Image Sequence presets in Compressor

Preset summary

Displays the preset name and transcoding format used by Compressor, as well as an estimated output file size. When you add a preset to a job or change the preset’s properties, this summary is automatically updated.

General properties

• Name: Displays the name of the preset.

• Description: Displays the description of the preset.

• Extension: Displays the extension of the output file.

  Tip: To output a file with a different extension, choose a different file type from the “Image type” pop-up menu.

• Allow export segmentation: Select this checkbox to have Compressor process the output file using available media engines or your shared computer group. For more on using shared computer groups, see Transcode batches with multiple computers using Compressor.

• Default location: Choose an item from the pop-up menu to set the default save location for transcoded files.

• Image type: Choose an image type from the pop-up menu to set an image type for the transcoded files:

  • DPX

  • GIF

  • HEIF

  • JPEG

  • OpenEXR

  • Photoshop (PSD)

  • PNG (Portable Network Graphics)

  • TARGA (Truevision Advanced Raster Graphics Adapter), also referred to as TGA

  • TIFF (Tagged Image File Format)

• Color palette: Available when Image type is set to GIF or PNG. The color palette limits the colors used in the transcoded files. Select Not Indexed to use all available colors.

  • Local: Uses a new color palette for each frame.

  • Global: Uses a shared color palette across all frames. This method involves two passes. The first pass analyzes each of the frames, generating a common palette. The second pass encodes each frame using that common palette.

• Color dithering: Available when a color palette is set to a number of a colors. Dithering gives the illusion of a color not present in the color palette. For example, a pattern of yellow and blue can be used to give the impression that green appears in the image. Dithering can also create what appears to be a smooth gradient using a limited number of colors in the palette.

  • None: No dithering is applied.

  • Floyd-Steinberg: Uses the industry-standard Floyd-Steinberg dithering algorithm.

  • Sierra2: Uses the Sierra two-line dithering algorithm. Depending on the source, Sierra2 may produce a smoother image.

• Animated: Available when Image type is set to GIF or PNG, exports a single, animated file containing all frames (rather than a collection of individual files for each frame).

• Playback: Available when Animated is selected. Playback specifies how many times the animated GIF or PNG loops during playback. Select Continuously, or enter the number of times you want the animated image to play. (Not all web browsers will recognize this option.)

• Create unique output directory: Available when Animated is not selected. Select this checkbox to create a folder to hold the output files; the files saved will be named “frame-0,” “frame-1,” “frame-2,” and so on.

• Add leading zeros to frame numbers: Available when Animated is not selected. Select this checkbox to have Compressor add leading zeros to output filenames (“filename-000000,” “filename-000001,” “filename-000002,” and so on).

Retiming

Sets the processing algorithm used to adjust the frame rate during transcoding. Select one of the following options:

• Set to percent of source using: Modifies the output clip’s speed by a percentage of the source clip’s speed. Enter a value in the percentage field or choose a preset value from the adjacent pop-up menu (with a down arrow).

• Set to: Sets the duration of the clip. Enter a timecode duration in the field or click the arrows to increase or decrease the time.

• So source frames play at [frame rate] fps: Nondestructively changes the playback speed of the clip without discarding frames or creating new frames. This property has no effect unless the “Frame rate” value in the Video inspector is different from the source file’s frame rate. For example, if you add a 10-second source file with a frame rate of 24 fps to Compressor, set the “Frame rate” property in the Video inspector to 25 fps, and then select “So source frames play at 25 fps” in the General inspector, the resulting duration of the transcoded clip (at 25 fps) will be 9 seconds and 15 frames.

For more information, see Retime video and audio using Compressor.

Video properties

• Frame size: Use this pop-up menu to set the frame size (resolution) for the output file. There are four categories to choose from:

  • Automatic: Adjusts the output based on the size of the input, and can be constrained “up to” a maximum resolution.

  • Percentage: Adjusts the output based on a percentage of the input’s size.

  • Manual: Forces the output to a specific resolution.

  • Constrained: Constrains the output to a specific aspect ratio.

