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• QuickTime Export Components: Leveraging the component plug-in architecture of
QuickTime, Compressor can output a variety of additional codec options and third-party
formats such as Windows Media, RealPlayer, 3G, and AVI. The QuickTime Export
Components feature allows you to control the third-party encoding engine without
having to open another application. For more details on QuickTime Export Components,
see Creating QuickTime Export Component Output Files.
• QuickTime Movie: Intended for use with QuickTime in a variety of playback environments.
Because QuickTime is cross-platform multimedia technology, it allows Mac OS and
Windows applications to capture and play back video, audio, and still-image files. For
more details on the QuickTime format, see Creating QuickTime Movie Output Files.
Creating a Compressor Batch
This section describes the steps in manually creating and submitting a complete
Compressor batch. For a quicker and easier but more limited method, see Quick and Easy
Compressor Workflow: Batch Template Method.
Once you have the necessary settings and destinations available, you can begin to create
your batch for transcoding. A batch contains one or more jobs. A job consists of one
source media file with one or more targets, which contain the settings and destinations.
You can submit a batch for transcoding only after you have assigned at least one target
(setting and destination) to each job (source media file) in the batch. All jobs in the batch
are submitted together. Think of batches as documents that can be saved, closed, and
opened again. And much like a Final Cut Pro project, a separate tab (that can be torn off)
contains each Compressor batch.
Stage 1: Importing Source Media Files into Compressor
You import source media files into a batch either by using the File Selection dialog or by
dragging the files from the Finder to the Compressor Batch window. You can import
source media files from any folder that you have access to.
See Importing Source Media Files for more information.
Stage 2: Assigning a Setting
Once you have imported your source media file into the Batch window, you need to
assign one or more settings to it. This makes it a job. A source media file can be transcoded
only after it has at least one setting assigned to it, and you can add a setting to a source
media file only after you have either selected a preexisting setting or created one. Your
setting must have an output file format associated with it.
• If you choose a preexisting setting: The output file format has already been assigned.
• If you create your own setting: You must choose an output file format from the file format
menu that opens when you click the Add (+) button in the Settings tab.
37Chapter 3 The Basic Transcoding Workflow