AAF (Advanced Authoring Format)
AAF stands for Advanced Authoring Format and was standardised by the Advanced Media Workflow Association as the rich exchange container for professional post-production. The on-disk format is Microsoft Structured Storage (CFB / OLE2), with metadata streams encoded as UTF-16LE. AAF carries timecode-accurate clip references, audio mix decisions, video effects and metadata that XML formats like FCPXML cannot represent as cleanly. Avid Media Composer reads and writes AAF natively. DaVinci Resolve imports AAF for online and finishing roundtrips. Pro Tools uses AAF to receive audio edits from picture cut.
Examples
- •An Avid Media Composer offline cut exports AAF for a DaVinci Resolve grade
- •A picture editor sends an AAF to Pro Tools for the sound mix
- •Sanbila Smart Relink parses the AAF to identify camera files used in the conform
In Sanbila
Sanbila Smart Relink ships with a binary AAF parser that walks the CFB container and decodes UTF-16LE filename streams, so the Avid timeline conforms back to the original camera files streamed from R2 through WebDAV without manual re-linking.
Frequently asked questions
How is Sanbila different from the proxy generator built into my NLE?+
Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve, Final Cut Pro and Avid all generate proxies locally, but they keep the original full-resolution files on the same SSD — so the disk fills up twice. Sanbila stores the originals in the cloud (Cloudflare R2) and keeps only the lightweight proxies on your machine. At export, Smart Relink streams the originals back via a local WebDAV mount, so you finish at full quality without ever downloading the source files.
Does Sanbila work offline?+
Yes for editing — once a proxy is cached on your SSD, you can cut, trim, color and arrange your timeline without an internet connection. You only need network access for the initial import (uploading originals to the cloud) and for the final export (streaming originals back via WebDAV).
How much cloud storage does the free plan include?+
The free plan includes 5 GB of cloud storage and one project, with no credit card required. Paid plans start at $49 per month for 2 TB and 50 projects, going up to 25 TB on the Enterprise plan with overage billing for teams that need more.
What upload speed do I need to use Sanbila?+
Any broadband connection works for the initial upload — Sanbila chunks files into 50 MB parts and uploads in parallel, so a typical 100 Mbps fiber line uploads 1 hour of 4K H.264 footage in about 6 minutes. After upload, day-to-day editing happens on local proxies, so your connection speed only matters again at export time when originals are streamed.
Which video formats does Sanbila support?+
Sanbila handles 22+ formats out of the box: MP4, MOV, MXF, R3D (RED RAW), BRAW (Blackmagic RAW), ARRI proxies, ProRes, DNxHR, DNxHD, H.264, H.265, plus WAV and AAC for audio. Both 4K and 8K sources are supported up to 200 GB per single file (URL imports have no size limit).
Related terms
Sources
- AAF Object Specification · Advanced Media Workflow Association