• Center crop for output aspect ratio: Select this checkbox to ensure that when changing the aspect ratio in the Frame size pop-up menu, the video remains centered in the new aspect ratio.

• Pixel aspect ratio: Use this pop-up menu to set the pixel aspect ratio (the ratio between the encoded width and the display width).

• Frame rate: Use this pop-up menu to set the playback rate (the number of images displayed per second) for the output file. See Retiming options in Compressor.

• Field order: Use the pop-up menu to set the output scanning method (either the field dominance or a conversion to progressive scanning). There are four options:

  • Automatic: Selects the most appropriate field order, based on the field order of the source and the capabilities of the selected codec.

  • Progressive: The video is displayed in complete frames with all lines sampled at the same instant in time.

  • Top First: The video is interlaced and displayed as two separate interleaved fields. The field containing the top line (even lines) is sampled at an earlier instant in time than the field containing the bottom line (odd lines). This field order is commonly used for high-definition video and standard-definition PAL video.

  • Bottom First: The video is interlaced and displayed as two separate interleaved fields. The field containing the bottom line (odd lines) is sampled at an earlier instant in time than the field containing the top line (even lines). This field order is commonly used for standard-definition NTSC video.

• Color space: Use this pop-up menu to convert the source media to a new color space, including wide color gamut. Choose Automatic to allow Compressor to choose the best color space based on the selected preset. You can also choose a manual preset to override the default. For more information about wide color gamut, see Intro to wide color gamut and HDR in Compressor.

• RAW to log: Use this pop-up menu to select how ProRes RAW conversion is done. Choose Automatic to allow Compressor to choose the conversion method. You can also choose a manual preset to override the default. This option is available only if the source is ProRes RAW.

• Camera LUT: Use this pop-up menu to select the camera lookup table (LUT) applied to the source. Select a custom LUT to transform your video from one color space to another. This preset is enabled if the source is ProRes RAW and if “RAW to log” is set to a value other than None. This preset is also enabled if “Camera log” in video properties in the Job inspector is set to a value other than None.

• Stereoscopic: Use this pop-up menu—available when working with stereoscopic files or creating new presets to be used with stereoscopic files—to choose which eye (left or right) the transcoded video on the source file corresponds to:

  • Automatic: Automatically sets which eye the transcoded video corresponds to. In source video that contains information from both eyes, Compressor chooses the hero eye for the transcoded video. Compressor does this by using tags in the file. If Compressor can’t determine which eye to use from file tags, Left Eye is chosen.

  • Left Eye: Sets the transcoded video to the left eye of the stereoscopic source.

  • Right Eye: Sets the transcoded video to the right eye of the stereoscopic source.

  Note: Working with MV-HEVC spatial video requires a Mac with Apple silicon that’s running macOS Sonoma 14 or later. Other systems treat MV-HEVC stereoscopic video as monoscopic HVEC files, using only the hero eye.

• Scale image to preserve aspect ratio: Select this checkbox to scale the output files to use square pixels and maintain the original aspect ratio (which results in an increase or decrease in the number of horizontal and vertical pixels).

• Color depth: Use this pop-up menu to set the number of bits used to represent color in each color channel (red, green, and blue). Choose 8 or 16 (for better quality).

Cropping, Padding, Rotation, and Flip

Customize the final cropping, sizing, and aspect ratio in Compressor using the Cropping & Padding properties. Cropping removes video content from an image. Padding scales the image to a smaller size while retaining the output image’s frame size. For more information about these properties, see Intro to modifying frame size in Compressor.

You can also rotate and flip the final output image in Compressor using the Rotation and Flip properties. These allow you to rotate a widescreen image to be vertical, or to reverse the image horizontally, vertically, or both.

• Cropping: Use this pop-up menu to set the dimensions of the output image. The default cropping is None, but you can select one of the predetermined presets in the menu to change the dimensions of the output image. The Letterbox Area of Source menu item detects image edges and automatically enters crop values to match them. This is useful if you want to remove a source file’s letterbox area, by cropping out the black bars above and below the widescreen image. To ensure that when changing the aspect ratio the video remains centered in the new aspect ratio, select the “Center crop for output ratio” menu item. You can also enter custom values into the Top, Bottom, Left, and Right text fields below the menu to create your own custom cropping.

