The October release of Premiere Pro introduced new hardware decoding for AMD and NVIDIA GPUs on Windows. This provides responsive performance and an improved editing experience for H.264 and H.265 (aka HEVC), currently the most used video formats.
Puget Systems tested our hardware-accelerated decoding and Matt Bach was a guest with Jason Levine for a special livestream Q&A (details below).
Puget Systems specializes in workstations for video production. They regularly benchmark systems and are recognized experts in optimizing hardware for the Adobe video applications.
Compression and playback performance
H.264 and H.265 are widely used, both for capture (phones, drones, and mirrorless camaras) and distribution to online platforms. Because they are highly compressed, they offer smaller file sizes and easier uploads. But compression means that these formats require more processing in editorial, both for decoding/playback and for encoding/export.
Premiere Pro and After Effects have long supported these formats with software-based decoding. Hardware-based decoding, which provides better playback was added, first for Intel Quick Sync chipsets and macOS hardware via Apple Metal. With the latest performance update, Premiere Pro now offers hardware acceleration for 8-bit H.264 and 8-bit H.265 across all macOS and Windows configurations.
Our technology partners often publish test results with the Adobe video applications. Read the detailed report on hardware decoding from Puget Systems here. Intel's latest chipset is showing up to 2x better playback performance. NVIDIA has released a new Studio Driver which includes support for the latest performance update in Premiere Pro and the new AI-powered Neural Filters in Photoshop.
Faster audio pre-roll in Premiere Pro
Our audio team has optimized how Premiere Pro reads audio and audio effects. The result is much more responsive playback for sequences that use a lot of audio. No more waiting when you hit play, Premiere Pro sequences start rolling on both macOS and Windows.
Accelerate Editing in Premiere Pro: Livestream
Jason Levine welcomed guests Matt Bach and Caroline Sears to look at the latest performance improvements. Matt and Caroline spoke about hardware testing, troubleshooting, and how to optimize your system for editorial and motion graphic workflows.
Matt Bach is a founding member of Puget Systems, a Seattle-based company that builds workstations for video creatives, including extensive benchmark testing and consulting for the Adobe video and photo applications.
Caroline Sears is a video editor helping other editors on the Adobe Care team, which provides frontline support for users on Twitter, YouTube, and the Adobe Community forums.
Jason Levine is principal worldwide evangelist for Adobe Creative Cloud. He is a musician and recording engineer by training and hosts multiple weekly livestream sessions on all things video and audio.
Our commitment to performance
We know that performance is critical to help video pros do their best work efficiently. That’s why it is our highest priority, and we report regularly on this work. You can track our progress in posts like this and engage with us directly in livestream Q&A sessions.
Find links to previous posts, livestream recordings, and user resources here: http://adobe.ly/performance