Video Transcoding Clouds Comparison 2019
compression.ru |
in cooperation with |
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Lomonosov MSU
Graphics & Media Lab (Video Group) |
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Dubna State University | |||
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Institute for Information Transmission Problems RAS |
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If you use any cloud for video encoding, participate in testing its performance to compare it with other services 
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Navigation
- Download and description
- List of participated services
- Overall conclusions
- Test video set
- Leave a feedback
- Contact information
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Description
This report represents the results of independent comparison of cloud-based video-encoding services. Cloud-based video-encoding services are becoming more popular, and selecting one for your tasks is quite difficult. In our experience, encoding performance may entirely differ from service to service. The results of our comparison showed that in the case of cloud services that provide the same quality, the file-size difference can reach 100% and the price difference is 700%.
Download report
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Cloud Report Objective comparison of cloud-based video-encoding services Released on December, 3 Free full version (PDF & HTML documents) 
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6 cloud encoding services Alibaba, Amazon Elastic Transcoder, AWS Elemental MediaConvert, Coconut, Qencode, Zencoder |
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4 FUllHD video sequences epson, fountains, hawk and hockey from vimeo website |
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Three resolutions
FullHD, HD, SD |
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Three encoding use cases (presets) Encoding with similar options, default options of tested services and with tuned options for our test videos |
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HTML and PDF documents 118 interactive charts and 33 pages |
List of compared services
| Cloud Encoding Service | Supported standards | |
| 1 |
Alibaba
Alibaba | H.264, HEVC |
| 2 |
Amazon Elastic Transcoder
Amazon |
H.264 |
| 3 |
AWS Elemental MediaConvert
Amazon |
H.264, HEVC |
| 4 |
Coconut
Coconut |
H.264, HEVC |
| 5 |
Qencode
Qencode |
H.264, HEVC |
| 6 |
Zencoder
Zencoder |
H.264, HEVC |
Overall conclusions
The report includes the results of services comparison with three sets of encoding presets. The first is a comparison using similar (balanced) encoding options (equal encoding recipes set for all services). The second is a comparison using presets which are set as default on service. And one more part included a case with our options chosen for test videos, which were applied to one encoding service which was the only that has an ability to provide a big number of options.
- Boasting high compression efficiency and low price, Qencode and Coconut HEVC are the winners
- Zencoder and Alibaba cloud encoding services shows the best results considering only compression efficiency
- H.264 encoding is cheaper, but the loss of compression efficiency becomes noticeable
Similar encoding presets
According to only YUV-SSIM quality scores, the least bitrate for similar quality among our competitors on average is provided by:
- First place: Zencoder (HEVC, balanced preset)
- Second place: Alibaba (HEVC, balanced preset)
- Third place: Qencode (HEVC, balanced preset)
Tuned presets
One part of our comparison involved the use of additional encoding parameters to increase encoding performance. It involved pre-measurements to find good presets for each video, which then was provided to encoding service. The only service which allows users to vary a big number of encoding settings is Qencode (11 options which influence encoding performance: trellis, me_method, partitions, b_strategy, me_range, i_qfactor, qcomp, refs, directpred, sc_threshold, subq).
First place in the quality competition goes to Qencode (H.264, tuned presets), second place goes to Alibaba (H.264, balanced preset), and third place to Qencode (H.264, balanced preset).
Test video set
Test video set included 4 FullHD videos which were chosen from MSU video collection. In this year, the collection was enlarged up to 18418 sequences which were chosen from 700000+ user-generated videos posted on Vimeo website.
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epson
Epson printer commercial, frequently changing short scenes. FullHD, 24fps https://vimeo.com/120309899 |
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fountains
Static camera, several fountains in front of which people walk. FullHD, 25fps https://vimeo.com/92772987 |
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hawk
Hawk sitting on a branch against the background of the sea. FullHD, 30fps https://vimeo.com/109321182 |
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hockey
Video about the hockey team, contains dynamic and slow scenes. FullHD, 24fps https://vimeo.com/117014819 |
Take part in cloud video-encoding services comparison
Share with us your opinion about comparison
Contact Information
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compression.ru |
in cooperation with |
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Lomonosov MSU
Graphics & Media Lab (Video Group) |
|
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Dubna State University | ||
|
|
Institute for Information Transmission Problems RAS |
Subscribe to report updates
Materials about MSU Codec Comparison
See all MSU Video Codecs Comparisons
MSU video codecs comparisons resources:
- Introduction to Video Codecs Comparison
- Lossless Video Codecs Comparison 2004 (October 2004)
- MPEG-4 SP/ASP Video Codecs Comparison (March 2005)
- JPEG 2000 Image Codecs Comparison (September 2005)
- First Annual MPEG-4 AVC/ H.264 Video Codecs Comparison (January 2005)
- Second Annual MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 Video Codec Comparison (December 2005)
- Subjective Comparison of Modern Video Codecs (February 2006)
- MPEG-2 Video Decoders Comparison (May 2006)
- WMP and JPEG2000 Comparison (October 2006)
- Third Annual MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 Comparison (December 2006) (All versions for free!)
- Lossless Video Codecs Comparison 2007 (March 2007)
- Fourth Annual MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 Comparison (December 2007) (All versions for free!)
- Options Analysis of MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 Codec x264 (December 2008)
- Fifth MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 Comparison (May 2009) (All versions for free!)
- Sixth MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 Comparison (May 2010)
- Seventh MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 Comparison (May 2011)
- Eighth MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 Comparison (May 2012)
- Ninth MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 Comparison (Dec 2013)
- Tenth Video Codec Comparison (HEVC) (Oct 2015)
- Eleventh Video Codec Comparison (HEVC) (Aug 2016)
- Twelfth Video Codec Comparison (HEVC) (Aug 2017)
- Thirteen Video Codec Comparison (HEVC) (Aug 2018)
- Fourteen Video Codec Comparison (HEVC) (Sept 2019)
- Cloud Encoding Servoces Comparison 2019 (Dec 2019)
- Fifteen Video Codec Comparison (HEVC) (Dec 2020)
- Sixteen Video Codec Comparison (Dec 2021)
- Seventeen Video Codecs Comparisons (Nov 2022)
- Eighteen Video Codecs Comparisons
- Codec Analysis for Companies:
Other Materials
Video resources:
Server size: 8069 files, 1215Mb (Server statistics)
Project updated by
Server Team and
MSU Video Group
Project sponsored by YUVsoft Corp.
Project supported by MSU Graphics & Media Lab