• Adobe Media Encoder

  What’s the best codec for… (state of the art of compression)

  Posted by Tim Taylor on September 14, 2018 at 4:25 pm

  I’ve been using the Adobe suite, almost exclusively, since 2011. (go figure, right?) ????
  I love how well it handles any/all codecs & formats I’ve cared to throw into a sequence. I know that some of those codecs are more or less optimized for Editing, Recording, or Playout, but I been spending less time lately in the playout world.

  I recently had an issue with some (H.624) mp4’s that I delivered over the web for playback on a live show. The on-site techs said they weren’t playing smoothly, while they checked out fine on my edit Mac before I sent them out. They asked for ProRes, and eventually specified ProRes LT as the only codec that seemed to be working. Sorry, I dont have info on the playback device or the large LED monitor they were using.

  I understand that ProRes doesn’t require as much computing power to decode, but delivering over the internet really wasn’t very efficient, hence the H.264’s which I’ve found to be a great compromise between file size and playback quality.

  What codecs do the rest of the community like for what purposes?

  Thanks,

  Tim Taylor, Producer/Editor
  RESolution Media Services, LLC

  Ivan Myles replied 8 years ago 2 Members · 1 Reply
• 1 Reply

• 

  Ivan Myles

  September 16, 2018 at 7:32 am

  An all I-frame, unconstrained bitrate H.264 would be the next step down; you can think of it as an 8-bit 4-2-0 version of ProRes. Taking it one step further would be high bitrate IBP or IBBP H.264. There is minimal visual difference compared to all I-frame, but the bit rate will be lower. Ultimately, though, I would try to find a way to make ProRes work.

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