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Encoding for playback on hardware devices

Windows Media-based content is no longer played back solely on computers. Instead, there is increasing demand for playing the content on various hardware devices, such as set-top boxes, wireless handsets, and DVD players. If you want to ensure that your content can be played on a certain type of hardware device, you can encode your content by using a hardware profile. Windows Media Encoder includes a number of hardware profiles, which are intended to meet a range of encoding needs.

The following table lists, in ascending order, the hardware profiles for video content that are included with the encoder. The list of target hardware devices is approximate. For information about what specific profiles a device supports, see the manufacturer's documentation for the device.

Video profile Target hardware device
Simple low Wireless handsets
Simple medium Pocket PCs
Main low Low-end set-top boxes
Main medium High-end set-top boxes; DVD players; and Microsoft DirectX® Video Acceleration (VA)-enabled graphic cards
Main high DVD players; DirectX VA-enabled graphic cards; and digital cinema

A given profile and level always supports lower profiles and levels. For example, a device that supports the main profile, medium level, also supports the main profile, lower level, and all levels in the simple profile.

The following table lists, in ascending order, the hardware profiles for audio content included with the encoder.

Audio profile Audio bit rates supported
L1 64 Kbps to 128 Kbps
L2 Less than 128 Kbps
L3 Less than 384 Kbps
L4 All audio bit rates
S1 Less than 20 Kbps (for use with the Windows Media Voice codec)

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