How to Fix Slow Multicam in DaVinci Resolve 21

In Summary To speed up multicam cutting in DaVinci Resolve, first view fewer angles: pick a smaller grid (1x1, 1x2, 2x2, 3x3 or 4x4) from the dropdown at the bottom right of the source viewer. Blackmagic's manual says this can improve playback performance while you edit. Then make the camera files easier to play: turn on Decode H.264/HEVC using hardware acceleration in Preferences, and edit from optimized media or proxy media. If building the multicam clip is slow, the manual calls Timecode sync "a fast sync" for jam-synced cameras. If the project is slow to open, check Load all timelines when opening projects.

The short answer

Blackmagic's product page says the Multicam Viewer "lets you see all cameras playing back at the same time". The DaVinci Resolve 21.1 Reference Manual's multicam chapter gives one fix that is only about multicam: "If your computer isn't very fast, consider reducing the number of angles you're viewing to maintain real-time playback" (p. 1041).

The other fixes are Resolve's general performance tools. This page covers the fixes in this order:

1. View fewer angles in the Multicam Viewer.
2. Turn on hardware decoding for H.264 and HEVC files.
3. Edit from optimized media or proxy media.
4. Lower the Decode Quality of raw camera files.
5. Use Timeline Proxy Resolution or the render cache if the cut timeline is the slow part.

Every Resolve step and page number below is from the DaVinci Resolve 21.1 Reference Manual (September 2026). For playback problems that have nothing to do with multicam, see how to fix laggy playback in DaVinci Resolve.

Which fix for which symptom

1. View fewer angles

1. Open the timeline that holds your multicam clip and put the playhead where you want to start.
2. Choose Multicam Mode at the bottom of the source viewer (p. 1041).
3. Choose how many angles to display from the dropdown menu at the bottom right of the source viewer. The choices are 1x1, 1x2, 2x2, 3x3 and 4x4. The manual says: "Depending on your workstation's performance, reducing the number of angles can improve playback performance while you edit" (p. 1043).

When the multicam clip has more angles than the grid shows, page controls appear to the left of the dropdown. Click a dot to jump to a page of angles, click the arrows, or choose Edit > Multicam > Previous Page (Option-Shift-Left Arrow) or Next Page (Option-Shift-Right Arrow) (p. 1042). Pressing the number keys 1 to 9 "performs a cut-and-switch operation, the same as if you'd clicked on an angle button of a multicam clip in the source viewer" (p. 1043).

The Media page has its own control: when you view multicam clips there, you choose how many angles to show with the Viewer Option menu (p. 1039).

If an angle is of no use, you can take it out of the multicam clip. Right-click the clip in the Media Pool and choose Open in Timeline. Then right-click the angle's track header and choose Delete Track, or disable the tracks of angles you don't want to see but don't want to remove. Close the clip with the path control at the bottom left of the Timeline (p. 1040). The manual lists these as changes you make "in preparation for editing". It does not say they change playback speed.

2. Turn on hardware decoding

Open Preferences > System > Decode Options and turn on Decode H.264/HEVC using hardware acceleration. The manual says it "allows the use of hardware acceleration for H.264 or HEVC playback, if available on the computer you're using" (p. 99). The same panel has Use GPU for Blackmagic RAW decode and Use GPU for R3D.

While you are in Preferences, check Performance Mode in the Playback Settings of the User Preferences. It is set to Automatic by default, and the manual says it "dramatically improves the experience of editing, mixing, and grading on less powerful computers" (p. 195).

3. Edit from optimized media or proxy media

Blackmagic describes optimized media for "processor-intensive source formats such as camera raw, H.264, or 8K media" when "your computer isn't fast enough to work with it easily in real time" (p. 197). The manual also says optimized media "improves the playback performance of clips throughout DaVinci Resolve, including in the Media page and in the Media Pool and Source Viewer of the Edit page" (p. 197).

To make optimized media:

1. Set Resolution and Optimized Media Format in the Optimized Media and Render Cache section of Project Settings > Master Settings. "Choose automatically" only reduces the resolution of files larger than the current Timeline resolution (p. 198).
2. Select the clips in the Media Pool, right-click one of them and choose Generate Optimized Media (p. 197).
3. Turn it on or off with Playback > Use Optimized Media if Available (p. 197).

To make proxy media:

1. Set Proxy Media Resolution and Proxy Media Format in the same section of the Master Settings (p. 208).
2. Select the clips in the Media Pool, right-click one of them and choose Generate Proxy Media. Resolve shows a progress bar and a time estimate (p. 208).
3. Choose Playback > Proxy Handling > Prefer Proxies on the Edit page (p. 214). The Proxy Handling selector in the Viewer is "a global setting that changes proxy handling for all the viewers across DaVinci Resolve" (p. 209).

The full proxy steps are in how to create proxies in DaVinci Resolve.

Which one? Blackmagic's quick reference (p. 217) says optimized media is for "I need help playing back all my source media in real time, and I will only be editing on this computer". Proxy media is for when you also "need to collaborate and share this media with other users, programs, or outside storage locations".

4. Lower the Decode Quality of raw files

For raw media, the manual says "the fastest solution is to open the Camera Raw panel of the Project Settings and reduce the Decode Quality of the raw media formats you're using" (p. 196). R3D and Sony Raw offer full, half, quarter, eighth and sixteenth. Canon RAW, Panasonic Varicam RAW and Phantom Cine only decode at full resolution. To make sure the final render uses the highest quality, turn on Force debayer res to highest quality in the Render Settings of the Deliver page (p. 196).

