Video passthrough

MediaConvert supports video passthrough for I-frame only inputs and MXF or QuickTime outputs. Use video passthrough to repackage one or more inputs without any video encoding.

Supported video codecs for video passthrough

MediaConvert supports video passthrough for the following I-frame only input video codecs:

• Apple ProRes

• AVC-Intra

• DV/DVCPRO

• JPEG 2000 (J2K)

• VC-3

Job settings requirements

When you use video passthrough, you can repackage your input video but you cannot re-encode or otherwise modify the video essence. Jobs have the following restrictions.

Inputs

Specify one or more inputs with one of the following supported video codecs: Apple ProRes, AVC-Intra, DV/DVCPRO, JPEG 2000 (J2K), and VC-3.

If you specify multiple inputs, each of your input's encoding attributes must exactly match, including video codec, frame size, profile, frame rate, and color space.

Input clips

(Optional) MediaConvert supports input clipping when you use video passthrough.

Output container

You must choose MXF, or QuickTime (MOV).

MediaConvert supports the following input frame rates when your output container is MXF: 23.976, 24, 25, 29.97, 50, 59.94, 60

Frame rate

Keep the default setting, Follow source. You cannot specify a different output frame rate than your input.

Audio codec

(Optional) MediaConvert supports audio encoding when you use video passthrough.

Dolby Digital passthrough

(Optional) MediaConvert supports Dolby Digital passthrough when you use video passthrough.

If you specify multiple inputs, each of your input's Dolby Digital streams must have identical encoding attributes.

Captions

(Optional) MediaConvert supports sidecar formats when you use video passthrough.

Using video passthrough

The following sections describe how to configure your job settings with Video passthrough.

MediaConvert console

To specify Video passthrough using the MediaConvert console:

1. Open the Create job page in the MediaConvert console.

2. On the Create job page, provide transcode instructions and job settings. For more information, see Configuring jobs in MediaConvert.

3. Specify one or more supported inputs. If you specify multiple inputs, each of your input's encoding attributes must exactly match, including video codec, frame size, profile, frame rate, and color space.

4. Next to Output groups, select Add .

5. Keep File group selected and choose Select.

6. In the Output settings, under Container, choose QuickTime or MXF.

7. In Encoding settings, under Video codec, choose Passthrough.

API, SDK, or AWS Command Line Interface (AWS CLI)

The following is an excerpt of a job settings JSON that specifies Video passthrough for an Apple ProRes workflow with two inputs:

{
  "Settings": {
    "Inputs": [
      {
        "FileInput": "s3://amzn-s3-demo-bucket/prores.mov"
      },
      {
        "FileInput": "s3://amzn-s3-demo-bucket/prores-2.mov"
      }      
    ],
    "OutputGroups": [
      {
        "Name": "File Group",
        "OutputGroupSettings": {
          "Type": "FILE_GROUP_SETTINGS",
          "FileGroupSettings": {
            "Destination": "s3://amzn-s3-demo-bucket/passthrough-output.mov"
          }
        },
        "Outputs": [
          {
            "VideoDescription": {
              "CodecSettings": {
                "Codec": "PASSTHROUGH"
              }
            },
            "ContainerSettings": {
              "Container": "MOV",
              "MovSettings": {}
            }
          }
        ]
      }
    ]
  }
}