Amazon Web Services (AWS) has officially announced the end-of-life for Amazon Elastic Transcoder in November 2025, meaning support for the service will soon be discontinued. AWS recommends migrating to AWS Elemental MediaConvert, a more powerful and scalable solution for media transcoding. If your organization relies on Elastic Transcoder, now is the time to start planning your migration to avoid disruptions to your media workflows.
Contents
Why is AWS Retiring Elastic Transcoder?
Elastic Transcoder was introduced as a scalable video transcoding service, but as media processing needs have evolved, more advanced solutions like AWS Elemental MediaConvert have been developed. MediaConvert provides higher-quality outputs, greater flexibility, and cost efficiency, making it the best alternative for Elastic Transcoder users.
Key Benefits of AWS Elemental MediaConvert
AWS Elemental MediaConvert offers several advantages over Elastic Transcoder:
- Support for Advanced Codecs & Formats: Including HEVC, HDR, 4K, and high-efficiency codecs that improve video quality while reducing bandwidth costs.
- Better Performance & Scalability: Handles high-volume transcoding workflows with lower processing times.
- Flexible Pricing Models: Provides a choice between on-demand pricing or reserved pricing for predictable costs.
- Improved Cost Optimization: Optimizes costs with more efficient resource allocation compared to Elastic Transcoder.
How to Migrate from Elastic Transcoder to MediaConvert
Migrating from Elastic Transcoder to MediaConvert requires careful planning to ensure a smooth transition. Outlined below is a high-level roadmap for the migration process:
- Assess Your Current Transcoding Workflows
- Identify all media processing jobs currently running on Elastic Transcoder.
- Determine the input and output formats you are using.
- Map Workflows to AWS MediaConvert
- Translate your Elastic Transcoder presets into MediaConvert job templates.
- Identify necessary adjustments for encoding settings, resolution, and bitrate.
- Optimize MediaConvert for Performance & Cost
- Leverage MediaConvert’s built-in optimizations for quality and efficiency.
- Use reserved pricing for predictable costs of running high-volume workloads.
- Test & Validate Your Migration
- Run test transcoding jobs to compare outputs.
- Ensure integration with existing storage and delivery pipelines.
- Go Live with MediaConvert
- Transition your production workloads to MediaConvert.
- Monitor for any performance or cost optimizations post-migration.
GitHub Repository for Migration Assistance
To support the transition from Elastic Transcoder to MediaConvert, AWS has provided a dedicated GitHub repository. The repository includes:
- Scripts to automate migration steps
- Examples of MediaConvert job templates
- Guidance on workflow translation and optimization
This resource is particularly helpful for teams seeking a more hands-on, technical approach to migration, providing a practical starting point for adapting legacy ETS workflows to MediaConvert.
How TrackIt Can Help with Your Migration
Migrating from Elastic Transcoder to MediaConvert doesn’t have to be complicated. At TrackIt, we specialize in AWS media services and can help you seamlessly transition your transcoding workflows to MediaConvert.
- Zero-downtime migration – We ensure a smooth switchover without disrupting your media pipelines.
- Workflow optimization – We help you fine-tune MediaConvert for better performance and lower costs.
- End-to-end support – From planning to implementation, we handle the migration for you.
About TrackIt
TrackIt is an international AWS cloud consulting, systems integration, and software development firm headquartered in Marina del Rey, CA.
We have built our reputation on helping media companies architect and implement cost-effective, reliable, and scalable Media & Entertainment workflows in the cloud. These include streaming and on-demand video solutions, media asset management, and archiving, incorporating the latest AI technology to build bespoke media solutions tailored to customer requirements.
Cloud-native software development is at the foundation of what we do. We specialize in Application Modernization, Containerization, Infrastructure as Code and event-driven serverless architectures by leveraging the latest AWS services. Along with our Managed Services offerings which provide 24/7 cloud infrastructure maintenance and support, we are able to provide complete solutions for the media industry.