Amazon Elastic Transcoder AWS Elemental MediaConvert
File-based video transcoding service with broadcast-grade codec support, HDR and Dolby Vision processing, adaptive bitrate (ABR) packaging, and automated scaling.
Naming timeline
- Amazon Elastic Transcoder
Launched as AWS's original cloud video transcoding service using pipelines and presets backed by Amazon S3; retired on November 13, 2025.
- AWS Elemental MediaConvertCurrent name
Launched as part of the AWS Elemental Media Services family with broadcast-grade video processing and ABR packaging, succeeding Amazon Elastic Transcoder.
What replaced Amazon Elastic Transcoder?
Amazon Elastic Transcoder has been superseded by AWS Elemental MediaConvert, with the latest change on 27 November 2017 (AWS re:Invent 2017 & Elastic Transcoder Replacement). File-based video transcoding service with broadcast-grade codec support, HDR and Dolby Vision processing, adaptive bitrate (ABR) packaging, and automated scaling. The underlying legacy API or CLI surface is deprecated, so a technical migration is required.
Also known as
- Elemental MediaConvert
- Elastic Transcoder
Technical identifiers
Legacy identifiers deprecated. The underlying API or CLI surface for the legacy name is officially deprecated, so this change requires a technical migration rather than a label update.
| AWS Service APIs / SDKs | mediaconvert elastictranscoder |
|---|---|
| AWS CLI Commands | aws mediaconvert aws elastictranscoder |
| IAM Actions & Policies | mediaconvert:* elastictranscoder:* |
| Terraform Resources (aws_*) | aws_media_convert_queue aws_elastictranscoder_pipeline aws_elastictranscoder_preset |
The legacy 'elastictranscoder' API, CLI ('aws elastictranscoder'), IAM actions ('elastictranscoder:*'), and 'aws_elastictranscoder_*' Terraform resources were retired on November 13, 2025 in favor of 'mediaconvert' and 'aws_media_convert_queue'.
Notes & disambiguation
- Launched in November 2017 following AWS's acquisition of Elemental Technologies, AWS Elemental MediaConvert superseded the 2013-era Amazon Elastic Transcoder for file-based video transcoding workloads.
- AWS officially retired Amazon Elastic Transcoder on November 13, 2025, shutting down the Elastic Transcoder console, pipelines, presets, and API endpoints.
- Workloads migrating from Amazon Elastic Transcoder ('elastictranscoder', 'aws_elastictranscoder_pipeline') transition to AWS Elemental MediaConvert ('mediaconvert', 'aws_media_convert_queue') using job templates and on-demand or reserved queues.
Sources & official documentation
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