4 Ways to Fix “Render Job Failed” in Davinci Resolve

There are many reasons you might receive the “Render Job failed” error when rendering your videos in Davinci Resolve.

However, some of them are more common than others, therefore I’ve gathered the most common ones in this article.

I’ve seen there are two types of errors that occur for most people. The first one is related to rendering fusion composition & the second is a video file that could not be decoded correctly.

However, the solutions shared in this article will work on both error types.

Anyways, let’s solve this problem of yours!

1. Export Rendered Cache Files

This one is actually quite genius, and solved the problem immediately when I was facing this problem.

So let’s get to it! Here’s a picture of the two most normal errors to experience:

picture of render job failed both errors

Here you can see my timeline, just a normal clip and a fusion composition which are causing this error:

showing timeline

The first thing you want to do is open “Playback > Render Cache > Smart“:

render cache smart

Once that is done you will see a red line, which is slowly turning blue above your clips in the timeline. Let it finish rendering before moving on. At least it should render the clip which is causing you problems (if you know which it is).

blue line render cache to fix rendering failed issue

Once it’s done it will be totally blue like this:

finished cache full blue line

Now, go to the “Deliver” page:

deliver page

Go to the “Render Settings” window:

render settings

Now we are getting into more uncommon territory for a lot of people.

Go ahead and open the “Advanced Settings“:

open advanced settings

AND finally, we have found the golden nugget!

Now you want to tick off the box next to “Use render cached images“. What this does, is use the cached files we created when that red line turned blue. So it basically renders how the timeline memory created of your timeline and in that memory, all the files worked, thus they work in the rendered file as well!

So tick off the box next to “Use render cached images” and hit “Add to Render Queue“:

Use render cached images

Now head over to the “Render Queue” and start the render job! Hopefully, once it’s done, it looks like the picture below:

Solved!

2. Copy the Timeline and Create a New Project

This one is very easy, which is the reason I’m placing it as number two on the list!

If it doesn’t work, no big deal just proceed to the next method.

So we are not going to copy the timeline as it sounds. Instead, we are going to copy all the clips in the timeline.

You can do this by simply pressing “CTRL+A” or “Cmd+A”(on a Mac), then press “CTRL+C” or “Cmd+C”(on a Mac) to copy.

If you are not the shortcut kind of person, you can select all your clips by dragging over them and then right-click a clip > Copy.

copy clips

Next, save your current project.

Then, click on this house icon in the bottom right-hand corner:

click on house

In this window go ahead and click on “New Project“, then call it whatever you want and click on “Create“:

create new project

Inside your new project, click once on the timeline and then press “CTRL+V” or “Cmd+V” (on a Mac).

For those who don’t like shortcuts: Right-click on the timeline and click on “Paste“.

new timeline

Once you’ve done this, go ahead and try to render!

If it didn’t work. We have other methods which has worked for a bunch of people:

3. Convert Your Videos to DNxHR

  1. Select the clips in your timeline.
  2. Right-click and click on “Render in Place…
  3. Set “Format” to “QuickTime“.
  4. Set “Codec” to “DNxHR” and “Type” to “DNxHR HQ“.
  5. Click on “Render“.

This solution seems to have worked for some people as well.

If you’re having the fusion composition error, this solution most likely will not work. (All the others work for both errors).

However, let’s go into a bit more in detail on how to do it and some consequences of doing this.

The consequence of converting to the DNxHR codec is that the file size is HUGE. If you are used to handling such as .MP4 and .MOV.

Why is this?

We’ll not go too much into detail on this, however, DNxHR is utilizing something called intraframe compression. These are ALOT less compressed than a .MP4 which is normally paired with an H.264 codec which usually compresses the video a lot.

So by converting your video to DNxHR, it will be a lot less compressed, then it’s a lot easier on your computer when playing it back as well and gives you a better experience while editing.

Here’s how much larger your files will get:

File size difference mp4 DNxHR SQ and HQR

You can see it’s quite a lot, but if you have enough disk space, you can just delete it afterward, as you will still have your original footage.

It’s worth a shot! However, you could try the other solutions first.

Here’s a more detailed description of how to do it:

First, select the clips in your timeline, or if you know which clip is causing the error select that one.

Then click on “Render in Place…

Render in place

Next, you want to change the following:

  • Format – QuickTime
  • Codec – DNxHR
  • Type – DNxHR HQ

If you want a bit smaller file size you could try changing to DNxHR ‘SQ’ instead of ‘HQ’. As the only difference is that HQ is of higher quality. That said people who have solved this error used ‘HQ’…

Choose one of them, and then click on “Render“:

Change format, codec and type

The rendering takes a little bit of time.

Once it’s done you can see that you have now both your old format and new format in your “Media Pool“:

original and rendered

And you don’t have to add the new files to the timeline, as they will have swapped places as part of the render process! You can see in the picture below that it has changed from .mp4 to .mov.

.mov is representing the QuickTime format:

.mov created in timeline

Next, go ahead and render your project! Fingers crossed…

If you want to swap the clips in the timeline back to the original files, “select the clips > right-click > Decompose to Original”: (You will still have them on your computer and in the media pool.)

4. Change Workspace Options

This is the option almost everyone suggests. And my least favorite solution to the problem, which is why it’s the last on the list…

This solution does work, and most of these errors will get solved by using it. The problem with doing this you will render out your project even if there is an error, and then it will be included in your final product.

However, after experimenting a little bit with this solution, I’ve found that sometimes the error is just in the render faze, and I could not see any negative impact on the exported file.

So without further ado, here’s solution number 4:

Click on “Davinci Resolve” in the left-hand top corner of Davinci Resolve. Then click on “Preferences…“.

go to preferences

Then in the window that pops up, click on “User“, then “UI Settings“.

Next, uncheck the option called “Stop renders when a frame or clip cannot be processed“.

Watch the picture below:

UI settings

Once you have done this go ahead and click on “Save“, located in the lower right-hand corner of the window:

save ui settings

That’s it!

Now you can go ahead and try to render your video again.

Afterward, watch through your video if there are any errors, etc. A common one to watch out for is this:

error message

There’s a big chance you have seen this one inside Davinci Resolve. However, it’s actually possible to render this one into your final product as well.

That’s it and I really hope one of these solutions solved your problem!

If you are facing problems with the “Add to Render Queue” button turning gray, check out this article.

Best regards,

Your friend, Jens.

Similar Posts