Media Encoder Standard Formats and Codecs
Warning
Update your Azure Media Services REST API and SDKs to v3 by 29 February 2024. Version 3 of Azure Media Services REST API and client SDKs for .NET and Java offers more capabilities than version 2. We’re retiring version 2 of the Azure Media Services REST API and client SDKs for .NET and Java.
Action Required: To minimize disruption to your workloads, review the migration guide to transition your code from the version 2 API and SDKs to version 3 API and SDK before February 29th, 2024. After February 29th, 2024, Azure Media Services will no longer accept traffic on the version 2 REST API, the ARM account management API version 2015-10-01, or from the version 2 .NET client SDKs. This includes any 3rd party open-source client SDKS that may call the version 2 API. Learn about the latest version, starting with the Media Services v3 Overview.
This document contains a list of the most common import and export file formats that you can use with Media Encoder Standard.
Input container/file Formats
| File formats (file extensions) | Supported |
|---|---|
| FLV (with H.264 and AAC codecs) (.flv) | Yes |
| MXF (.mxf) | Yes |
| GXF (.gxf) | Yes |
| MPEG2-PS, MPEG2-TS, 3GP (.ts, .ps, .3gp, .3gpp, .mpg) | Yes |
| Windows Media Video (WMV)/ASF (.wmv, .asf) | Yes |
| AVI (Uncompressed 8bit/10bit) (.avi) | Yes |
| MP4 (.mp4, .m4a, .m4v)/ISMV (.isma, .ismv) | Yes |
| Microsoft Digital Video Recording(DVR-MS) (.dvr-ms) | Yes |
| Matroska/WebM (.mkv) | Yes |
| WAVE/WAV (.wav) | Yes |
| QuickTime (.mov) | Yes |
Note
Above is a list of the more commonly encountered file extensions. Media Encoder Standard does support many others (for example: .m2ts, .mpeg2video, .qt). If you try to encode a file and you get an error message about the format not being supported, provide your feedback here.
Audio formats in input containers
Media Encoder Standard supports carrying the following audio formats in input containers:
- MXF, GXF, and QuickTime files, which have audio tracks with interleaved stereo or 5.1 samples
or
- MXF, GXF, and QuickTime files where the audio is carried as separate PCM tracks but the channel mapping (to stereo or 5.1) can be deduced from the file metadata
Input video codecs
| Input video codecs | Supported |
|---|---|
| AVC 8-bit/10-bit, up to 4:2:2, including AVCIntra | 8 bit 4:2:0 and 4:2:2 |
| Avid DNxHD (in MXF) | Yes |
| DVCPro/DVCProHD (in MXF) | Yes |
| Digital video (DV) (in AVI files) | Yes |
| JPEG 2000 | Yes |
| MPEG-2 (up to 422 Profile and High Level; including variants such as XDCAM, XDCAM HD, XDCAM IMX, CableLabs®, and D10) | Up to 422 Profile |
| MPEG-1 | Yes |
| VC-1/WMV9 | Yes |
| Canopus HQ/HQX | No |
| MPEG-4 Part 2 | Yes |
| Theora | Yes |
| YUV420 uncompressed, or mezzanine | Yes |
| Apple ProRes 422 | Yes |
| Apple ProRes 422 LT | Yes |
| Apple ProRes 422 HQ | Yes |
| Apple ProRes Proxy | Yes |
| Apple ProRes 4444 | Yes |
| Apple ProRes 4444 XQ | Yes |
| HEVC/H.265 | Main and Main 10 (*) Profiles Main 10 Profile support is intended for 8bit 4:2:0 content. |
Input audio codecs
| Input Audio Codecs | Supported |
|---|---|
| AAC (AAC-LC, AAC-HE, and AAC-HEv2; up to 5.1) | Yes |
| MPEG Layer 2 | Yes |
| MP3 (MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3) | Yes |
| Windows Media Audio | Yes |
| WAV/PCM | Yes |
| FLAC | Yes |
| Opus | Yes |
| Vorbis | Yes |
| AMR (adaptive multi-rate) | Yes |
| AES (SMPTE 331M and 302M, AES3-2003) | No |
| Dolby® E | No |
| Dolby® Digital (AC3) | No |
| Dolby® Digital Plus (E-AC3) | No |
Output formats and codecs
The following table lists the codecs and file formats that are supported for export.
| File Format | Video Codec | Audio Codec |
|---|---|---|
| MP4 (including multi-bitrate MP4 containers) |
H.264 (High, Main, and Baseline Profiles) | AAC-LC, HE-AAC v1, HE-AAC v2 |
| MPEG2-TS | H.264 (High, Main, and Baseline Profiles) | AAC-LC, HE-AAC v1, HE-AAC v2 |