A real-time effect is an effect that you can apply to a sequence and play without having to render it first (rendering takes time and disk space).

Real-time Effects have a small green dot within the effect icon in the Timeline. Effects that must be rendered have a small blue dot within the effect icon in the Timeline. For more information, see Understanding the Color Coding.

You can create a sequence that has any number of real-time and non-real-time effects. The maximum real-time playback capabilities of the Avid editing application vary depending on system capabilities and the complexity of the sequence.

Real-time effects might cause dropped frames during a digital cut. You can have the Avid editing application select and render real-time effects that might cause dropped frames. For more information, see ExpertRender.