• Padding: Use this pop-up menu to set the scaling of the output image while retaining the size of the frame. This is particularly useful when you’re creating a pillarbox (black bars on the sides of the frame) or a letterbox (bars above and below the frame) around your source material. The default cropping is None, but you can select one of the predetermined presets in the menu to add a standard padding preset. The Preserve Aspect Ratio menu item ensures that the aspect ratio remains unchanged as you add padding. The custom option allows you to enter your own scaling dimensions in the fields; other options use predetermined dimensions. You can also enter custom values into the Top, Bottom, Left, and Right text fields below the menu to create your own custom padding. The default padding is None.

• Rotation: Use this pop-up menu to set the rotation of the output image. The default rotation is None, but you can choose to rotate your image 90 degrees, 180 degrees, or 270 degrees. This is useful in situations when a camera was oriented incorrectly when capturing the video.

• Flip: Use this pop-up menu to flip the output image. The default flip is None, but you can choose Horizontal, Vertical, or Horizontal and Vertical. This is useful if you want the output image to mirror the input image horizontally, vertically, or both. Note: the Rotation property is always applied before the Flip property, which can change the specific Flip option to use in an output image you also rotate.

Quality

The following properties determine how the video will be resized, retimed, and otherwise adjusted when transcoded in Compressor:

• Resize filter: This pop-up menu sets the resizing method. There are several options:

  • Nearest Pixel (Fastest): Samples the nearest neighboring pixel when resizing an image. This option provides the fastest processing time, but it’s more likely to show aliasing artifacts and jagged edges.

  • Linear: Adjacent pixel values are averaged using a linear distribution of weights. Produces fewer aliasing artifacts than Nearest Pixel, with a small increase in processing time.

  • Gaussian: Adjacent pixel values are averaged using a gaussian distribution of weights. This provides a medium trade-off between processing time and output quality.

  • Lanczos 2: Adjacent pixel values are averaged using a truncated sinc function. This option is slower than Gaussian but provides sharper results.

  • Lanczos 3: Similar to Lanczos 2 but averages more pixel values. This option is slower than Lanczos 2 but may produce better results.

  • Bicubic: Adjacent pixel values are averaged using a bicubic function. The processing time and output are most similar to Lanczos 2 and Lanczos 3.

  • Anti-aliased (Best): Provides the highest output quality, but can take substantially longer to process.

• Retiming Quality: This pop-up menu sets the retiming method. There are four options:

  • Fast (Nearest Frame): Linearly interpolates frames using nearest neighbor frames.

  • Good (Frame Blending): Blends neighboring frames using a filter to produce good-quality interpolation.

  • Best (Motion Compensated): Uses optical flow to interpolate using areas of movement between neighboring frames to produce high-quality output.

  • Reverse Telecine: Removes the extra fields added during the telecine process to convert the film’s 24 fps to NTSC’s 29.97 fps. Choosing this item disables all the other Quality controls. See Use reverse telecine in Compressor.

• Adaptive details: Select this checkbox to use advanced image analysis to distinguish between noise and edge areas during output.

• Anti-aliasing level: Sets the softness level in the output image. Double-click the value and then manually enter a new value or drag the slider to the right to increase softness. This property improves the quality of conversions when you’re scaling media up. For example, when transcoding SD video to HD, anti-aliasing smooths jagged edges that might appear in the image.

• Details level: Sets the amount of detail in the output image. Double-click the value and then manually enter a new value or drag the slider to set the value. This sharpening control lets you add detail back to an image being enlarged. Unlike other sharpening operations, the “Details level” property distinguishes between noise and feature details, and generally doesn’t increase unwanted grain. Increasing this value may introduce jagged edges, however, which can be eliminated by increasing the “Anti-aliasing level” slider.

• Dithering: When selected, adds a certain type of noise to images to prevent large-scale distracting patterns such as color banding. If your image has excessive noise after rendering, deselect this checkbox.

Video effects

For a list of available video effects in Compressor, and instructions on how to add a video effect to a preset, see Add and remove effects in Compressor.