The Adobe Media Encoder is an encoding mechanism employed by programs such as Adobe Premiere Pro, After Effects, Soundbooth, and Encore for output to certain media formats. Depending on the program, the Adobe Media Encoder provides a specialized Export Settings dialog box that accommodates the numerous settings associated with certain export formats, such as MPEG‑2, Adobe Flash Video, and H.264. For each format, the Export Settings dialog box includes a number of presets that are tailored for particular delivery media. You can also save custom presets, which you can share with others or reload as needed.

Although the Export Settings dialog box’s appearance varies slightly and is accessed differently in different software, its general form and function are consistent. The Export Settings dialog box always contains a section for general export settings (such as Format and Preset) and one or more tabbed sections. The sections available depend on the format and preset you specify. The tab menu also contains commands specific to the selected format.

When you export a movie file for delivery media other than full‑screen, full frame‑rate television, you usually need to deinterlace the frames, crop the image, or apply certain filters. Through the Export Settings dialog box, the Adobe Media Encoder offers these tasks as pre‑encoding options, because it’s best to perform them prior to encoding the file. You can also specify post‑encoding tasks, which include generating a log file or uploading the exported file to a specified server automatically.