A DCP is a Digital Cinema Package, which is the industry standard format for screening digital films & content in cinemas

If you are planning on screening your film or content in a cinema or entering into film festivals, then yes. Most cinemas require a DCP, and while some may have capacity to run content off a laptop, DCPs always offer the best sound and picture quality.

There are many great open-source software options to create a DCP for free, however it is a complex and involved process, with multiple steps that can easily go wrong, and there is no way of reliably verifying or testing content without the proper software or equipment. Most venues and festivals also have strict QC tests which result in DCPs made by hobbyists being rejected.

We will always reccomend creating a DCP either with us or another facility for best results and piece of mind. We will also liaise directly with the venue to ensure a smooth process.

We believe we offer one of the best end-to-end solutions for DCP creation at an accessible price-point. We go above and beyond with our delivery & format options. Trusted by independent filmmakers and production companies alike, we are experienced having delivered content to venues in over 10 different countries, with a 100% success rate, with not one failure or error occurring on our DCPs or delivery drives.

Pricing for DCP creation varies based on the content duration and requirements, please contact us for a quote.

We can accept content in any video format, however we usually recommend delivery in ProRes 422HQ. Audio can be delivered in the video file, or as interleaved or separate tracks. If you do not have a 5.1, 7.1 or Dolby Atmos mix, we can up-mix a mono or stereo mix to 5.1 using our proprietary up-mixing process.

Once we receive the master of your film, we will prep it for the DCP, add any captions, and split the content into reels if required. After a technical QC on a calibrated display, it is then accurately converted into the DCI XYZ colourspace as a 12-bit JPEG-2000 image sequence.

We will set the bitrate based on the content itself, and optimise for maximum quality whilst minimising excessive data rates. Audio is then mapped to the correct channels. While DCPs only accept 5.1, 7.1 and Dolby ATMOS, we can accept mixes in Stereo and using our proprietary 2.0 to 5.1 up-mixing process, create a 5.1 surround mix to ensure the film properly fills the space.

Once the DCP is generated, we verify it with a specialised verification process to ensure compliance and integrity. If encryption is required, we will also generate the necessary KDMs for your venues. This process requires a lot of management, so we generally only recommend this if it is required.

After this, the DCP is sent via our cloud delivery platform, or as a physical delivery on a specially formatted ext2 delivery drive to the venue(s).

If you would like to see the amazing results for yourself, we can also facilitate a test screening at your local cinema.

KDMs (Key Delivery Messages) are an encryption process, which allow us to protect the DCP by restricting its usage to specific screens and times.

While all venues are able to play 4K DCPs, 2K systems don’t actively downsample content, which results in only a quarter of the data being used on screen, which reduces image quality, so we only recommend 4K DCPs when you have a particular venue in mind. If you require both, we recommend having separate DCPs created for each format for best results.

Yes! We can deliver DCPs in most specialty formats as well as standard formats, however only recommend it in instances where you are sure the venue can play that format. Otherwise, we generally recommend 2K SMPTE DCPs for maximum compatibility with cinema equipment.

Yes, we can embed captions & subtitles in the DCP either as separate metadata or a burn-in. We usually reccomnd a burn-in for maximum reliability.