4.5

56Compressor User Guide
Cropping and padding
Customize the final cropping, sizing, and aspect ratio using the Cropping & Padding
properties in Compressor. 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.
• Cropping: This pop-up menu sets the dimension of the output image. The custom
option allows you to enter your own image dimensions in the fields; other options use
predetermined sizes. The Letterbox Area of Source option detects image edges and
automatically enters crop values to match them. This is useful if you want to crop out
the letterbox area (the black bars above and below a widescreen image) of a source
media file.
• Padding: This pop-up menu sets the scaling of the output image while retaining the
output image’s frame size. The custom option allows you to enter your own scaling
dimensions in the fields; other options use predetermined dimensions.
Quality
The following properties determine how Compressor resizes, retimes, and otherwise
adjusts the video when transcoded:
• 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 is 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.