Apple Compressor newbie question

[SaxPlayer]

I'm probably missing something obvious! I'm a long time Final Cut Pro X user and have always used Miro Video Converter to generate MP4 files from MOV exports. It works well and the quality is fine.

I've just purchased Compressor because I also make videos for YouTube and have read good things about getting decent quality for my YouTube channel. However, I'd also like to use Compressor to get the best quality output for videos that I make for general websites.

I've tried using "Broadband High" under "Prepare for HTTP Live Streaming" and this produces videos that play in Safari, but they do not play on iOS. I'm also not that impressed with the file size and quality when compared with results from Miro (which incidentally all play fine on iOS).

I've searched the net for settings to use for web output from Compressor without luck and am concerned I've just wasted 50 quid when I was expecting the output to be better than some free app I've been using for years.

I hope this is more a case of "user error" and someone can help me with what settings I should be using.

Thank you!

 

[bogdanw]

I've just purchased Compressor because I also make videos for YouTube ...am concerned I've just wasted 50 quid

I'm sorry to say, but you have probably wasted the money. YouTube will re-encode your uploaded videos anyway and you only need to follow these specifications https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/1722171
I don't have Compressor, but I think you can create a Create a custom destination (https://support.apple.com/guide/compressor/cpsrb00c94f3/4.4.5/mac/10.15) with the same settings as Publish to YouTube (https://support.apple.com/guide/compressor/cpsre58ac23d/4.4.5/mac/10.15)

 

[SaxPlayer]

I'm sorry to say, but you have probably wasted the money. YouTube will re-encode your uploaded videos anyway and you only need to follow these specifications https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/1722171
I don't have Compressor, but I think you can create a Create a custom destination (https://support.apple.com/guide/compressor/cpsrb00c94f3/4.4.5/mac/10.15) with the same settings as Publish to YouTube (https://support.apple.com/guide/compressor/cpsre58ac23d/4.4.5/mac/10.15)

Thanks for your reply. For YouTube I'll likely make use of the option in Compressor to set my own bitrate, however my question wasn't related to YouTube specifically and I'm sorry if it wasn't clear. What I am more concerned about at this stage is getting the best quality output for videos that I make for general websites. I've tried using "Broadband High" under "Prepare for HTTP Live Streaming" and this produces MP4 videos that play in Safari on desktop, but they don't play on iOS at all. I've searched the net for settings to use for web output from Compressor without luck. Any help appreciated.

 

[bogdanw]

I've tried using "Broadband High" under "Prepare for HTTP Live Streaming" and this produces MP4 videos that play in Safari on desktop, but they don't play on iOS at all.

If Broadband High uses HEVC, take note that: "HEVC playback requires a recent-generation Apple device running macOS 10.13 or later, iOS 11 or later, iPadOS 13 or later, or tvOS 11 or later" https://support.apple.com/guide/compressor/cpsrf44b12ac/4.4.5/mac/10.15
For better compatibility, choose a setting that uses H.264.

 

[SaxPlayer]

If Broadband High uses HEVC, take note that: "HEVC playback requires a recent-generation Apple device running macOS 10.13 or later, iOS 11 or later, iPadOS 13 or later, or tvOS 11 or later" https://support.apple.com/guide/compressor/cpsrf44b12ac/4.4.5/mac/10.15
For better compatibility, choose a setting that uses H.264.

Thanks for the thought, however it uses H.264

 

[Ritsuka]

"HTTP Live Streaming" is meant to be used with a HLS server. If you don't have one, don't set it.
Anyway, Compressor H.264 is not too good. You will get better results using HandBrake with the x264 encoder.

 

[MSastre]

Thanks for your reply. For YouTube I'll likely make use of the option in Compressor to set my own bitrate, however my question wasn't related to YouTube specifically and I'm sorry if it wasn't clear. What I am more concerned about at this stage is getting the best quality output for videos that I make for general websites. I've tried using "Broadband High" under "Prepare for HTTP Live Streaming" and this produces MP4 videos that play in Safari on desktop, but they don't play on iOS at all. I've searched the net for settings to use for web output from Compressor without luck. Any help appreciated.

Have you tried the Apple Devices preset in Compressor?

 

[SaxPlayer]

Have you tried the Apple Devices preset in Compressor?

View attachment 911749

Thanks for the suggestion, however the output for that is m4v and I need it to be mp4 for the web. Although I specifically mentioned a problem with Safari on iOS, I need the end format to be compatible across all browsers and devices (ie on websites). Ideally I want to avoid having to run it through anything else, otherwise I may as well just output from Final Cut as a MOV and use Miro to convert as I have been up until now.
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"HTTP Live Streaming" is meant to be used with a HLS server. If you don't have one, don't set it.
Anyway, Compressor H.264 is not too good. You will get better results using HandBrake with the x264 encoder.

Thanks for the suggestion. My own workflow has used Miro to convert from MOV (from Final Cut) to MP4 for the web and the quality is fine. I can't believe that with all the options there are in Compressor that it can't output a good quality MP4 file - that seems bonkers?!

 

[SaxPlayer]

OK. I've got it to work so in case anyone else finds this thread and has the same trouble, here's what I did.

I created a new setting by clicking the + icon bottom left and then choosing "MPEG-4" from the list of options:

Then I set up the video like this with a frame size of "Up to 854 x 480" as that suited my destination video for the website I'm working on, however you can choose whatever suits your purposes:

and the audio like this:

and just for completion, this is the "General" tab, the main thing being to click the "Optimise for network use" setting (even if Apple can't spell "Optimise" correctly 😜):

One final thing, under the video tab you have options under "Quality". The default ones are fast and look fine:

I changed the top two drop down menus to "Best" and it took much longer to process (perhaps not surprisingly) but one would assume that if you look really carefully the output will be better. The jury's still out on that one, but I will continue to experiment.

I hope that helps anyone else who has the same issues as I did. I remain to be convinced that the output is better than Miro, however I'm hoping that some settings such as optimising for network use will help the user experience.