Best Post-Production Companies in Chicago (2026)

Introduction

Chicago supports a solid group of full-service post houses, most of them built around the advertising work that comes out of the city’s agencies. Between them, the 10 companies below cover the offline edit, colour, effects, sound and delivery, and several also finish television series and independent features.

Agencies still drive most of the demand. Publicis’s Leo is headquartered in Chicago, and independents such as Highdive, third on Ad Age’s 2026 A-List, commission national spots from local post teams. The market has also reshuffled. Technicolor’s collapse closed The Mill’s Chicago office in February 2025, and its artists moved to local studios or went freelance. Reel Chicago named The Colonie its Post House of 2025, and Harbor has run a full-service River North studio since October 2023.

Every company here has an active Chicago base in 2026. Chicago is a smaller market than New York or Los Angeles, and several strong houses already appear on our Chicago colour and VFX lists, so this page lists 10 rather than stretching to a longer count. The order carries no ranking.

The best post-production companies in Chicago

1. Cutters Studios

Independent · Chicago · cuttersstudios.com

Cutters Studios is a Chicago production and post-production group and an AICP member. Its companies cover the whole job: Cutters for editorial, Flavor for design, CG and VFX, and Another Country for sound. LBB Online lists more than 200 production credits for the group, and its coverage through 2026 includes a February profile of Craig Duncan’s approach to leading creative talent.

Recent work includes Allstate’s returning “Mayhem” spots directed by Jake Scott and a Farmers Insurance brand refresh with Dentsu Creative, both featured on LBB in 2026. Other clients in its recent news include Moen, Pacifico, Liberty Mutual and Amazon Business. A spot can move from cut to effects to final mix without leaving the group.

2. Optimus

Partner-owned · Chicago · optimus.com

Optimus is a Chicago post and production company with a second office in New York. Editing, colour, visual effects, design, audio mixing and finishing all sit in-house, and its production arm, ONE at Optimus, makes commercial and branded content. Brian Hrastar is executive producer and managing director.

Its teams have worked for BMW, Capital One, Southwest Airlines, Walgreens and Walmart. Recent recognition has come through short films: “Paper Flower” won Best Short at the Chicago Latino Film Festival in April 2025, and “Cake”, edited by Hugo Escobar, received three Midwest Film Festival nominations in August 2026. It signed Sarah Gitersonke as its Midwest sales representative in April 2025.

3. Periscope Post & Audio

Founder-owned · Cinespace Chicago · periscopepa.com

Periscope opened in August 2013 as the resident post facility at Cinespace Chicago, the studio complex on the West Side. Co-founders Michael Nehs and Jonathon Bross set out to run everything from dailies to delivery under one roof. The Chicago studio has three audio rooms for 5.1 mixing, Foley, ADR and voice work, two DaVinci Resolve colour suites and an edit suite. In 2019 the company bought Hollywood’s Post Production, Inc. and opened a second facility in Los Angeles.

It is the most television-focused house on this list. Chicago credits include Fox’s “Empire”, AMC’s “61st Street”, Showtime’s “Work in Progress” and Fox’s “The Big Leap”, alongside independent features. Productions shooting at Cinespace can keep dailies, editorial, colour and the final mix on the same lot.

4. Hootenanny

Woman-owned · West Loop · hootenannypost.com

Hootenanny is a certified woman-owned boutique founded in 2008 by editor Liz Tate and Flame artist Jim Annerino. It covers creative editorial, motion graphics, finishing and visual effects for television, web, corporate and interactive work, with two Flame and VFX rooms.

The studio moved from Streeterville to a loft space at 328 S Jefferson St in September 2022 to be closer to clients based further west, and rebranded in 2023 around the idea of a “post home”. It suits agencies and brands that want an editor-led team with finishing in the same suite. Audio is not listed among its in-house services, so plan the mix separately.

5. Daily Planet

Independent · River North · dailyplanetltd.com

Daily Planet is a production and post company at 343 W Erie St. Its team handles concept development, shooting, editing, colour correction, audio mixing and motion graphics, including 2D and 3D animation, compositing and visual effects.

Recent work includes United Airlines’ 2025 routes campaign and the Chicago Blackhawks’ “Hit The Ice”, along with projects for Courvoisier, Lurie Children’s Hospital, the Adler Planetarium, Samsung and BlueCross BlueShield of Illinois. It works regularly with agencies including Edelman, Digitas and Arc Worldwide. It is a practical choice for regional brands and institutions that want shoot and post handled by one team.

6. Whitehouse Post Chicago

Part of Whitehouse Post · Chicago · whitehousepost.com

Whitehouse Post is an editorial and post company with studios in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles and London. Kristin Angeletti leads the Chicago office. In February 2026 the company set out a new leadership team under CEO Catherine Tobiasinsky, alongside its finishing sister studio Carbon, design and production studio Scholar, and Stacks, a new asset management and workflow platform.

Recent work across the company includes Doritos’ “Stranger Things” telethon and Michelob ULTRA campaigns, and its editors have cut for Samsung, KFC, Ford and Coca-Cola. Editorial leads here, with finishing through Carbon, so ask how colour and sound will be split if you want a single invoice.

7. 11 Dollar Bill

Independent · Chicago · 11dollarbill.com

11 Dollar Bill is a Chicago post and design team covering editing, visual effects and finishing across film, video and social formats, with more than ten editors on its roster. Creative director Dave Mehrman handles grading, compositing, on-set supervision and finishing. The studio has added AI tools such as RunwayML and ComfyUI to its workflow.

