MediaConvert lists ProRes and MXF input; Sume lists none - test first

AWS Elemental MediaConvert publishes a table of input containers and the video and audio codecs each accepts, including MOV with Apple ProRes and MXF. Sume's media tool docs publish no such table: they say a source must be a video on media.sume.com, and refuse one whose HEAD response is not a video with unsupported_media_type. To find out whether a given master works, use the free video filter check.

MediaConvert's table is from its supported input formats page, read 2026-10-03. Sume's refusals are in the video filter docs.

What MediaConvert documents

The page maps each container to its supported codecs. A sample of rows shows how specific it is.

What Sume documents instead

Sume's pages describe checks, not codecs. At admit the source must be on the Sume media host. Then a HEAD request must show a video, or the job is refused as unsupported_media_type. Sources over the timeline download budget fail with source_too_large, and clips over the duration caps fail in the worker.

The pages do not say which codecs the worker can decode. Treat that as unknown, rather than assuming ProRes or MXF masters work because they would on MediaConvert.

Testing a master without paying

Video filter has a check endpoint, POST /v1/video-filter/check. It runs the same schema, op whitelist, filtergraph allowlist and Sume-host HEAD preflight as the encode, and returns diagnostics instead of an error. It does not create a job, reserve credits or touch the encoder.

That makes it a cheap test for the HEAD and size parts. It cannot prove the worker will decode the file: the docs say a program that passes can still fail on the box, with a structured job error.

• Import the master with POST /v1/media-imports first.
• Run the check with a harmless dim op, such as amount: 1.
• If the check passes, run one short video-trim job as the real decode test.

If a master fails

Export an H.264 MP4 from your editor and import that instead. Sume's exact trim and the timeline both write libx264 and yuv420p, so an H.264 MP4 input is the least surprising choice. That is a practical step rather than a documented requirement.

What counts as a pass

A check that returns valid: true with next_action: submit_video_filter tells you the schema, the host and the HEAD checks are fine. It does not tell you the encoder can read the file.

A short trim of two or three seconds on the same source is the cheapest proof that the worker can decode it, at $0.02.

What MediaConvert adds that Sume does not

MediaConvert is built as a transcoder with a long list of inputs and outputs. Sume's media tools are narrower: trim, filter, frames, detach and timeline, each with a fixed program. If you need to convert an exotic master, use a transcoder first, then bring the result to Sume.

That split keeps each system doing what its docs describe.