How to automate single file encoding and renaming to 3 files.

[Hetland]

Good afternoon.

I'm struggling with Adobe Media Encoder 2025. I need to deliver multiple file formats of the same video. The way have handled this in the past is to have a watch folder containing 3 ingest presets that would recompress and rename each output.  AME has thrown an error in the past saying I could not use an ingest preset in a watch folder... I managed it anyway. Unfortunately, it doesnt seem to be working any more. This is the process I used before:

Render demo.mov from AE to the watch folder

AME would process demo.mov using 3 ingest presets to demo_LRES.mp4, demo_HRES.mp4, and demo_MEZ.mp4.

I would then copy the 3 mp4s to the projects Delivery folder.

I do this for dozens of projects a day, and manually renaming all of them would take up a considerable amount of time.  It would also open the door for naming erros.

Does anyone know how to accomplish this without using ingest presets in watch folders?

[Warren Heaton]

@Hetland 

Hello.  Ingest Presets are intended for use with Premiere Pro's Ingest Settings found under File > Project Settings > Ingest Settings > Preset in Premiere Pro, not with Watch Folders.

If there's a way to force Ingest Presets to function as Encoding Presets in Media Encoder, I haven't heard of it.

If the file name is not set at the time the Queue is started, batch renaming would happen after encoding with Adobe Bridge, macOS Finder Rename, or other renaming utility.

If creating H264 MP4s, you could use the After Effects Render Queue instead.  In After Effects, customize one the existing H264 Output Module templates for each variation needed and name each custom Output Module to match what needs to be included in the filename.  For example, customize "H264 - Match Render Settings - 5 Mbps" to be a custom Output Module named "_LRES" and "H264 - Match Render Settings - 40 Mbps" to be a custom Output Module named "_HRES".  Create a Comp from the Source Footage and add it to the Render Queue.  Use Composition > Add Output Module to add as many Output Modules as needed.  Set the custom Output Module Template for each, and then set the Output To to the "Comp and Output Module Name" file name preset.  If the Comp is named "demo", then the resulting MP4 files will be named "demo_LRES.mp4" and "demo_HRES.mp4".  A possible down side of this approach is that you're limited to the H264 format options provided in After Effects for video, audio, and multiplexing. 

[Hetland]

Thanks @Warren Heaton 

Bummer. I was hoping there was a way to do it automagically like I was before. Render once out of AE to a watch folder. Wait a minute or so for AME to process and rename multiple files. Then copy the finals to the project folder. It was extremely handy because it basically eliminated the opportunity for error in compression and naming convention. It also probably saved me 30 or more minutes a day in setting up and renaming renders. I guess I don't understand why it isn't allowed. Here is what my watch folder looked like when it worked.

I'll just have to do multiple outputs in AE until I figure something else out. Maybe there is a different sofware I can find that can do this.