<p>I found the following explanation on the <a href="https://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/Encode/VFX" rel="nofollow noreferrer">ffmpeg wiki</a>:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Fmpeg comes with 3 different prores encodes: "prores", "prores_ks"
  (formerly named "prores_kostya") and "prores_aw" (formerly named
  "prores_anatolyi"). In our testing we've used the "prores" and the
  "prores_ks" encoders and found "prores_ks" to be the best encoder to
  use. It is the only one that supports the 4444 colorspace and although
  it may be slightly slower. The color quality of the videos produced by
  these two codecs was visually indistinguishable Because of the 4444
  support we've decided to go with Kostya's version of prores.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>So, if you want to do 4444 and need alpha channel support, <code>prores_ks</code> is the way to go.</p>

<p><a href="https://wideopenbokeh.com/AthenasFall/?p=111" rel="nofollow noreferrer">This blog post</a> also suggests that <code>prores_ks</code> has a smaller footprint, and that <code>prores</code> and <code>prores_aw</code> are basically the same.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-02-01T09:57:56.133Z
[Beware](http://video.stackexchange.com/q/20024/1871) of 4444+alpha encoding.
Gyan
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-08-20T00:02:28.543Z
@Gyan Heads up for new people, the 4444+alpha bug has been fixed. Just make sure you're running the latest FFmpeg build.
Mint
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-02-01T09:28:59.673Z
2017-02-01T09:28:59.673Z
Patrick Kenny
<p>I'm using <code>ffmpeg</code> and while looking through the list of codes with <code>ffmpeg -codecs</code> I realized there are actually three different prores encoders:</p>

<ul>
<li>prores</li>
<li>prores_aw</li>
<li>prores_ks</li>
</ul>

<p>What are the differences between them?</p>

<ffmpeg><encoding><prores>
What are the differences between the three bundled ffmpeg prores encoders?
Patrick Kenny
# What are the differences between the three bundled ffmpeg prores encoders?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-02-01)

I'm using `ffmpeg` and while looking through the list of codes with `ffmpeg -codecs` I realized there are actually three different prores encoders:

* prores
* prores\_aw
* prores\_ks

What are the differences between them?

**Tags:** ffmpeg, encoding, prores


---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_0 on 2017-02-01. Score: 3 | Accepted answer

I found the following explanation on the [ffmpeg wiki](https://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/Encode/VFX):

> Fmpeg comes with 3 different prores encodes: "prores", "prores\_ks"
> (formerly named "prores\_kostya") and "prores\_aw" (formerly named
> "prores\_anatolyi"). In our testing we've used the "prores" and the
> "prores\_ks" encoders and found "prores\_ks" to be the best encoder to
> use. It is the only one that supports the 4444 colorspace and although
> it may be slightly slower. The color quality of the videos produced by
> these two codecs was visually indistinguishable Because of the 4444
> support we've decided to go with Kostya's version of prores.

So, if you want to do 4444 and need alpha channel support, `prores_ks` is the way to go.

[This blog post](https://wideopenbokeh.com/AthenasFall/?p=111) also suggests that `prores_ks` has a smaller footprint, and that `prores` and `prores_aw` are basically the same.

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: [Beware](http://video.stackexchange.com/q/20024/1871) of 4444+alpha encoding.  
> **username_2**: @username_1 Heads up for new people, the 4444+alpha bug has been fixed. Just make sure you're running the latest FFmpeg build.  

---

