Preset formats in Compressor
Compressor provides a variety of transcoding formats to create files playable on a variety of media platforms—Apple devices, Blu-ray discs, websites, and so on. Each of the built-in presets in the Presets pane uses a specific transcoding format compatible with industry-standard platforms.
You can see which format a preset is based on by looking at the summary information at the top of the inspector.
All of the built-in presets in Compressor, as well as any custom presets you create, are based on one of the following formats:
Apple Devices: Encodes .mfv and .mov files designed to optimize output for playback on various Apple devices.
Common Audio Formats: Encodes .aiff, .caf, .flac, and .wav audio files.
Dolby Digital: Encodes .ac3 or .ec3 files that contain multiple audio channels, including 5.1 surround sound.
H.264 for Blu-ray/AVCHD: Encodes H.264 files for Blu-ray and Advanced Video Codec HD (AVCHD) for DVD authoring.
Note: Compressor does not directly support burning to disc, but third-party disc-burning apps can use output files transcoded by Compressor.
Image Sequence: Encodes a variety of image sequence file types used in motion graphics, including TIFF, OpenEXR, JPEG, PNG, animated PNG (APNG), and animated GIF.
MP3: Encodes a .mp3 audio file.
MPEG-2: Encodes MPEG-2 stream files for DVD and Blu-ray authoring in a third-party authoring application.
MPEG-4: Encodes .mp4 or .m4a files that are widely compatible with many different platforms and are often used for distribution on the internet.
MXF: Encodes a .mxf file that holds video or audio media along with metadata that describes the enclosed media’s attributes.
QuickTime Movie: Encodes a .mov file appropriate for many uses, including a proxy workflow in Final Cut Pro.
The format of a preset determines which general, video, or audio properties are shown in the inspector pane.
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