5. If the cut timeline is the slow part

• Timeline Proxy Resolution. Choose Playback > Timeline Proxy Resolution > Half Resolution or Quarter Resolution. It "reduces the working resolution by either half or a quarter of whatever the current Timeline resolution is for your project" (p. 195). It is not proxy media: the manual calls them "two entirely different features, which are wholly independent of one another" (p. 216). Blackmagic's quick reference for it: "My timeline is playing back, just a little bit too slowly" (p. 217).
• Smart render cache. Choose Playback > Render Cache > Smart (p. 200). In Smart mode, "H.264, H.265, DCP, JPEG2K, or camera raw clips that have been edited into a timeline are cached", along with speed effects and Fusion effects (p. 204). Red bars along the bottom of the Timeline ruler mean "to be cached"; blue means "has been cached" (p. 203). The manual says the Fusion Output Cache, the part of the Smart Cache that handles those clips, "only improves the performance of clips that are already in the Timeline by caching them at the Timeline resolution" (p. 197).

The manual does not say whether Timeline Proxy Resolution or the render cache changes playback in the Multicam Viewer.

The cache is written to the "Cache files location", which defaults to the first scratch disk in the Media Storage panel of the System Preferences. With no scratch disk set, Resolve uses the system disk, which the manual says "may pose problems with capacity and/or performance" (p. 203).

When it is slow to create or to open

Creating the multicam clip. In the New Multicam Clip Properties dialog, Sound uses "the shape of each audio waveform to align all of the angles". When you click Create, "depending on the Angle Sync method you chose, a waveform analysis might generate a progress bar" (p. 1037). If matching timecode was jam synced to each camera, the manual says you can choose Timecode "for a fast sync that's as accurate as the timecode is" (p. 1037). For the sound route, see how to sync multicam by audio in DaVinci Resolve.

Opening the project. Load all timelines when opening projects is in the Project Save and Load panel of the User Preferences, and it is off by default. With it off, Resolve opens only the last timeline you worked on into memory, which "speeds up the opening of large projects". You may see "brief pauses" when you open other timelines. With it on, "projects with many timelines may take longer to open and save" (p. 111).

Where Eddie fits

Eddie can do the sync and the first multicam cut outside Resolve. Import each camera's files separately and Eddie groups and syncs them into switchable angles. Left alone, Eddie edits multicam like a live director: it stays on whoever's talking and holds the wide for quick exchanges. A multicam group Eddie synced exports as a real multicam group rather than a flattened single-angle track. A multicam clip you already built in Resolve arrives in Eddie as one flat clip you cannot switch, so import the camera files instead.

See Eddie's multicam feature, the DaVinci Resolve workflow and Multicam: the complete guide.

What it will not do

• Performance Mode does not lower your output. Resolve "still outputs to video, renders in the Delivery page, and processes via the Media Management command at the highest quality" (p. 195).
• Proxies do not reach the render unless you ask. The Deliver page reverts proxies to the original media unless you check Use proxy media (p. 214). A checkbox in the Render Settings lets you choose whether to use optimized media or render from the original media only (pp. 199, 4120).
• Remember raw Decode Quality before you render. Switch it back, or turn on Force debayer res to highest quality, which makes Resolve render "all raw formats at the highest quality available" (p. 196).
• Optimized media does not travel. It is not included in Media Management operations or project archives (p. 199). Changing a raw clip's camera raw settings discards its optimized media (p. 198).
• Resolve does not delete old files for you. Optimized media must be deleted manually in your OS (p. 200). Unlinking a proxy does not delete the file (p. 213).
• The multicam chapter gives no angle count for a given computer. It says only that a computer that isn't very fast may need to view fewer angles (p. 1041).

FAQ

Why is multicam so slow in DaVinci Resolve?

Blackmagic says the Multicam Viewer lets you "see all cameras playing back at the same time". Its manual's multicam advice is: "If your computer isn't very fast, consider reducing the number of angles you're viewing to maintain real-time playback" (p. 1041).

How many angles can the Multicam Viewer show?

The dropdown offers 1x1, 1x2, 2x2, 3x3 and 4x4. If the clip has more angles than the grid shows, page controls let you move between sets of angles.

Does the render cache speed up the Multicam Viewer?

The manual does not say. It documents what Smart mode caches: H.264, H.265, DCP, JPEG2K and camera raw clips that have been edited into a timeline (p. 204). For the Source Viewer, it documents optimized media (p. 197).

Does Timeline Proxy Resolution help the Multicam Viewer?

The manual does not say. It describes Timeline Proxy Resolution as reducing the working resolution to half or a quarter of the Timeline resolution (p. 195).

Optimized media or proxy media for multicam?

Blackmagic's quick reference suggests optimized media when you will only edit on this computer, and proxy media when you need to share the media with other users, programs or storage locations (p. 217).

Why does my Resolve project take so long to open?

Check Load all timelines when opening projects in the Project Save and Load panel of the User Preferences. With it on, "projects with many timelines may take longer to open and save". It is off by default (p. 111).

Sources

• Blackmagic Design, DaVinci Resolve 21.1 Reference Manual (September 2026): chapter 4 System and User Preferences, pp. 99, 111; chapter 8 Improving Performance, Proxies, and the Render Cache, pp. 195–217; chapter 49 Multicam Editing, pp. 1037–1043; chapter 187 Rendering Media, p. 4120. Checked 2026-11-09.
• Blackmagic Design, DaVinci Resolve edit page, Multicam Editing section. Checked 2026-11-09.