Apple silicon media engine rankings by chip

Media engine leader: M5 Max at 1119. 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
    M5 Maxleader
    1× decode · 2× encode · 2× ProRes · AV1 decode
    1119
  2. 2
    M4 Max
    1× decode · 2× encode · 2× ProRes · AV1 decode
    833
  3. 3
    M5 Pro
    1× decode · 1× encode · 1× ProRes · AV1 decode
    690
  4. 4
    M3 Max
    1× decode · 2× encode · 2× ProRes · AV1 decode
    645
  5. 5
    M2 Max
    1× decode · 2× encode · 2× ProRes
    610
  6. 6
    M4 Pro
    1× decode · 1× encode · 1× ProRes · AV1 decode
    546
  7. 7
    M3 Pro
    1× decode · 1× encode · 1× ProRes · AV1 decode
    480
  8. 8
    M1 Max
    1× decode · 2× encode · 2× ProRes
    451
  9. 9
    M2 Pro
    1× decode · 1× encode · 1× ProRes
    433
  10. 10
    M1 Pro
    1× decode · 1× encode · 1× ProRes
    347
  11. 11
    M5
    1× decode · 1× encode · 1× ProRes · AV1 decode
    343
  12. 12
    M4
    1× decode · 1× encode · 1× ProRes · AV1 decode
    219
  13. 13
    M3
    1× decode · 1× encode · 1× ProRes · AV1 decode
    117
  14. 14
    M2
    1× decode · 1× encode · 1× ProRes
    111
  15. 15
    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.