This document discusses Azure Media Services and provides a comparison of the Media Encoder Standard and Media Encoder Premium Workflow encoding tools. It outlines supported file formats, video and audio codecs, and pricing tiers for each encoder. The Media Encoder Standard supports fewer formats and has lower performance and pricing than the Premium Workflow encoder.

1. H.264
HLS
DASH
Azure Media ServicesShigeyuki Fukushima
<shigeyf@microsoft.com>
Principal Technology Specialist – Media & Apps Solution
C+E Asia Global Black Belt (GBB) Specialist Sales
Microsoft Corporation
Azure Media Services:
Step-by-Step Series
Part 4
Parallel Encoding VOD assets

3. Origin Service
CDN
Azure Media Key Services
PlayReady/Widevine License or AES Clear-Key
Token
Authentication
PlayReady/Widevine
License or AES Clear-Key
DynamicEncryption
DynamicPackaging

5. Media (Encoder) Processors Pricing Tier Notes
Azure Media Encoder Standard
This encoder processor will be retired. Please
use Media Encoder Standard instead of this.
Media Encoder Standard (MES) Standard
Media Encoder Premium Workflow (MEPW) Premium

6. File formats (file extensions) Media Encoder Standard Media Encoder Premium Workflow
Adobe Flash F4V Yes Yes
MXF/SMPTE 377M Yes Yes
GXF Yes Yes
MPEG-2 Transport Streams Yes Yes
MPEG-2 Program Streams Yes Yes
MPEG-4/MP4 Yes Yes
Windows Media/ASF Yes Yes
AVI (Uncompressed 8-bit/10-bit) Yes Yes
3GPP/3GPP2 Yes No
Smooth Streaming File Format (PIFF 1.3) Yes No
Microsoft Digital Video Recording (DVR-
MS)
Yes No
Matroska/WebM Yes No
QuickTime (.mov) Yes No
https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/articles/media-services-encode-asset/

7. Input Video Codecs Media Encoder Standard Media Encoder Premium Workflow
AVC 8-bit/10-bit, up to 4:2:2, including AVCIntra 8 bit 4:2:0 and 4:2:2 Yes
Avid DNxHD (in MXF) Yes Yes
DVCPro/DVCProHD (in MXF) Yes Yes
JPEG2000 Yes 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 Yes
MPEG-1 Yes Yes
Windows Media Video/VC-1 Yes Yes
Canopus HQ/HQX No No
MPEG-4 Part 2 Yes No
Theora Yes No
Apple ProRes 422 Yes No
Apple ProRes 422 LT Yes No
Apple ProRes 422 HQ Yes No
Apple ProRes Proxy Yes No
Apple ProRes 4444 Yes No
Apple ProRes 4444 XQ Yes No
https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/articles/media-services-encode-asset/

8. Input Audio Codecs Media Encoder Standard Media Encoder Premium Workflow
AES (SMPTE 331M and 302M, AES3-2003) No Yes
Dolby E No Yes
Dolby Digital (AC3) No Yes
Dolby Digital Plus (E-AC3) No Yes
AAC (AAC-LC, AAC-HE, and AAC-HEv2; up
to 5.1)
Yes Yes
MPEG Layer 2 Yes Yes
MP3 (MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3) Yes Yes
Windows Media Audio Yes Yes
WAV/PCM Yes Yes
FLAC Yes No
Opus Yes No
Vorbis Yes No
https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/articles/media-services-encode-asset/

9. Output Container/File Formats Media Encoder Standard Media Encoder Premium Workflow
Adobe Flash F4V No Yes
MXF (OP1a, XDCAM and AS02) No Yes
DPP (including AS11) No Yes
GXF No Yes
MPEG-4/MP4 Yes Yes
MPEG-TS Yes Yes
Windows Media/ASF No Yes
AVI (Uncompressed 8bit/10bit) No Yes
Smooth Streaming File Format (PIFF 1.3) No Yes
https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/articles/media-services-encode-asset/

10. Output Video Codecs Media Encoder Standard Media Encoder Premium Workflow
AVC (H.264; 8-bit; up to High Profile,
Level 5.2; 4K Ultra HD; AVC Intra)
Only 8 bit 4:2:0 Yes
Avid DNxHD (in MXF) No Yes
DVCPro/DVCProHD (in MXF) No Yes
MPEG-2 (up to 422 Profile and High
Level; including variants such as
XDCAM, XDCAM HD, XDCAM IMX,
CableLabs and D10)
No Yes
MPEG-1 No Yes
Windows Media Video/VC-1 No Yes
JPEG thumbnail creation No Yes
https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/articles/media-services-encode-asset/

11. https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/articles/media-services-encode-asset/
Output Audio Codecs Media Encoder Standard Media Encoder Premium Workflow
AES (SMPTE 331M and 302M, AES3-2003) No Yes
Dolby Digital (AC3) No Yes
Dolby Digital Plus (E-AC3) up to 7.1 No Yes
AAC (AAC-LC, AAC-HE, and AAC-HEv2; up
to 5.1)
Yes Yes
MPEG Layer 2 No Yes
MP3 (MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3) No Yes
Windows Media Audio No Yes

12. 0
1
2
3
4
5
6
Basic Standard Premium
Performance of Media
Reserved Unit
￥227.46/日 ￥456.96/日 ￥1312.74/日
2x
4-5x
https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/

17. https://msdn.microsoft.com/library/mt269960.
aspx
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-
us/library/mt269962.aspx

19. © 2015 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

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22. https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/services/media-services/
https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/services/media-services/
https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/details/media-services/
http://azure.microsoft.com/blog/topics/media-services
https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/azure/en-US/home?forum=MediaServices
http://aka.ms/amse
https://github.com/Azure/Azure-Media-Services-Explorer/
http://aka.ms/ampdemo
http://aka.ms/amslabs
http://aka.ms/amsvoice