MIkeiz

Q: ProRes vs H.264

What's the difference between ProRes and H.264 I frame only?

 

Mike

iPhone 4S, iOS 9.0.2

Posted on Aug 17, 2016 2:37 PM

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Q: ProRes vs H.264

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  • by Tom Wolsky,

    Tom Wolsky Tom Wolsky Aug 17, 2016 3:23 PM in response to MIkeiz
    Level 10 (118,096 points)
    Apple TV
    Aug 17, 2016 3:23 PM in response to MIkeiz

    Better data rate usage, better compression quality, bit rate, multigenerational lossless. Sort of like TIFF or PNG and JPEG.

  • by fox_m,

    fox_m fox_m Aug 18, 2016 3:09 PM in response to MIkeiz
    Level 5 (5,502 points)
    Video
    Aug 18, 2016 3:09 PM in response to MIkeiz

    According to Wikipedia, not much. H.264 with a high bitrate and i-frame only compression, it would be very difficult to tell the difference in terms of *output*. (It's actually very difficult to tell the difference with the H.264 exported from FCPX anyway — it is exported at a bitrate of ~50Mbps for 1080). H.264 is a "delivery" format.

     

    If you're talking about editing, then every frame of h.264 is compressed and needs to be uncompressed while playing back. It is a huge strain on your processor in an NLE. ProRes is "optimized" for editing. (By optimized, I mean it is also compressed [still "virtually lossless"] but in a way that the NLE [FCPX] natively deals with.) H.264 is not. Not any format, i-frame only or any other.  Using ProRes is simply more efficient for editing.