14 DAY TRIAL // The free flavor of Expression Encoder 4 RTM is now available for download from Microsoft. Expression Studio 4 was released to manufacturing at the start of this week, and the first trial releases of the product were offered to designers and developers, although retail availability is “coming soon,” according to the software giant. Expression Encoder 4 RTM is a great tool for publishing Silverlight videos, but also additional content including live webcasts, media with watermarks and advertising.
Microsoft will offer Expression Encoder 4 Pro as both a part of Expression Studio 4 Ultimate and also as a standalone product. The plain vanilla Expression Encoder 4 is designed as a replacement for Windows Media Encoder and is already available as a free download. Obviously, there are a few differences between the free and the Pro versions of Expression Encoder 4. In this regard, users will be able to notice that Expression Encoder 4 Pro simply has more to offer, including support for MPEG-2, AVCHD, Dolby Digital, H.264, AAC-LC, and Live Smooth Streaming.
“Expression Encoder is a professional encoding tool that offers enhancement, encoding, and publishing of rich video experiences with Microsoft Silverlight. Convert and compress multiple video formats to SMPTE standard VC-1 video or H.264 for mobile, web, and HD video scenarios. For streamlined workflow, create branded templates with Expression Blend, and encode on the desktop or server to guarantee a consistent viewing experience on Windows, Mac, and devices,” Microsoft stated.
Users can already download both Expression Encoder 4 free and Pro from Microsoft. The free version can be grabbed as a standalone download, while the Pro variant is included in the 60-day free Expression Studio 4 Ultimate trial.
“There is a limited feature version called Expression Encoder 4 that is free and never expires and is currently available for download. Some of the limits include the lack of some 3rd party codecs, no live Smooth Streaming for IIS encoding and a 10 minute time limit on the length of screen captures,” Microsoft added.
The free version of Expression Encoder 4 RTM is available for download here.
Microsoft Expression Studio Web Professional 4.0.20525.0 is available for download here.
Microsoft Expression Studio Ultimate 4.0.20525.0 is available for download here.