ProRes support confusion

[jemabaris]

Hey there,

I have been building OpenRV from source a couple times already now over the years and adding ProRes decoding support was always as simple as adding the required build flags. I now, for the first time, built the VFX Ref 25 version and am confused about how to add ProRes decoding support. In the build instructions I've seen the information about contacting Apple to get free access to the ProRes SDK for Windows. This seams to be new and I didn't ever need to do that before. Nontheless I contacted Apple and they replied that a) you can't get the SDK as a private person but only as a company and b) that the whole process of getting access to the SDK is extremely complicated and tedious. I am just using and building RV for myself and for private/hobby use. So my question is how to currently get ProRes decoding working without needing the Apple SDK or if that's not possible anymore?
I was really excited that the bug regarding OCIO 2.4 configs had been fixed now and was hoping to be finally able to make a new build that would support ACES 2.0, but no ProRes support would be a big letdown.

Looking forward to hearing back from you,

all the best

Janis

[bernie-laberge]

Hello @jemabaris,

Using the Apple Pro Res SDK is optional.
You still have the option to build Open RV with ProRes decoding support via FFmpeg by passing the following arguments at rvcfg time:
rvcfg -DRV_FFMPEG_NON_FREE_DECODERS_TO_ENABLE="prores"

This will leverage the ProRes decoding that comes with FFmpeg.

I just tested it by building the latest Open RV on Rocky Linux 9 using VFX Reference Platform 2025.
Let me know if you encounter any Windows specific issue with the same rvcfg arguments on Windows.
If you do then it's a bug.

[bernie-laberge]

Update: I rebuilt the latest Open RV on my Windows machine against the VFX Reference Platform CY2025, using the same rvcfg, and it works there too — I'm able to load ProRes files in Open RV.
rvcfg -DRV_FFMPEG_NON_FREE_DECODERS_TO_ENABLE="prores"

[jemabaris]

These are the build flags I am using (and have been using before):

DRV_FFMPEG_NON_FREE_DECODERS_TO_ENABLE="aac;aac_fixed;ac3;dnxhd;h264;hevc;libdav1d;libaom-av1;av1;mp3;mpeg2video;prores;prores_aw;prores_ks;prores_lgpl;svq1;svq3;bink;binkaudio_dct;binkaudio_rdft;vp9;vp9_cuvid;vp9_mediacodec;vp9_v412m2m" \
-DRV_FFMPEG_NON_FREE_ENCODERS_TO_ENABLE="aac;aac_mf;ac3;av1_nvenc;dnxhd;libmp3lame;libx264;libx265;prores_ks;qtrle,vp9_qsv;vp9_vaapi;dvvideo" \
-DRV_DEPS_BMD_DECKLINK_SDK_ZIP_PATH="C:/Users/Janis/Downloads/Blackmagic_DeckLink_SDK_15.0.zip"

And while I could play back ProRes with older builds without problems it does not seem to work anymore with those flags now. I will try to make another build with just the "prores" flag and see if that works.

[jemabaris]

Just tried again with minimal flags and I still can't playback this prores422 file which plays just fine in all the older OpenRV builds I have done (vfx ref 23/24).

[bernie-laberge]

With minimal flags on Windows VFX 2025 + FFmpeg 6.1.2. Works for me but I suspect that your file format is different than mine:

[jemabaris]

If you want I can send you one of the files which does not play for me and you can try if it plays for you? It's nothing special though, just a regular ProRes 422LT file exported from Resolve.

[jemabaris]

If you scroll down in that about screen, what version of ffmpeg does it show for you?

EDIT: Just saw that you already wrote ffmpeg 6.1.2 above. I was asking because I just figured out that when I build against ffmpeg 7.1 my ProRes files actually play back. Not sure if that should be necessary though?

[bernie-laberge]

That shouldn't be necessry. Note that we are about to change the default to FFmpeg 8 once the QA testing is completed.
A sample file would be great but I wonder how I can share my Autodesk email address with you on github without pasting it here in this public forum...

[jemabaris]

How about you write me a quick mail with it to *********
I will edit and remove my address in a couple minutes so please do so right away :)

[bernie-laberge]

OK remove it !