Recent projects include Domino’s “Beta Testers” and brand refresh, Under Armour’s “Unsung” with Dwayne Johnson, Noodles & Company “Bring It Back” and a JD Sports piece for the Sphere in Las Vegas. Its client list also takes in Leo Burnett, Netflix, Kraft, Red Bull and CVS.

8. Ajax Creative

Multi-city studio · Fulton Market · ajaxcreative.com

Ajax Creative is a production and post company with offices in Chicago, Los Angeles and New York. Its Chicago studio is at 159 N Sangamon St. Post services run from dailies and offline through online editing, DaVinci Resolve grading, VFX and CG, original music, voiceover, sound design and mixing, to QA, subtitling and closed captions.

Clients include Air Canada, Coors, Microsoft, TikTok, Arc’teryx, WWF and International Trucks. The delivery side (captioning, QA, versioning) makes it a good fit for campaigns that need many cutdowns across markets.

9. GoodBit

Independent · Chicago · goodbit.tv

GoodBit is one of the newer Chicago studios that local producers named in 2025 as picking up work after The Mill closed. It offers concept development, live-action production, editorial, design and animation, VFX and compositing, finishing, and virtual and real-time production.

Clients on its site include the Raiders, Sol de Janeiro, HPE, Earpeace and Hershey’s. The mix of shoot, edit and real-time work suits campaigns that need live action and CG extensions planned together. Sound is not listed as an in-house service.

10. Chicago HD

Founder-owned · Chicago · chicagohd.com

Chicago HD has offered post-production in the city since 2002 under owners Stephen Panning and Gary Chang. Services cover creative editorial, conform and online editing, colour grading, graphics, broadcast mastering, file deliverables and DCP creation, from 4K down to standard definition.

Audio mixing and sound design run through a partnership with BAM Studios, which has 5.1 rooms and recording booths. It is a straightforward option for corporate, documentary and independent projects that need finishing and deliverables more than a large creative team.

What to look for in a Chicago post-production company

Decide how much you want under one roof. Groups such as Cutters and Optimus keep editorial, effects, colour and sound in one building, which shortens hand-offs on a 30-second spot. Editor-led shops such as Hootenanny and Whitehouse may bring in partners for colour or the mix. Both models work, as long as you know who owns each stage.

Match the house to the format. Most Chicago post capacity serves advertising, but Periscope is set up for episodic television, with ADR, Foley and a dubbing stage on the Cinespace lot. Features and series need longer bookings, deliverables to network or streamer specs, and a mixing room that can handle long reels.

Ask who will do the work. Chicago is a small market and senior editors, colourists and Flame artists move between houses, especially since The Mill closed. Look at the individual reels of the people who will cut and finish your job, and check whether any of them are freelancers brought in for the booking.

Finally, agree how footage, versions and feedback will move. A commercial can pass through dozens of cuts, grade passes and mix revisions, and agency, client and director all need the latest one. A house with a clear handover process, sensible naming and one place for review links will save rounds in the final week.

How Fabric helps post-production teams

Fabric gives a post house one workspace for footage, project files, client feedback and team knowledge, with AI search across all of it. A typical commercial gathers camera originals, proxies, edit decision lists, grade exports, stems and notes from several people, and Fabric keeps them in one shared space per job.

Heavy media sits in Fabric’s cloud drive, which streams files on demand so they take no local disk space, and large video files open without a full download. Shared team folders always hold the latest version. If the edit runs on proxies, there is a short explainer on what a proxy workflow is, and a guide to collaborating on a video project remotely for teams split across offices.

Search works by meaning across documents, images and transcribed recordings, and results jump to the right page or timestamp. Audio and video transcription makes interviews, selects and voiceover sessions searchable, which helps an editor find a line of dialogue in a long day of rushes.

For client review, any cut or folder can be published as a web page, protected with a password and sent with link analytics that show when each named recipient opened it. Agency producers can leave threaded comments through a shared link without signing up. Timestamped comments and drawing on video are coming soon, so frame-accurate notes still need a dedicated review tool for now. Our comparison of cloud storage for video editors covers the wider set-up.

Password protection and link analytics are included on Pro and Team plans. See plans for teams.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best post-production company in Chicago?

It depends on the job. For national advertising that needs edit, VFX and sound in one place, Cutters Studios and Optimus are the most complete. For television and features, Periscope Post & Audio runs a full facility at Cinespace Chicago.

Is The Mill still in Chicago?

No. Technicolor’s collapse closed The Mill’s Chicago office in February 2025. Many of its artists moved to local studios or went freelance, and newer shops such as GoodBit picked up some of the work.

Which Chicago post houses work on TV series?

Periscope Post & Audio is the main one, with Chicago credits including “Empire”, “61st Street”, “Work in Progress” and “The Big Leap”. Chicago HD also handles mastering and deliverables for long-form and independent projects.

Should I use a full-service post house or separate specialists?

A full-service house keeps the conform, colour, effects and mix together, which suits fast agency schedules. Separate specialists make sense when one craft leads the job, such as a demanding grade. Our list of the best color grading studios in Chicago covers the specialist side.

Which Chicago post houses can also shoot?

Several. Optimus has its production arm, ONE at Optimus, and Daily Planet, GoodBit and Ajax Creative all offer live-action production alongside post. Keeping the shoot and the finish with one company helps when effects need planning on set.

Related lists

Post-production companies in other cities: New York · Los Angeles · London · Atlanta · Toronto

More in Chicago: Creative agencies · Editing · Colour grading · VFX · Sound design · Video production

Run your studio on Fabric: Fabric for video editors · Fabric for commercial production teams · Best video asset management tools