Adobe Media Encoder (AME) is a transcoding and rendering application that lets you deliver audio and video files in a broad variety of formats. Adobe Media Encoder functions as an encoding engine for Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe After Effects, Adobe Audition, Adobe Character Animator, and Adobe Prelude. You can also use Adobe Media Encoder as a stand-alone encoder.
The reason why AME is so useful is that it allows you to work in a program at the same time as you are exporting files. In the editing programs, like Premiere Pro, while you're exporting one video you can't do any work on others or anything else. However, if you queue video in AME, you can work on other videos in Premiere while the encoder exports your first video. When you finish your second video you just add it to the queue in the encoder, and AME will start exporting it as soon as it's finished with the first video, and so on and so on.
Furthermore, you can add all the videos you need to export to the queue in AME and leave your computer to do the work, and all of them will be exported. If you exported all the videos in Premiere, you'd need to be at the computer when one video finishes exporting so because you have to manually start each video export.
A. Encoding panel B. Queue panel C. Preset Browser D. Watch Folder E. Media Browser
Encoding Panel
The Encoding panel provides information on the status of each item being encoded. When you encode multiple outputs simultaneously, the Encoding panel displays a thumbnail preview, progress bar, and the completion time estimate of each encoding output.
Queue panel
You add files that you want to encode to the Queue panel. You can add, remove, or reorder items in the queue panel. You can add source video or audio files, Adobe Premiere Pro sequences, and Adobe After Effects compositions to a queue of items to encode. You can drag-and-drop the files into the queue or click Add Source and select the source files to encode.
You can also send jobs directly to the queue from other Adobe applications. This allows you to keep working while AME renders in the background. Adobe applications that support export to AME include:
- Premiere Pro
- After Effects
- Audition
- Character Animator
- Prelude
The items added to the encoding queue are encoded when you start the queue. You can instruct Adobe Media Encoder to start encoding after you add an item to the queue, or wait until you decide to start encoding. You can also set a preference to begin the encoding when the specified amount of time has elapsed after a new item is added to the encoding queue.
Preset Browser
The Preset Browser provides you with options that help streamline your workflow in Adobe Media Encoder. In the Preset Browser, you can quickly find a preset using search, or using the enhanced navigation provided by the collapsible folder structure.
For more information on encoding using presets, see this article.
Watch Folder
Any folder on your hard drive can be designated as a Watch Folder. Once you select your Watch Folder, any files that you add into the folder are encoded using the selected presets. Adobe Media Encoder automatically detects media files being added to the Watch Folder and starts the encoding.
For more information, see this article.
Media Browser
The media browser lets you preview media files before you add them to the queue. You can add files to the encoding queue by double-clicking them in the Media Browser, or dragging them directly to the Queue panel.
For more information and video tutorials on Adobe Media Encoder, see the Adobe tutorials here. Also, all Adobe programs offer in-app tutorials for you to be able to learn the different aspects of the software, which are very helpful and a hands-on way to become familiar with each program and its capabilities.