Avid Media Composer is a video editing application or non-linear editing software solution (NLE) developed by Avid Technology. Since its initial adoption in the 1990s, Media Composer has become the dominant non-linear editing system used by Hollywood film studios, broadcast television networks, and streaming service productions.
Media Composer is the top NLE used by the world's elite editors in Hollywood films, in broadcast television, in documentary and unscripted narrative, so is often referred to as the industry standard for video editing. Much of its design, implementation, and terminology has been derived from workflows in these filmmaking and broadcast industries.
Media Composer was initially released in 1989 as Avid/1, an offline editing system on the Macintosh II. According to one of the company's founders Eric Peters, most prototypes of "The Avid" were built on Apollo workstations. At some point, Avid demoed one of their products at SIGGRAPH.
Says Peters, "Some Apple people saw that demo at the show and said, 'Nice demo. Wrong platform!' It turned out they were evangelists for the then new Macintosh II (with six slots). When we got back to our office (actually a converted machine shop) after the show, there was a pile of FedEx packages on our doorstep. They were from Apple, and they contained two of their prototype Macintosh II machines (so early they didn't even have cases, just open chassis). Also there were four large multisync monitors. Each computer was loaded with full memory (probably 4 megs at the time), and a full complement of Apple software (pre-Claris). That afternoon, a consultant knocked on our door saying, 'Hi. I'm being paid by Apple to come here and port your applications from Apollo to Macintosh.' He worked for us for several weeks, and actually taught us how to program the Macs."
At the time, Macs were not considered to be fast enough for video purposes. The Avid engineering team, however, managed to get 1,200 kilobytes per second, which allowed them to do offline video on the Macs.
Avid Symphony has a strong history with broadcast users because much of its design and implementation came from the scopes, monitoring, and terminology that was familiar to the television industry's online mastering process. It has since grown to include Advanced/Secondary/Relational Color Correction and Universal HD Mastering.
Avid Symphony used to be a separate product from Media Composer, purchased as a standalone system for mastering. Beginning with Media Composer 7, Symphony became integrated within Media Composer as a paid option. In 2014 when Media Composer 8 was launched along with Avid's subscription licensing, the paid option included monthly and annual subscription licenses.
The software used to be protected by means of "blesser" floppy, tied to the Nubus's TrueVista board (meaning that if the board is replaced, a new "blesser" floppy comes with the board), and later with USB dongles. As of version 3.5 the dongle is optional, and existing users may choose to use software activation or keep using their dongles, while new licenses are sold exclusively with software activation. The software ships with installers for both Mac and Windows and can physically be installed on several computers, allowing the user to move the software license between systems or platforms depending on the licensing method.
There are currently four versions of Media Composer.
Media Composer First is a freeware version that allows users to publish completed works directly to the internet.
Media Composer, Media Composer Ultimate, and Media Composer Enterprise are paid licenses, each one includes access to more features respectively.
The Avid Media Composer user interface has seen many changes and upgrades over the years. Early versions focused on creating somewhat of a digital representation of the film editing process. The idea of organizing clips using bins was a familiar concept, so it was easy for editors to migrate from the flatbed editing world into Avid's digital interface. Also familiar was the Source/Record window which was seen in KEM and Steenbeck systems.
Through the 1990's the interface saw practical upgrades which were made in collaboration between its designers who were also working editors, professional editors working in Hollywood, and at network television studios. The interface design remained decidedly plain and two-dimensional, focused more on clip management in the Timeline Window, than on UI colors and buttons.
Crossing Y2K and into the early 2000's with Media Composer 10, 11, and 12, the user interface saw significant advancements in not only project organization but also skeuomorphic design (making buttons and tools look like real-world items with lighting, shading, and sometimes textures). It gave users incredible power in defining their own preferences in button shapes and shading, color coding, workspace architecture, and other intricate customizations. In May 2003 when Avid Adrenaline introduced HD editing and a resetting of the version numbering back to 1.0, work on improving the user interface continued.