[bernie-laberge]

Perhaps this makes a difference: When I do an rvcfg and modify FFmpeg options, I always rebuild everything from scratch by deleting yhe whole _build directory first.

[jemabaris]

And, how does it look? Does the file play for you? All the best Janis Bernard Laberge ***@***.***> schrieb am Mi., 10. Juni 2026, 04:26:

…

*bernie-laberge* left a comment (AcademySoftwareFoundation/OpenRV#1297) <#1297 (comment)> Perhaps this makes a difference: When I do an rvcfg and modify FFmpeg options, I always rebuild everything from scratch by deleting yhe whole _build directory first. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#1297?email_source=notifications&email_token=AY5OTUC2UVCSPMVWX26PEU347DBPDA5CNFSNUABFM5UWIORPF5TWS5BNNB2WEL2JONZXKZKDN5WW2ZLOOQXTINRWGU4DSNBQHE4KM4TFMFZW63VHNVSW45DJN5XKKZLWMVXHJLDGN5XXIZLSL5RWY2LDNM#issuecomment-4665894098>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AY5OTUCKPYWIFZOTCVWZDO347DBPDAVCNFSM6AAAAACZ3BMAWGVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHM2DMNRVHA4TIMBZHA> . You are receiving this because you were mentioned.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[bernie-laberge]

Hey @jemabaris ,
Yes it played fine.
But to verify my suspicion I did the following and I was able to reproduce exactly what you are seeing:

1. Build RV with rvcfg
2. Cannot open ProRes: Normal
3. rvcfg -DRV_FFMPEG_NON_FREE_DECODERS_TO_ENABLE="prores"
4. rvbuild
5. Cannot open ProRes: NOT Normal

But if you rm -rf _build before the new rvcfg then it works.

There is a bug in the RV CMake file : the updated FFmpeg files are not copied back into the stage subdirectory thus the bug.
So in the mean time: make sure to completely clean your _build directory before modifying FFmpeg via rvcfg.
I'll try to find the time to fix it tomorrow.
Work around: rm -rf _build before any rvcfg -DRV_FFMPEG_NON_FREE_DECODERS_TO_ENABLE="prores"

[jemabaris]

Oh that's a very good tip, thank you! I think this should definitely be added to the build instructions. Are you one of the core maintainers of the OpenRV repo btw? All the best Janis Bernard Laberge ***@***.***> schrieb am Do., 11. Juni 2026, 00:03:

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*bernie-laberge* left a comment (AcademySoftwareFoundation/OpenRV#1297) <#1297 (comment)> Hey @jemabaris <https://github.com/jemabaris> , Yes it played fine. But to verify my suspicion I did the following and I was able to reproduce exactly what you are seeing: 1. Build RV with rvcfg 2. Cannot open ProRes: Normal 3. rvcfg -DRV_FFMPEG_NON_FREE_DECODERS_TO_ENABLE="prores" 4. rvbuild 5. Cannot open ProRes: NOT Normal But if you rm -rf _build before the new rvcfg then it works. ok_reproduced.png (view on web) <https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/0b62d12e-1b28-4f92-b7a9-e8e6ba4454e5> There is a bug in the RV CMake file : the updated FFmpeg files are not copied back into the stage subdirectory thus the bug. So in the mean time: make sure to completely clean your _build directory before modifying FFmpeg via rvcfg. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#1297?email_source=notifications&email_token=AY5OTUALA6QCOC3PYDC3S2D47HLKNA5CNFSNUABFM5UWIORPF5TWS5BNNB2WEL2JONZXKZKDN5WW2ZLOOQXTINRXGUYDKMBXGUZ2M4TFMFZW63VHNVSW45DJN5XKKZLWMVXHJLDGN5XXIZLSL5RWY2LDNM#issuecomment-4675050753>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AY5OTUD7JECWCZQ24DMKTCT47HLKNAVCNFSNUABFKJSXA33TNF2G64TZHM2TKOJXGQ4DEMJXHNEXG43VMU5TINJZGI3DMOJYHA42C5QC> . You are receiving this because you were mentioned.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[bernie-laberge]

We can fix it in the build so that the updated FFmpeg libs get copied over to the stage directory. I'll take care of it once I have a minute.