Variants
A variant is a generated file derived from one of your original photos, videos, or audio files — never the original itself. Fictura builds variants automatically so the app has something fast to show you, and so Export has ready-made output options to pull from. Originals are never modified to produce a variant; see Getting Started for why that separation matters.
Two purposes, one set of files
Every variant exists for one (or both) of two reasons:
- Internal display — the app needs something fast and lightweight to show you: a grid thumbnail, a scrubbable video preview, a quick-loading audio waveform player. These are generated automatically on import or sync; you don't configure them directly.
- Export output — the same variant "slots" (plus a couple of export-only ones, like a lossless audio copy) are what Export offers as output formats. Their quality, resolution, and codec settings are configured app-wide and can be overridden per export batch in the Export view.
A variant that's generated for display isn't thrown away afterward — if it already matches what an export needs, Export reuses it instead of re-rendering. If a needed variant doesn't exist yet (or is stale relative to your current active version), Fictura generates it on demand.
Variants and versions
Every variant is rendered from a specific version of the item, not just the untouched original — the current active version is the one variants reflect: v001's fast, filter-free pipeline for the baseline, or the full edit pipeline for a saved v002+ version. Restoring a different version invalidates the variants rendered from the old one; Fictura regenerates them the next time they're actually needed (opening the item, browsing the grid, or running an export) rather than the instant you restore, so switching versions itself stays instant.
Photo variants
| Variant | Used for | Default settings |
|---|---|---|
thumbnail | Media grid thumbnails, fast browsing | WebP, 1024px wide, quality 65 |
jpeg | Full-resolution preview in the editor and photo modal; JPEG export | JPEG, 5400px wide, quality 90, EXIF embedded |
webp | Same role as jpeg at a smaller file size; WebP export | WebP, 5400px wide, quality 90, EXIF embedded |
original | Byte-identical copy of your source file; used when exporting "Original" | Copied only if requested — never generated speculatively |
Video variants
| Variant | Used for | Default settings |
|---|---|---|
thumbnail | Poster frame shown in the media grid and before playback starts | JPEG, 1920×1080, quality 80, extracted at the 1-second mark |
previewLowQuality | Fast in-app scrubbing/playback on slower connections or drives; lightweight export option | VP9, 2500k bitrate, fast preset |
previewHighQuality | Full-quality in-app playback; high-quality export option | VP9, 10000k bitrate, slow preset |
original | Byte-identical copy (codec copy, no re-encode); used when exporting "Original" | Copied only if requested |
Video variants also carry an extracted audio track (Opus, 128k by default) alongside the video stream, and tone-mapping is applied automatically for supported log/HDR camera profiles before any variant is rendered.
Audio variants
| Variant | Used for | Default settings |
|---|---|---|
streamingLow | Lightweight in-app playback; lightweight export option | MP3, 128k |
streamingHigh | Higher-quality in-app playback; higher-quality export option | Opus, 320k |
lossless | Archival-quality export; not used for everyday in-app playback | FLAC, 1411k |
original | Byte-identical copy (codec copy, no re-encode); used when exporting "Original" | Copied only if requested |
Configuring variants
Every variant's resolution/quality (photo), bitrate/preset (video), or codec/bitrate (audio) is editable directly in Settings, under Photo Variants, Video Variants, and Audio Variants — changes apply app-wide, to both in-app display and export, the next time that variant is generated.
You can also add entirely new, custom-named variants from those same Settings sections — for example a smaller "web" photo export, or a lower-bitrate video proxy for quick sharing. Give it a name and pick a format (photo: JPEG/WebP/PNG) or codec (audio: MP3/Opus/FLAC; video: VP9), and it appears automatically as a selectable option in Export — no separate export-side setup needed. A few built-in variants that the app's own display or playback depends on directly (photo's jpeg/webp/thumbnail, video's thumbnail, audio's streamingLow/streamingHigh) can't be removed, though their settings are still fully editable.
Per export batch, the Export view's quality and format controls can further override any selected variant's settings for that one run, without changing its saved defaults.
Regenerating and cleaning up variants
Variants are disposable and always regenerable from your original plus your saved edit history — deleting one never loses data, only render time. Sync's "Generate Media" rebuilds thumbnails, previews, and other variants on demand, and its maintenance tools can remove orphaned variant files that no longer correspond to any tracked media in your library.