With the release of Media Composer 5, the user interface saw a visual change. After extensive testing, the entire industry began discovering that skeuomorphic designs and other visual elements were causing drains on performance. For Media Composer, it was decided to scale-back the design and chase a "flatter" approach. Users who upgraded to this version were initially upset at the loss of customizability but were indeed satisfied with the noticeable reduction in interface lag. This design lasted through Media Composer and Symphony versions 5.0 through 2018.12.15.
By Media Composer 7, 8, and 2018, there was a consistent outcry from customers asking Avid to upgrade the overall interface. The consistent complaint was that it felt "old".
During 2018, Avid conducted extensive interviews, listening sessions, and ACA meetings with hundreds of users to absorb as much of their opinions as possible. Key outcomes from those sessions included needs for stronger organization abilities for bins (bin containers), tools and other interface elements that could snap-to each other, a "paneled" interface that could mold itself to any screen size or configuration, and a means of toggling between the classic concept of Avid Workspaces in a newer, more accessible way (Workspace Toolbar). Another common complaint of the classic interface was its overall performance, which had laggy timeline behavior in comparison to other nonlinear edit systems (NLEs). While the Media Composer team worked on the new user interface, the engineers and architecture team retooled the underlying code and video engine. In June of 2019, Avid released Media Composer 2019.6 including a new user interface.[4]
Users saw consistent upgrades to the user interface throughout 2019, 2020, and 2021. As of late 2021, the majority of Media Composer users were subscription-based, and using the modern user interface.
The March 2023 version included a new template for a User Profile called "Transitioning from Adobe Premiere Pro". This configures Media Composer's existing interface and settings to reconfigure itself in such a way to somewhat resemble what they may be accustomed to seeing in Premiere Pro. The purpose is to help Premiere Pro users to operate smoothly in Media Composer. Since Premiere Pro is also compatible for use on Avid's NEXIS shared storage, this new feature is also being used heavily by facilities that have editors and assistants who use both NLE apps.[5]
The August 2023 version allowed customers who were hesitant to migrate from the comforts of the older 2018 version to finally do so. It included a new "Classic" User Profile, which takes many frequently-used settings from the 2018 interface and applies them to the modernized 2023 version. This way the interface was familiar, yet included all of the bug fixes and improvements made in the years since 2018. It also included new AI updates for the classic ScriptSync and PhraseFind options. The new ScriptSync AI and PhraseFind AI offered auto-transcription capabilities, faster workflows, and much more in-depth language support.[6]
Media Composer as standalone software (with optional hardware) has only been available since June 2006 (version 2.5). Before that, Media Composer was only available as a turnkey system.
From 1991 until 1998, Media Composer 900, 1000, 4000 and 8000 systems were Macintosh-only, and based on the NuVista videoboard by Truevision. The first-release Avids (US) supported 640x480 30i video, at resolutions and compression identified by the prefix "AVR". Single-field resolutions were AVR 1 through 9s; interlaced (finishing) resolutions were initially AVR 21–23, with the later improvements of AVR 24 through 27, and the later AVR 70 through 77. AVR12 was a two-field interlaced offline resolution. Additionally, Avid marketed the Media Composer 400 and 800 as offline-only editors. These systems exclusively used external fast SCSI drives (interfaced through a SCSI accelerator board) for media storage. Avid media was digitised as OMFI (Open Media Framework Interchange) format.
In the mid-nineties, versions 6 and 7 of Media Composer 900, 1000, 8000 and 9000 were based on the Avid Broadcast Video Board (ABVB), supporting video resolutions up to AVR77. The video image was also improved to 720x480. 3D add-on boards (most notably the Pinnacle Alladin, externally, and the pinnacle genie pro board, internally, through special 100 pin bypass cable ) and 16bit 48K 4-channel and 8-channel audio I/O (Avid/Digidesign 442 and Avid/Digidesign 888) were optional.
