New Mac Pro: Adobe Media Encoder vs. Compressor

Edit Smarter by Larry Jordan

Last week, I compared the speed of video compression on an iMac vs. the new Mac Pro. (Read the article here.) This week, I decided to continue this comparison by comparing the speed of Apple Compressor to Adobe Media Encoder (AME) on the new Mac Pro.

And if you were looking for a simple decision on which software is the fastest, you are in for a surprise in ways that I never expected.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
In many ways, Adobe Media Encoder is significantly faster than Compressor. However, speeds vary wildly, even within the same codec. While it would be true to say that AME is generally faster, it is not true to say that it is consistently faster.
Nor are compressed file sizes comparable between the two applications. Given approximately the same setting, file sizes can vary by hundreds of megabytes. (Even getting the settings to match between the two programs is difficult.)

For some tasks, Compressor is a better choice. For others, AME is a better choice. And neither application takes advantage of all the power that the Mac Pro has to offer.

NOTE: I would expect similar results on iMacs or MacBook Pros, though the exact speeds will be different. (The tests I published last week for the iMac can be compared to this week’s tests.) My guess is that Compressor and AME are using the graphics cards in the Mac Pro little, if at all.

THE NEW MAC PRO
I’ve been using a Mac Pro for a month for testing and writing articles. read more...