) MKV -> TS MKV -> M2TS (problematic for blu-ray though because of HRD incorrect) MKV -> AVI (VFR isn't easy to maintain yet though) MKV -> WEBM MKV -> FLV MKV -> MFX MKV -> WMV (VFR isn't easy to maintain yet though)

i would also recommend avc-intra as intermediate format. for good combatibility with editors use mp4 container. x264_8bit.exe --preset superfast --tune fastdecode --keyint 1 --crf 14. btw. sony vegas 11 pro does not support 10 bit natively :( UPDATE: 10bit works in avi (decoded by ffdshow)

Thanks for the replies, I will look into Utvideo more but when I go to render in Kdenlive(0.8.2.1) I dont see Utvideo as an option. As for X264 I rendered a file from Kdenlive and not only did it not playback properly using GnomeMplayer (the system built in player) it would also not play properly using a windows program - the video would freeze for a bit at the begining then start to play normaly. So I guess getting a compatilbe setting might be a problem. Maybe I shouild just try and stick with a standard mpeg2 the x264 settings I used were Code: