Microsoft Expression Encoder (formerly Expression Media Encoder) is a

transcoding Transcoding is the direct digital-to-digital conversion of one encoding to another, such as for video data files, audio files (e.g., MP3, WAV), or character encoding (e.g., UTF-8, ISO/IEC 8859). This is usually done in cases where a target devic ...

and

non-linear In mathematics and science, a nonlinear system is a system in which the change of the output is not proportional to the change of the input. Nonlinear problems are of interest to engineers, biologists, physicists, mathematicians, and many other ...

video editing software Video editing software, or a video editor is software used performing the post-production video editing of digital video sequences on a non-linear editing system. It has replaced traditional flatbed celluloid film editing tools and analog video ta ...

application for Microsoft Windows. It can create video streams for distribution via

Microsoft Silverlight Microsoft Silverlight is a discontinued application framework designed for writing and running rich web applications, similar to Adobe Inc., Adobe's Run time environment, runtime, Adobe Flash. A plugin for Silverlight is still available for a v ...

. This utility is created to record the screen for various purposes like YouTube, Twitch, Sharing etc.

Overview

Expression Encoder is a transcoding and linear video editing program. It features a

graphical user interface The GUI ( "UI" by itself is still usually pronounced . or ), graphical user interface, is a form of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices through graphical icons and audio indicator such as primary notation, inste ...

based on

Windows Presentation Foundation Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) is a free and open-source graphical subsystem (similar to WinForms) originally developed by Microsoft for rendering user interfaces in Windows-based applications. WPF, previously known as "Avalon", was initia ...

(WPF) as well as a

command line interface A command-line interpreter or command-line processor uses a command-line interface (CLI) to receive commands from a user in the form of lines of text. This provides a means of setting parameters for the environment, invoking executables and pro ...

. It can export videos to

H.264 Advanced Video Coding (AVC), also referred to as H.264 or MPEG-4 Part 10, is a video compression standard based on block-oriented, motion-compensated coding. It is by far the most commonly used format for the recording, compression, and distri ...

VC-1 SMPTE 421, informally known as VC-1, is a video coding format. Most of it was initially developed as Microsoft's proprietary video format Windows Media Video 9 in 2003. With some enhancements including the development of a new Advanced Profile, ...

formats or prepare video streams for distribution via

. It supports Silverlight player controls and Silverlight templates. Microsoft Expression Encoder is available in different editions: #Pro edition, the full-featured commercial incarnation of the product is available through retail or volume licensing outlets as well as the

BizSpark Microsoft for Startups, formerly known as Microsoft BizSpark, is a Microsoft program that provides support, Azure credits and free licenses to selected Microsoft products to software Software is a set of computer programs and associated do ...

program. #Pro edition without codecs, which lacks royalty-incurring codecs and is available to

DreamSpark Microsoft Azure Dev Tools for Teaching or simply Azure Dev Tools for Teaching is a Microsoft program to provide students with Microsoft software design, Microsoft developer tools, Cloud Computing Access and learning resources. The program is a ...

, WebsiteSpark or

MSDN Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) was the division of Microsoft responsible for managing the firm's relationship with developers and testers, such as hardware developers interested in the operating system (OS), and software developers developing ...

subscribers. This version does not support H.264 or

Advanced Audio Coding Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) is an audio coding standard for lossy digital audio compression. Designed to be the successor of the MP3 format, AAC generally achieves higher sound quality than MP3 encoders at the same bit rate. AAC has been stan ...

(AAC) formats in its output, nor can it open

AVCHD AVCHD (Advanced Video Coding High Definition) is a file-based format for the digital recording and playback of high-definition video. It is H.264 and Dolby AC-3 packaged into the MPEG transport stream, with a set of constraints designed around t ...

MPEG-2 MPEG-2 (a.k.a. H.222/H.262 as was defined by the ITU) is a standard for "the generic video coding format, coding of moving pictures and associated audio information". It describes a combination of Lossy compression, lossy video compression and ...

and

Dolby Digital Dolby Digital, originally synonymous with Dolby AC-3, is the name for what has now become a family of audio compression technologies developed by Dolby Laboratories. Formerly named Dolby Stereo Digital until 1995, the audio compression is lossy ...

(AC-3) formats. #Express edition is free of charge but feature-limited. This version has the same restrictions as the Pro edition without codecs, but also does not support live streaming.

History

Version 1.0 was released to manufacturing on September 6, 2007. A beta of version 2.0 was released in March 2008 which included new VC-1 codecs (Advanced, Main, and Simple profiles) and better Silverlight support. Version 2 was

released to manufacturing A software release life cycle is the sum of the stages of development and maturity for a piece of computer software ranging from its initial development to its eventual release, and including updated versions of the released version to help impro ...

in May 2008. Expression The first

service pack In computing, a service pack comprises a collection of updates, fixes, or enhancements to a software program delivered in the form of a single installable package. Companies often release a service pack when the number of individual patches to a ...

added

AAC AAC may refer to: Aviation * Advanced Aircraft, a company from Carlsbad, California * Alaskan Air Command, a radar network * American Aeronautical Corporation, a company from Port Washington, New York * American Aviation, a company from Cleveland, ...

encoding support for devices. According to Microsoft, Expression Encoder 2 was not a replacement for

Windows Media Encoder Windows Media Encoder (WME) is a discontinued, freeware 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 ...

, despite having many similarities. Expression Encoder 3 added multi-channel audio output, more built in device profiles, like support for

Zune HD The Zune HD is a portable media player in the Zune product family released on September 15, 2009, by Microsoft. It was a direct competitor with Apple's iPod Touch series of mobile devices. It was initially released in 16 and 32 GB capacities. A ...

, Xbox 360 and

iPod Touch The iPod Touch (stylized as iPod touch) is a discontinued line of iOS-based mobile devices designed and marketed by Apple Inc. with a touchscreen-controlled user interface. As with other iPod models, the iPod Touch can be used as a music pl ...

, 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 MainConcept GmbH is a software company founded in Germany by Markus Moenig and Thomas Zabel. They specialize in developing video/audio codecs and also applications and plug-ins related to video/audio encoding. They are a subsidiary of Endeavor S ...

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. Service Pack 2 (SP2) with about 300 bugs fixes was released on November 2, 2011 and added new features such GPU-accelerated video encoding and the removal of 10 minutes screen recording limit.

Features

Some of Microsoft Expression Encoder features include: * Smart encoding and smart recompression for WMV if the source is also WMV and no frame operations are performed, ''cuts editing'', serial batch encoding, Live encoding from webcams and DV camcorders * Decoding/import format support because of DirectShow * Smooth streaming (720p+ video using HTTP) with optimized client (

Silverlight Microsoft Silverlight is a discontinued application framework designed for writing and running rich web applications, similar to Adobe Inc., Adobe's Run time environment, runtime, Adobe Flash. A plugin for Silverlight is still available for a v ...

) and server ( IIS with smooth streaming) * Integrated WebDAV publishing. * Publishing API that has been used to create plugins for Silverlight Streaming, Amazon S3, and YouTube * Importing XAML 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

System requirements

Limitations

Microsoft Expression Encoder cannot encode video streams in Windows Media Video formats older than version 9. Expression Encoder requires QuickTime to decode MP4 container format, although Media Foundation, a component of Windows 7, can natively decode this format.

References

External links

* {{MS DevTools, state=collapsed 2007 software Windows-only freeware

Encoder Encoder may refer to: Electronic circuits * Audio encoder, converts digital audio to analog audio signals * Video encoder, converts digital video to analog video signals * Simple encoder, assigns a binary code to an active input line * Priority e ...

Discontinued Microsoft software