What is the new replacement codec for quicktime h.264

[GCIGraphics]

What is the new replacement codec for h.264 since adobe officially removed it. When you go to export -> quicktime -> codec h.264 is removed. Does anyone have a replacement codec to use. (STILL UNDER QUICK TIME) i do not want a quality loss going over to mp4.

[title edited by mod for clarity]

[GCIGraphics]

THIS GUY GETS IT! mp4 naturaly compresses too much for me from the general presets. So i asked for an alternatove to my old .mov file that adobe just removed.

this guy helped me to get way more information and quality out of a h.264 mp4

i need the highest quality mp4s

so thanks

[excited_Genie16B8]

mp4 naturaly compresses too much for me from the general presets

You know you can change the settings, and even save your own presets, right?

[excited_Genie16B8]

What it seems that i have learned is that there is no tru replacement for the codec adobe just removed.

That is incorrect.  H.264 is the same codec for both MP4 and MOV.  The same.  Identical.  No difference.

Follow?

[modilefalck]

MOV and MP4 are just containers.

You can put a ham sandwich in a Star Wars lunchbox or a Batman lunchbox, but its still a ham sandwich.

[GCIGraphics]

yea but one of the sandwiches would been missing a few bites. And im a man who enjoys his food with out bites and pieces missing.

Your telling me a 50mb file holds the same information for later compared to a 2gb file?

I am comparing agaist presets because someone above mentioned you ( only need to use the preset and the "custom" tab should never pop up)

After the update it screwed my drivers only. so when i edit and export using the non software gpu. The mp4.s DO NO WORK AT ALL. unless i switch and edit and export using software GPU.

[excited_Genie16B8]

yea but one of the sandwiches would been missing a few bites.

No, it wouldn't.  It's the exact same sandwich in a different lunch box.

At the same settings, the video is identical.  It's just a different file format.

Different sized files are using different settings.

Understand?

[GCIGraphics]

lol you are just so wrong and i hope you learn the difference soon

i know i can change the settings and save presets. But the argument was again a comment to me saying that "all you need are the general presets and you dont need to touch any settings."

if you look at my initial post. all i was asking for was the propper export for getting the most out of my export.

That turned into you and others wanting to keep debating on the difference between mov and mp4. Which is irrelavent becuase the method that i used (mov) quicktime h.264 is gone. So if you have a suggestion on a good alternative to that .mov that is not a compressed mp4 that you keep wanting to argue is the excact same. ITS not. it may be close, but its not the same. try both then get back to me! thanks

[excited_Genie16B8]

a comment to me saying that "all you need are the general presets and you dont need to touch any settings."

That wasn't me.  In fact, I've been pretty careful to point out "at the same settings" a few times.

[excited_Genie16B8]

if you have a suggestion on a good alternative to that .mov that is not a compressed mp4 that you keep wanting to argue is the excact same. ITS not.

Using the same settings for MP4 that you had for MOV, yes, it will be the exact same video.

[GCIGraphics]

How do you use the same settings when you get different options for each?

If you choose quicktime, you get a settings for quality.

if you choose h.264 you only get bit rate options.

i can slide a slider that tells me it will use 100 percent quality vs h.264 which has settings for bitrate.

Again please be my guest to try out both ways. but you will get two different options for h.264 and quicktime.

So if you Know the exact settings that get me 100 percent quality from my export for h.264 mp4 then please tell me. But just saying match the quicktime settings over to mp4 doesnt work becuase the options are different.

[excited_Genie16B8]

The bitrate is the setting that will determine quality.  You could use something like PotPlayer or VLC to read the bitrate used in the QuickTime exports, and that match that for the MP4 exports.

[GCIGraphics]

nice! now your on to something i did not think about that at all?  i will get most deff get that a try!

[excited_Genie16B8]

Good luck.  Report back if you have any problems.

[MirandaDaniels]

I’m on your side with this whole issue and I agree with you 100%. There was a HUGE difference in quality, speaking from personal experience handling hundreds and hundreds of deliveries; between the Quicktime (H.264) pulldown and the H.264 (MP4) 

Regardless of anyone saying “there being no difference between the two codecs/wrapper” yadada.

Yea there ”technically” be any real difference between them; but when your someone who cares about the quality of the work you put out, you’ll see the difference.

