Apple silicon media engine rankings by chip

Media engine leader: M3 Ultra at 1404. Every bin of a chip shares the same media engine, so this list has one row per chip name; the count of encode, decode, and ProRes engines is shown under each one.

Each bar spans the row; length is relative to the top score on this list. The scale is MacDiff’s own: entry-level M1 Air = 100, not a raw benchmark point.

  1. 1
    M3 Ultraleader
    2× decode · 4× encode · 4× ProRes · AV1 decode
    1404
  2. 2
    M2 Ultra
    2× decode · 4× encode · 4× ProRes
    1202
  3. 3
    M5 Max
    1× decode · 2× encode · 2× ProRes · AV1 decode
    1119
  4. 4
    M1 Ultra
    2× decode · 4× encode · 4× ProRes
    1025
  5. 5
    M4 Max
    1× decode · 2× encode · 2× ProRes · AV1 decode
    833
  6. 6
    M5 Pro
    1× decode · 1× encode · 1× ProRes · AV1 decode
    690
  7. 7
    M3 Max
    1× decode · 2× encode · 2× ProRes · AV1 decode
    645
  8. 8
    M2 Max
    1× decode · 2× encode · 2× ProRes
    610
  9. 9
    M4 Pro
    1× decode · 1× encode · 1× ProRes · AV1 decode
    546
  10. 10
    M6
    1× decode · 1× encode · 1× ProRes · AV1 decode
    523
  11. 11
    M3 Pro
    1× decode · 1× encode · 1× ProRes · AV1 decode
    480
  12. 12
    M1 Max
    1× decode · 2× encode · 2× ProRes
    451
  13. 13
    M2 Pro
    1× decode · 1× encode · 1× ProRes
    433
  14. 14
    M1 Pro
    1× decode · 1× encode · 1× ProRes
    347
  15. 15
    M5
    1× decode · 1× encode · 1× ProRes · AV1 decode
    343
  16. 16
    M4
    1× decode · 1× encode · 1× ProRes · AV1 decode
    219
  17. 17
    M3
    1× decode · 1× encode · 1× ProRes · AV1 decode
    117
  18. 18
    M2
    1× decode · 1× encode · 1× ProRes
    111
  19. 19
    M1
    H.264 / HEVC encode and decode
    100

Engine count beats generation

Max chips double the video encode and ProRes engines of Pro chips, and Ultra chips double Max again. That engine count matters more for export and multicam timelines than the generation does.

The index measures hardware H.264, HEVC, and ProRes work (plus AV1 decode from M3 on). Effects, color grading, and software codecs still lean on the CPU and GPU, so check /cpu and /gpu too.

Chip families

Filter the catalog by chip name to see every Mac that ships it.

A18 Pro · M1 · M1 Max · M1 Pro · M1 Ultra · M2 · M2 Max · M2 Pro · M2 Ultra · M3 · M3 Max · M3 Pro · M3 Ultra · M4 · M4 Max · M4 Pro · M5 · M5 Max · M5 Pro · M6

Related

FAQ

Is this Geekbench?

No. These are MacDiff media engine indices (M1 Air = 100). Methodology: /legal/disclaimer.

Does a bigger GPU bin change the media score?

No. The media engine is fixed per chip: an M4 Max with 32 or 40 GPU cores has the same two video encode and two ProRes engines, so both bins share one row.

Where is my MacBook model?

Open /models for configurations. This list ranks chips, not Macs; open /models and filter by chip name to see every Mac that ships one.