Microsoft Expression Encoder
Encyclopedia
Microsoft Expression Encoder (formerly Expression Media Encoder) is a Windows-based program for encoding digital video for web-based video. Expression Encoder can be used to create video compressed VC-1
as well as H.264 for distribution via Microsoft Silverlight
. Expression Encoder features a WPF
-based modern graphical user interface
as well as a command line interface. It supports Silverlight player controls and Silverlight templates.
Microsoft Expression Encoder is available in different editions: Pro edition available at retail, which is the full-featured commercial incarnation of the product, Pro edition without royalty-incurring codecs for MSDN and DreamSpark subscriptions and Express edition, which is a free of charge but feature-limited version.
According to Microsoft, Expression Encoder 2 was not a replacement for Windows Media Encoder
, despite having many similarities. Windows Media Encoder is no longer available from Microsoft, and has been replaced by Expression Encoder 4, available in a stripped-down free version and a Pro version; more advanced Expression Studio versions are also available.
encoding support for devices. Expression Encoder 3 added multi-channel audio output, more built in device profiles, like support for Zune HD
, Xbox 360
and iPod Touch
, as well as profiles for online services such as Facebook
and Youtube
. It also added Expression Encoder 3 Screen Capture, which allows users to create video screen captures. Version 4 added IIS live smooth streaming, screen capture improvements and an H.264 encoder based on the MainConcept
SDK. Expression Encoder 4.0 SP1 was released in January 2011 and added CUDA
-enabled GPU-assisted encoding, HE-AAC, screen captures as a live source, live broadcasting templates, Selective Blend de-interlacing and other features.
, BizSpark, WebsiteSpark and through MSDN Ultimate does not include royalty incurring codec and standards support for exporting in MP4 format (H.264 video and AAC
audio). It also does not include import filters for TS
, M2TS, AVCHD
, MPEG-2
, and AC-3
although if third party DirectShow
filters are installed, it is able to import these formats as is the free version. Expression Encoder Pro version available in retail does not have these limitations. The free version available to everyone and included in MSDN Premium lacks IIS Live Smooth Streaming and unlimited screen capture. Expression Encoder also cannot encode to older WMV versions, such as WMV 7 or 8; for these formats Windows Media Encoder or a third-party application must be used.
VC-1
VC-1 is the informal name of the SMPTE 421M video codec standard, which was initially developed as a proprietary video format by Microsoft before it was released as a formal SMPTE standard video format on April 3, 2006...
as well as H.264 for distribution via Microsoft Silverlight
Microsoft Silverlight
Microsoft Silverlight is an application framework for writing and running rich Internet applications, with features and purposes similar to those of Adobe Flash. The run-time environment for Silverlight is available as a plug-in for web browsers running under Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X...
. Expression Encoder features a WPF
Windows Presentation Foundation
Developed by Microsoft, the Windows Presentation Foundation is a computer-software graphical subsystem for rendering user interfaces in Windows-based applications. WPF, previously known as "Avalon", was initially released as part of .NET Framework 3.0. Rather than relying on the older GDI...
-based modern graphical user interface
Graphical user interface
In computing, a graphical user interface is a type of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices with images rather than text commands. GUIs can be used in computers, hand-held devices such as MP3 players, portable media players or gaming devices, household appliances and...
as well as a command line interface. It supports Silverlight player controls and Silverlight templates.
Microsoft Expression Encoder is available in different editions: Pro edition available at retail, which is the full-featured commercial incarnation of the product, Pro edition without royalty-incurring codecs for MSDN and DreamSpark subscriptions and Express edition, which is a free of charge but feature-limited version.
According to Microsoft, Expression Encoder 2 was not a replacement for Windows Media Encoder
Windows Media Encoder
Windows Media Encoder is a freely downloadable trial version media encoder developed by Microsoft which enables content developers to convert or capture both live and prerecorded audio, video, and computer screen images to Windows Media formats for live and on-demand delivery. It is the successor...
, despite having many similarities. Windows Media Encoder is no longer available from Microsoft, and has been replaced by Expression Encoder 4, available in a stripped-down free version and a Pro version; more advanced Expression Studio versions are also available.
History
Version 1.0 was released to manufacturing on September 6, 2007. A beta of version 2.0 was released in March 2008 which includes new VC-1 codecs (Advanced, Main, and Simple profiles) and better Silverlight support, and the final version 2.0 in May 2008. Expression Encoder 2 Service Pack 1 added H.264+AACAdvanced Audio Coding
Advanced Audio Coding is a standardized, lossy compression and encoding scheme for digital audio. Designed to be the successor of the MP3 format, AAC generally achieves better sound quality than MP3 at similar bit rates....
encoding support for devices. Expression Encoder 3 added multi-channel audio output, more built in device profiles, like support for Zune HD
Zune HD
The Zune HD is a portable media player in the Zune product family released on September 15, 2009 by Microsoft. It is a direct competitor with the Apple iPod and iPhone series of mobile devices. It was initially released in 16 and 32 GB capacities. A 64 GB version was released on April 9, 2010...