The compression was soooo much cleaner when Quicktime (H.264) pulldown (I don’t know how or why-Frankly I don’t care. All I know is that it worked better, and looked better in quality than the H.264 (MP4).

There‘a so many clients who ask for said particular deliverables that I made presets perfectly set for every need possible. I mean I had directories perfectly perfectly sorted for each and every client. It made life great.

When I updated in feburary 2018 it killed all of them.

ALL OF THEM.

It changed the codec setting to Animation instead in every single one. And now all my presents are trash.

So to anyone saying they’re the same, please try and convince me after dealing with a headache like that, the two are the same.

Don’t worry, I’ll wait...

If you do, I think you have yet experienced that kind of scenarios yourself. And if you have a alternate, please do tell me. Because if our dont, I’m just gonna assume you’re perfectly fine with “basic quality” over “high quality“ 

Personally, I push to ensure the quality of work is held to the highest standard possible for any and every project I do

I’m just so happy Apple and Adobe decided to remove what they deem a “legacy“ codec.It only caused issues when were never issues before to pop up, forcing me to look for possible alternatives when I didnt need to.

And I have yet to find a replacement for something that never should’ve been removed In the first place.

[iNater]

That has nothing to do with the container, and everything to do with the default settings set in the Render Preset in Premiere Pro/Media Encoder.

If you set up an MP4 Preset with the same settings as the MOV Preset, the output will be identical since the video data in both files is going to be identical - cause it's the same CODEC being used, and the same Encoder being used to generate that video data.  The only difference is the container housing the CODEC.

The reason why a QT CODEC was "different," is because Apple uses different varieties of H.264 in its products - like iPod and iPhone Video.  This is why NLEs that loaded H.264 without issues often needed QuickTime installed to load iPhone video...  otherwise you'd get Audio, but black video frames (or it would only import the audio).  H.264 has a pretty decent amount of "varieties" out there.  So much for standards™.

However, the above is completely non-factor if you are generating a video, because almost everything supports "vanilla" H.264, regardless of the container (unless it doesn't have support for that container - in which case it can't get to the video at all).

Many in this thread have stated this, but it seems there is some resistance to understanding what is a fairly simple situation.  H.264 is not a Legacy CODEC, but there is no difference between H.264 in MOV or MP4 - other than the container.  They are identical at the CODEC level.  Containers (i.e. Wrappers) are not CODECs.  You aren't going to get better quality in MOV, except when the Preset uses a lower data rate and other settings, in which case you fix this by making a new preset with comparable settings.  It's most likely (almost assuredly) using the same encoder, and then just putting the video in a different container.

The replacement is an MP4 Preset with a higher bitrate.  Default Render Profiles are relatively generic, and they're generally going to be conservative.  I haven't met an NLE with usable out of the box YouTube presets, for example.  This is the case in most NLEs.  You should always think about building your own, so that it suits your workflow and your File Size/File Quality requirements.

This takes mere minutes or less.  Just render out sections of a video and see how it looks.  Adjust accordingly, and save the preset.

And MP4 is always a safer container than MOV.  Not even sure why anyone would care whether or not they got an H.264 Deliverable in MOV or MP4, honestly.

[GCIGraphics]

i never stated lol there is a diference in h.264 as a container and quicktime as a container . i want quick time first then h.264 not h.264 then .mp4

FOLLOW?

[Slandau-wBXkI8]

Unfortunately H.264 .mp4 is not a viable solution for me. I work with vendors that require captions and for some reason I have had issues with the .mp4 wrapper where timecode does not carry to the file.

I still need an H.264 alternative within the .mov wrapper, capable of delivering smaller file sizes and not stripping timecode. Are there any suggestions?

[GCIGraphics]

Yes i still have not found the h.264 quicktime .mov file we both want. the only way to to that is to downgrade. which sucks if you work with other people or have opened files in the new versions. they (adobe) have not fixed or addressed a better work around. but please report back if you find a solution.

[LearnDev]

Has anyone found a replacement codec for QuickTime files that are transparent (alpha channel)? I have 120 instances of a transparent QuickTime file in After Effects and I'm not sure what format replaces it. Help!

[excited_Genie16B8]

Cineform allows for transparency.

DNx in the preferable MXF wrapper does as well.

[LearnDev]

Thank you Jim. Do you know of a converter that can take a QuickTime file and export it as a Cineform or DNx file?

[excited_Genie16B8]

Adobe Media Encoder.