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FCPX or Compressor for best quality MP4/MKV video output?
I frequently produce output files using FCPX Share>Master File with Settings=Computer/H.264 Better Quality/1920×1080, with the result being an MP4 output file. Final destination is Vimeo and Roku box via USB flash drive.
Would Compressor produce a higher quality MP4/MKV output file than FCPX?
Would MKV produce higher output quality than MP4?
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5 Replies
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Final Cut uses Compressor’s render engine to encode footage so the quality would be identical – but Compressor gives you the ability to get under the hood and customise the settings so you can tweak as needed to improve the output.
Jeff Kirkland | Video Producer | Southern Creative Media | Melbourne Australia
http://www.southerncreative.com.au | G+: https://gplus.to/jeffkirkland | Twitter: @jeffkirkland -
The FCPX ‘Share’ function (computer / better / 1080) results in a file with the video stream encoded at 20+ mbps.
For the material that I’m compressing, I don’t see any improvement over 10-12 mbps, so I typically use Compressor at the lower bitrate, which produces a much smaller file to upload.
As Bill likes to say, YMMV. :^)
Doug Metz
Anode
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You could try exporting a proper master file in ProRes, then encode it an h264 compliant file using Handbrake or MPEG Streamclip.
They use x264 which has been proven to be the best quality h264 encoder available.
The software is all free, and with Handbrake you can even try some h265 encoding (if you want to to see where the future of compression is likely to take us!).It is possible to get x264 to work in Compressor, but for my master encodes I prefer to run compression through an external app.
FS100, EX1, GoPro, 2x Hacks, FCPX etc
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Interesting. I just exported a ProRes422 version (2.67GB) of my project from FCPX and used HandBrake to convert it to MP4 file:
Handbrake “High Profile” MP4 version = 294.6MB
FCPX Share>Computer>Quality MP4 version = 500.6MBI presumed the Handbrake version would be larger, but I was wrong.
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The final size is really going to depend on the compression settings. At similar settings, I find compressor to be close to handbrake or MPEG Streamclip file size-wise.
I use all three apps depending on my mood but I’ve been leaning towards compressor more since the last update. Mostly I like the integration into FCPX and it’s ability to add things like burnt in text and timecode to my output.
Jeff Kirkland | Video Producer | Southern Creative Media | Melbourne Australia
http://www.southerncreative.com.au | G+: https://gplus.to/jeffkirkland | Twitter: @jeffkirkland
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