The 1998 introduction of the Avid Symphony marked the transition from ABVB to the Meridien hardware, allowing for uncompressed SD editing. This introduction was also the first version of Media Composer XL available for the Windows operating system. Many users were concerned that Avid would abandon the Mac platform, which they eventually did not do. Media Composer XL versions 8 through 12.0.5 (models MC Offline XL, MC 1000 XL, MC 9000XL) were built around Meridien hardware. Compression options were expressed in ratios for the first time in the evolution of the product. Even though the video board had changed, the audio I/O was still handled by the Avid/Digidesign 888 (16bit 48K) hardware. At this time, 16x9 aspect ratios began to be supported.
Avid Media Composer Meridien was released through November 2003.
In 2003, Avid Mojo and Avid Adrenaline formed the new DNA (Digital Non-linear Accelerator) hardware line. The launch of Avid Media Composer Adrenaline brought along a software version renumbering, as it was labeled Avid Media Composer Adrenaline 1.0. At this time, Avid began using MXF (Material Exchange Format) formatting for media files. Avid products maintain compatibility with OMFI files.
Adrenaline was the first Media Composer system to support 24bit audio. It also meant the end of Film Composer and Media Composer Offline, since the Avid Media Composer Adrenaline featured most of the film options and online resolutions and features. From this point onward, Avid systems have supported media storage using SCSI, PCI-e, SATA, IEEE 1394a & b, Ethernet and fiberoptic interfaces.
In 2006, Media Composer 2.5 was the first version to be offered 'software-only', giving the user the option of purchasing and using the software without the additional cost of the external accelerators. Software-only Avid setups could use third-party breakout boxes, usually interfaced via FireWire, to acquire video from SDI and analog sources.
In 2008, the Mojo DX and Nitris DX were introduced, replacing the Adrenaline. Both are capable of handling uncompressed HD video, with the Nitris DX offering greater processing speed and input/output flexibility.
Starting with Media Composer 6, a new Open IO API allowed third-party companies to interface their hardware into Media Composer. AJA Video Systems, Blackmagic Design, Matrox, BlueFish and MOTU are supporting this API. Avid's own DX hardware is still natively interfaced into the application which currently allows some extra features that Open IO is limited in (LTC timecode support for example). It is expected that over time some of these missing APIs will be added.
AJA IO Express: Starting with Media Composer 5.5, introduced support for the AJA IO Express interface. This interface will allow SD/HD input and output via SDI and HDMI. It also has analog video and audio outputs for monitoring. It connects to a computer via PCIe or ExpressCard/34 interface.
Matrox MXO2 Mini: Starting with Media Composer 5, Avid introduced support for the Matrox MXO2 Mini interface, as a breakout box with no additional processing. While this interface does have input connections, only output is supported by Media Composer v5.x, starting with Media Composer v6.x you can capture with this interface. The connections on the unit support analog video/audio and HDMI in both SD and HD formats. The device is connected by a cable to either a PCIe card or ExpressCard/34 interface, so this unit can be used on either desktop or laptop computers.
Avid Media Composer compatible hardware is manufactured by AJA Video Systems, Blackmagic Design, BlueFish, Matrox and MOTU.
Avid systems used to ship with Avid branded I/O boxes, like Mojo, Adrenaline and Nitris. In recent years, Avid ceased to produce their own hardware, instead collaborating with companies like Blackmagic Design and AJA, releasing customized Avid-branded I/O boxes, like the Artist DNxIO, DNxIQ and DNxIV. As of December 31 2022, Avid stopped selling Artist DNx series I/O hardware and discontinued the product line.[7]"Learn & Support". Avid Technology. Archived from the original on 26 March 2024. Retrieved 26 March 2024. Avid no longer manufacture or sell breakout I/O hardware.
Some boxed versions of Media Composer came with the following third party software:
The new "Media Composer Classic" user profile brings forward some UI elements and settings from previous versions of Media Composer, such as v2018. These additions acknowledge the preferences of editors using legacy software and help facilitate the transition to the newest version of Media Composer. Changes include floating instead of paneled windows, as well as Composer and Timeline toolbars that are similar to legacy versions.