, Xbox 360
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
and iPod Touch
IPod Touch
The iPod Touch is a portable media player, personal digital assistant, handheld game console, and Wi-Fi mobile device designed and marketed by Apple Inc. The iPod Touch adds the multi-touch graphical user interface to the iPod line...
, as well as profiles for online services such as Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
and Youtube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
. It also added Expression Encoder 3 Screen Capture, which allows users to create video screen captures. Version 4 added IIS live smooth streaming, screen capture improvements and an H.264 encoder based on the MainConcept
MainConcept
MainConcept GmbH is a software company developing video/audio codecs and also applications and plug-ins related to video/audio encoding.-History:...
SDK. Expression Encoder 4.0 SP1 was released in January 2011 and added CUDA
CUDA
CUDA or Compute Unified Device Architecture is a parallel computing architecture developed by Nvidia. CUDA is the computing engine in Nvidia graphics processing units that is accessible to software developers through variants of industry standard programming languages...
-enabled GPU-assisted encoding, HE-AAC, screen captures as a live source, live broadcasting templates, Selective Blend de-interlacing and other features.
Features
Some of Microsoft Expression Encoder features include:- Smart encoding/smart recompression for WMV if the source is also WMV and no frame operations are performed, cuts editing, serial batch encoding, Live encoding from webcamWebcamA webcam is a video camera that feeds its images in real time to a computer or computer network, often via USB, ethernet, or Wi-Fi.Their most popular use is the establishment of video links, permitting computers to act as videophones or videoconference stations. This common use as a video camera...
s and DV camcorders - Decoding/import format support because of DirectShowDirectShowDirectShow , codename Quartz, is a multimedia framework and API produced by Microsoft for software developers to perform various operations with media files or streams. It is the replacement for Microsoft's earlier Video for Windows technology...
- Smooth streaming (720p+ video using HTTP) with optimized client (Silverlight) and server (IIS with smooth streamingInternet Information ServicesInternet Information Services – formerly called Internet Information Server – is a web server application and set of feature extension modules created by Microsoft for use with Microsoft Windows. It is the most used web server after Apache HTTP Server. IIS 7.5 supports HTTP, HTTPS,...
) - WebDAVWebDAVWeb-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning is a set of methods based on the Hypertext Transfer Protocol that facilitates collaboration between users in editing and managing documents and files stored on World Wide Web servers...
publishing, publishing plugins for Silverlight Streaming, Amazon S3Amazon S3Amazon S3 is an online storage web service offered by Amazon Web Services. Amazon S3 provides storage through web services interfaces... - Importing XAMLXAMLExtensible Application Markup Language is a declarative XML-based language created by Microsoft used for initializing structured values and objects. It is available under Microsoft's Open Specification Promise...
overlays created in Expression Design and customizing their timing, animation, opacity, placement and looping - JavaScript trigger events
- Windows Media 11 SDK and VC-1 SDK integration, native MPEG-2 decoder
- Adding captions to videos using SAMI or W3C Timed Text format
- Previewing and comparing encoding settings in real time
- Screen capture
- Object model for the encoding engine, SDK downloadable separately
Limitations
The version of Expression Encoder Pro available as part of Expression Studio in programs like DreamSparkDreamSpark
DreamSpark is a program set up by Microsoft to provide students with software design and development tools at no charge. The program was originally available for university/college students in Belarus, Belgium, China, Finland, France, Germany, India, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunisia, the U.K....
, BizSpark, WebsiteSpark and through MSDN Ultimate does not include royalty incurring codec and standards support for exporting in MP4 format (H.264 video and AAC
Advanced Audio Coding
Advanced Audio Coding is a standardized, lossy compression and encoding scheme for digital audio. Designed to be the successor of the MP3 format, AAC generally achieves better sound quality than MP3 at similar bit rates....
audio). It also does not include import filters for TS
Transport stream
MPEG transport stream is a standard format for transmission and storage of audio, video, and Program and System Information Protocol data, and is used in broadcast systems such as DVB and ATSC....
, M2TS, AVCHD
AVCHD
AVCHD is a file-based format for the digital recording and playback of high-definition video....
, MPEG-2
MPEG-2
MPEG-2 is a standard for "the generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information". It describes a combination of lossy video compression and lossy audio data compression methods which permit storage and transmission of movies using currently available storage media and transmission...
, and AC-3
Dolby Digital
Dolby Digital is the name for audio compression technologies developed by Dolby Laboratories. It was originally called Dolby Stereo Digital until 1994. Except for Dolby TrueHD, the audio compression is lossy. The first use of Dolby Digital was to provide digital sound in cinemas from 35mm film prints...
although if third party DirectShow
DirectShow
DirectShow , codename Quartz, is a multimedia framework and API produced by Microsoft for software developers to perform various operations with media files or streams. It is the replacement for Microsoft's earlier Video for Windows technology...
filters are installed, it is able to import these formats as is the free version. Expression Encoder Pro version available in retail does not have these limitations. The free version available to everyone and included in MSDN Premium lacks IIS Live Smooth Streaming and unlimited screen capture. Expression Encoder also cannot encode to older WMV versions, such as WMV 7 or 8; for these formats Windows Media Encoder or a third-party application must be used.