What’s New in DaVinci Resolve 20.3?

Now that safety is out of the way, let’s look at the fun stuff. This update covers a lot of ground, from support for unreleased hardware to granular metadata controls.

Next-Gen Performance

Resolve is getting ready for the future of Apple Silicon. Version 20.3 introduces support for up to 32K resolution on Apple M5 processors. While most of us aren’t delivering in 32K yet, it’s good to see the software engine scaling up for the next generation of Mac hardware.

Additionally, Resolve FX Noise Reduction has received a performance boost, which is great news for those of us trying to salvage low-light footage without bogging down playback.

Edit & Workflow Improvements

For the editors and assistants, the Metadata management updates are the highlight here:

Timeline Snapshots: You can now create named snapshots for versioning within your timeline backups. This is a huge win for version control.
Metadata Power: You can finally add metadata fields as columns in the Media Pool bins. Plus, ALE import/export is vastly improved, including the ability to create custom metadata fields on import.
Gap Management: There is finally a direct “Edit” menu action to insert a gap at the playhead.
Sync Lock Logic: Speed and duration changes now respect sync lock, preventing those accidental timeline ripples that knock audio out of sync on other tracks.

Color & FX

For the colorists, Blackmagic has added Alpha support for the Film Look Creator, Film Damage, and Analog Damage tools. This allows for much more creative compositing when building vintage looks.

They have also added 2.39 and 2.40 aspect ratios to the Broadcast Safe options, ensuring your letterboxed masters stay within legal limits.

Deliverables & Formats

IMF Workflow: Support added for HDR Vivid and Audio Vivid.
HDR10+: You can now embed HDR10+ metadata directly into QuickTime and MP4 encodes.
MXF Support: You can now set the stereoscopic mode in clip attributes for MXF clips.

Bug Fixes & Stability

As always, there is a laundry list of fixes. Notable ones include:

Fixes for intermittent lag on stacked timelines.
Resolved an issue where the AI Music Remixer muted audio on macOS 26.1.
Addressed tracking issues with high-quality deinterlace in Fusion.
Fixed a “Source Timeline” restore issue when switching back to the Edit page.

A Note for Mac Users

If you are on macOS, please note that starting with DaVinci Resolve 20.3, OpenCL mode for GPU processing is no longer supported. You will need to rely on Metal processing (which is the standard for modern Macs anyway).

Should You Update?

If you have an M5 machine or need the new metadata workflows, this is a solid update. For everyone else, the stability improvements alone are usually worth it—just remember to back up that database first!

Have you tested 20.3 yet? Let me know in the comments if you’re seeing the performance gains in Noise Reduction!