Compare
VideoToolbox wall-clock vs software x264 rate-card dollars.
For a 20-minute 1080p30 encode, M2 Max VideoToolbox finished in 95.1 s. The Cloudflare Containers-shaped x264 path took 2371.1 s — about ~$0.0474 at the published standard-1 rate-card upper bound. Mac package Wh was not sampled on that encode run.
95.1 sM2 Max VideoToolbox H.264
102.8 sM2 Max libx264
2371.1 sCF-shape x264 MEASURED
~$0.0474CF rate-card est.
| Path | Label | Wall | Est. $ |
|---|---|---|---|
| M2 Max VideoToolbox H.264 8 Mbps | MEASURED | 95.1 s | Mac Wh not sampled |
| M2 Max libx264 medium CRF23 | MEASURED | 102.8 s | Mac Wh not sampled |
| Docker CF-shape x264 | MEASURED | 2371.1 s | ~$0.0474 rate-card |
Source: LONG-WORKLOAD-AND-CLOUD-CONCLUSION-2026-07-22.md §4. Not a RenderMac invoice. Calculator (Remotion-focused presets + custom walls): cost calculator.
Related: canonical VT bakeoff, transcoding API, remix compare.
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