Still color-coding media folders by hand for Avid?
Symly turns the folder Avid reads from on each drive, Avid MediaFiles/MXF, into a tunnel via a POSIX symlink that repoints the media Avid reads from, while your media files stay exactly where they are.
Drive
Active media folder
How it works
Three steps. No media moved.
Download the Symly app
Free and open source. Drag it to your Applications folder and open it.
Pick your drive
Choose the external drive your Avid media lives on, and either create a new media folder, or pick an existing one.*
Switch in one click
Symly creates the tunnel via the POSIX symlink from Avid MediaFiles/MXF to your selected media folder.
* If there are media files already existing in the Avid MediaFiles/MXF path, Symly will ask your permission to move that media to the Symly Media folder. Alternatively, you can move the media files manually out of the Avid MediaFiles/MXF path prior to setting up Symly.
Where it came from
I lived this problem.
I came up as an assistant editor at shops like Cut+Run and Final Cut, living the dance every Avid editor knows all too well.
Avid reads from one Avid MediaFiles/MXF folder per drive, and it scans every drive you mount. One project per drive and it is a non-issue. But share a drive across several projects and keep them in separate folders, for archiving, handoffs, a leaner database, and only one folder can be the one Avid reads at a time. So it becomes the process you get too used to: rename a media folder to Avid MediaFiles so Avid sees it, rename it back when you switch projects, and color-code everything inside so nothing gets lost. The renaming and color-coding is annoying. The real cost is the mess: media spread across folders, disorganized.
I found a fix while working as a systems engineer at Final Cut. The first version was an Automator app called Project Picker. It went out to 15+ editors around the world, and it held up. Symly is that idea, rebuilt as a real, open app.
Project Picker, the original Automator app, was built with Ryan Johnson.
Free and open
A tool that touches your media should hide nothing.
Symly is free and open source. The whole promise is that it never copies or deletes your media, and the strongest version of that promise is letting you read exactly what it does.
github.com/brandoniben/symly
Apache License 2.0
- Every line of the engine, public.
- Never copies or deletes your media.
- Yours to read, fork, and audit.
Questions
Avid media, MXF, and switching projects.
Avid reads media from one Avid MediaFiles/MXF folder per drive, and it scans every drive you have mounted. Every clip you import or capture lands there as an MXF file. The folder-renaming only comes up when you keep several projects in separate folders on one drive, since only one can be the folder Avid reads at a time.
Where Avid stores your media →One editor keeping several projects on a single drive who wants them in separate folders, for archiving, clean handoffs, or a leaner media database. If you keep one project per drive, or pool everything into a single Avid MediaFiles/MXF, Avid handles that natively and you do not need Symly. The alternatives for separation each fit a different setup: a drive per project, the old rename routine, or network storage like NEXIS, a NAS, or a SAN once you are a team. Symly is the fix for the solo editor who wants that separation on one drive.
Keeping multiple projects on one drive →If you keep each project in its own folder on that drive, the usual way is renaming: call the one you want 'Avid MediaFiles' so Avid sees it, then rename it back to switch. Symly uses a symlink instead. You pick a project's media folder and it repoints the Avid MediaFiles/MXF path in one click. Your media stays exactly where it is.
No. That habit is the whole thing Symly removes. The link moves, your folders keep their real names, and you stop color-coding everything to track what is live.
MXF, Material Exchange Format, is the container Avid wraps your media in. It is an open SMPTE standard, not an Avid-only format. When you import or transcode in Media Composer, what lands in Avid MediaFiles/MXF is MXF.
No. Symly creates a symlink, which is just a pointer. Your files stay in the folder you chose. Switching projects changes where the link points, not where anything lives. If media is already sitting in the Avid MediaFiles/MXF path when you start, Symly asks first before relocating it once into your Symly media folder.
Yes, that is what it is built for. Symly runs on the external drive your Avid media lives on, formatted APFS, Mac OS Extended, or exFAT. It is not meant for NEXIS, NAS, SAN, or cloud storage.
It is free and open source, so you can read exactly what it does before running it. It works through standard POSIX symlinks, the same mechanism macOS uses everywhere, and never reaches into the media itself.
It is free. You need macOS 13 Ventura or later, on Apple Silicon or Intel, and any modern version of Media Composer that reads from the Avid MediaFiles/MXF path.
Download Symly.
Free and open source, for Avid on macOS.
System requirements
- macOS
- 13 Ventura or laterUniversal: Apple Silicon and Intel.
- Media Composer
- Any modern versionAnything that reads from the Avid MediaFiles/MXF path.
- Drive format
- APFS, Mac OS Extended, or exFATWorks on most local Mac-formatted external drives.
- Disk space
- NoneSymly only creates links, never a copy of your media.
Built for the external drive your Avid media lives on. Not intended for use with NEXIS, NAS, SAN, or cloud storage.