Edit decision list
Also known as: EDL, cut list
A plain text record of which source clips an edit uses and at what timecodes, the interchange format between editing and grading tools.
Updated
What it means
An EDL is the edit without the video. Source file, in point, out point, position on the Timeline, written as text that any application can read. Nothing about the picture is in it.
Its purpose is movement between tools. An edit assembled in one application and graded in another travels as a list rather than as a rendered file, which keeps the original footage as the only source of quality.
The format is old and deliberately simple, which is why it survives. Newer project formats carry more and interchange less, so a list remains the common denominator between applications that agree on almost nothing else.
How it works in practice
Timecode is what makes it work. Every reference is a time against a source, so the files have to carry consistent timecode or the list points at the wrong frames.
It is also a record. An EDL kept alongside a delivered edit means the same cut can be rebuilt from the original files months later, at a different resolution if needed. The list outlives the project file.
Most round trips in practice go through DaVinci Resolve, which reads a list, applies a grade and returns the result, leaving the editing application as the authority on structure.
What to watch out for
It carries structure and nothing else. Effects, speed changes and Keyframe animation do not survive the trip, which surprises people exactly once. What moves is the cut, not the work.
Renamed or moved files break it silently. The list points at names, so reorganising a card after an export turns a valid EDL into a set of missing references.
Mixed frame rates are the subtle failure. A list written against one rate applied to clips at another lands a frame or two out everywhere, and Sync drift of that kind is hard to spot on review.
How RawClip handles it
A highlight is delivered as a finished video file rather than as a list of decisions, because the result is meant to be watchable without an editor. Where the cut needs reworking, the source files are the starting point and the delivered edit is the reference.