# Pre-Transcoding, which format/options should i pick?
**URL:** https://forums.plex.tv/t/pre-transcoding-which-format-options-should-i-pick/203553
**Category:** General Discussions
**Created:** [August 23, 2017, 7:06pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/pre-transcoding-which-format-options-should-i-pick/203553 "2017-08-23T19:06:03Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@visr3](https://forums.plex.tv/u/visr3)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2017, 7:06pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/pre-transcoding-which-format-options-should-i-pick/203553/1 "2017-08-23T19:06:03Z")
So I’m looking to move my Plex Media Server to a 2009 Mac Mini that i have lying around.
It can handle 2 1080p streams transcoding but to make things easier I’m looking to pre transcode all of my media.
**The question is which ‘optimise’ option should i use?**
The client devices i have are iPhones, iPads, Apple TV’s and a couple of iMacs.
Clearly they are all apple devices so they all support they same formats but the only options in plex are for iOS or Universal TV/Universal Mobile…
**Which options under ‘optimise’ would allow for direct play across all these devices?**
(I wish you could just pick H.264 or H.265…)
Any help would be amazing! Thanks!!!
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### Author:  [@drinehart](https://forums.plex.tv/u/drinehart)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2017, 8:16pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/pre-transcoding-which-format-options-should-i-pick/203553/2 "2017-08-23T20:16:59Z")
I use MKV with h264, 1st audio 2 channel AAC, 2nd audio AC3/DTS/etc., only forced subtitles in srt format. For devices that want MP4 the container change has a near 0 impact on the server.
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### Author:  [@visr3](https://forums.plex.tv/u/visr3)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2017, 7:03am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/pre-transcoding-which-format-options-should-i-pick/203553/3 "2017-08-25T07:03:12Z")
Thanks for the reply.
So do you optimise your media outside of plex with something like handbrake?
Or do you use Plex’s ‘optimise’ feature to do it for you?
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### Author:  [@system](https://forums.plex.tv/u/system)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2020, 11:42pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/pre-transcoding-which-format-options-should-i-pick/203553/4 "2020-01-07T23:42:38Z")