Frequently Asked Questions

The portable version allows you to run the software without administrator privileges and can be launched from an external drive. Otherwise, I recommend using the installable version.

The “OpenGL” shortcut resolves a display UI issue (glitches) on some computers, if you don’t have this issue, you can remove it.

Compressed codecs use the G.O.P compression (Group Of Pictures: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group_of_pictures) therefore, you can only cut on the nearest keyframe. For frame-accurate precision, choose a specific video codec.

You can choose any editing codec for CFR output. For other codecs, you can force CFR by selecting the desired frame rate in the "Advanced Features" section and checking the "Conform" box. More information is available here. https://www.shutterencoder.com/documentation/#advanced

NOTE: The “Conform” function only change the playback speed of your file, it does not add or remove any frames.

CPU encoding often produces better video quality than GPU encoding because CPUs generally use more computationally intensive compression algorithms and more sophisticated motion analysis, whereas GPU encoders prioritize speed and efficiency.

Use CTRL+S (or CMD+S on Mac) then load it from the Start icon located next to the “Start function” button. You can also load them at startup by clicking the gear icon in the upper left corner, then clicking "Load at startup".

I highly recommend “DNxHR” for Windows and “Apple ProRes” for Mac thanks to their intra-frame compression. They are extremely fast and use minimal CPU resources. However, they do require a lot of disk space, make sure you have enough storage.

If your storage space is limited, you can use the “H.264” function and change the "Set GOP" option to "1" in the "Advanced features" section.

The best lossless codec is "FFV1", but it's not widely supported. Therefore, you'll need to convert the file back to a playable format before using it.

"H.265" (and "H.264") or "AV1" are good alternatives. They take up less storage space, but they are lossy formats. I recommend using the "Best" option when choosing the video bitrate.

Selecting the “2-pass” option is more suitable for low-bitrate encoding but the encoding time is approximately twice as long. Conversely, selecting the “Max. Quality" option provides optimal encoding quality regardless of the bitrate, more detail is preserved, but the encoding time can be considerably longer than with the "2-pass" option.

If you are using hardware acceleration, always select the “Max. Quality" option, the difference in encoding time will then be less significant.

Ensure that all your input media files use the exact same codec, resolution, frame rate, audio channels, sample rate, etc. Otherwise, the result will be corrupted.

You can then select the "Merge" function for a lossless operation or use the "Process file list as Merge" option (gear icon in the upper left corner) and select the desired video codec.

Yes! Clicking the gear icon in the upper left corner, then clicking "use local ffmpeg".

Enter ffmpeg in the "Choose function" dropdown menu, followed by your command WITHOUT specifying input and output, for example: ffmpeg -c:v libx264 -b:v 5000k -an

Choose the extension from the second dropdown menu.

After uninstalling the application, you can delete the Shutter Encoder folder from your user folder to remove all preferences and third-party downloads.