Is my export time "normal" - collection thread?

Help/How To
1

Hi there

First of all: sorry, if this topic already exists… I did search for it, but maybe I didn’t use the right keywords.

Is there a collection thread with some export settings and times?

I just wondering if my export times are normal or not. I use a MacBook M4 pro with 48GB RAM.

Inputvids are always iPhone Vids in 4K with 50fps. I do export with 264 or HEVC and I do increase the quality approximately by 20% above the standard export setting. I do also ad a lot of filters for colorgrading etc. I also tried with and without hardware acceleration: no significantly difference in export times.

The laptop needs around 7-9 hours for encoding a 4K/50fps vid, length around 50-70 minutes.

Is that okay?

I’m a bit surprised because I always heard “mac is the best solution for video editing”. But with my Windows Workstation I had not significantly longer export times and the WS is way older than the MacBook…

I know, that with 50fps every single frame has to be encoded, so 50 pictures in 1 second… it’s a lot of course…

I just would like to know, if my export times are normal or if there is an issue or any bad settings.

Thanks for your time

Chris

2

I do not think it is normal. Is that the estimate while the job is still running?

Is there a collection thread with some export settings and times?

No

with my Windows Workstation I had not significantly longer export times

If you are not comparing the exact same thing… not a meaningful comparison.

3

Thank you very much for your answer and thank you very much also for all your work and efforts with shotcut :folded_hands:t2:

Yes, it’s the time, who is showing while exporting. But the real export time does match pretty accurate, I think.

4

Well, I can’t buy a second MacBook M4 pro to compare the results 1:1 :grin:

I just think, that a MacBook M4 should be a lot faster than an older Workstation :thinking:

5

I mean the same project. Different projects can have vastly different times, especially when it comes to using filters.

Also, Export > Video > Parallel processing defaults to Off. You may have turned that on your Windows system, but not a new install on macOS.

6

Sorry for asking: So this should be on or off on the mac now? I will try that for sure, if I’m home, thank you :smiling_face:

Ah, sorry; yes same projects, of course. I tried 2, 3 Projects…

7

I have an M1 Mac Mini. I loaded a 65 minute 1080p30 clip into a 4K50 project. That requires up-scaling, not to mention the increased pixel rate overall. I added a Color Grading filter. I am using Settings > Processing Mode > 8-bit (processing mode added in the most recent 25.12 release). Export is set to defaults with hardware encoder and parallel processing turned on. I increased video codec quality by 20% like you. The export job is about 10% done now, with about 67 minutes remaining. Since this is one long video with same scaling and filter throughout, and nothing much else happening on this machine; the estimate is going to be accurate.

That gives you some idea, and you can do something similar to compare where things break down. People get surprised when they add a heavy filter they never used before and how much longer it takes.

8

Thank you very much. I will do that :+1:t2:

I also use filters like “saturation” (sorry, don’t know if it’s correct… it’s “Sättigung” in german.

Will also see, if that is the reason for the long export time… but I don’t think so…

Edit: Ah, it’s “chroma” in english, I think.

9

Continuing the discussion from Is my export time "normal" - collection thread?:

Hi there

Thank you very much for your help! It was the thing with hardware-encoder and parallel processing… If I turn this Options ON, it’s much faster.

I can’t check the 8bit option yet (installed is 25.10) because the Download is very slow at the moment (Just bad 5G here atm). But I will test this too later.

Again: Thank you very much for your help and for all your effort you put in shotcut and the comunity :folded_hands:t2:

Chris

10

Continuing the discussion from Is my export time "normal" - collection thread?:

Continuing the discussion from Is my export time "normal" - collection thread?:

Hi there

Thank you very much for your help! It was the thing with hardware-encoder and parallel processing… If I turn this Options ON, it’s much faster.

I can’t check the 8bit option yet (installed is 25.10) because the Download is very slow at the moment (Just bad 5G here atm). But I will test this too later.

Again: Thank you very much for your help and for all your effort you put in shotcut and the comunity :folded_hands:t2:

Chris

11

Hi there

Thank you very much for your help! It was the thing with hardware-encoder and parallel processing… If I turn this Options ON, it’s much faster.

I can’t check the 8bit option yet (installed is 25.10) because the Download is very slow at the moment (Just bad 5G here atm). But I will test this too later.

Again: Thank you very much for your help and for all your effort you put in shotcut and the comunity :folded_hands:t2:

Chris

12

Versions before 25.12 are already 8-bit. Don’t worry about that except to know that in the newer versions the “10-bit Linear CPU” option is much slower.

13

Ah okay, thank you :+1:t2:

14

Speed is variable … depends how complex, # of filters, total video lenght … if shocut is working solo or you are running other softwares… and many other variables