PERFORMANCE BASELINE · TESTED 27 OCTOBER 2026
Export performance, measured.
ForgeCut 0.70.8 vs Premiere Pro 2020 (14.7) vs VEGAS Pro 14 on one PC. A first, reproducible starting point for future tests.
1080p H.264 export
Median of 3 runs · lower time is better
ForgeCut 0.70.8 · instrumented
34.27 seconds
34.06–34.37 s range · 121.7 MB output · 1798 decoded frames
Premiere Pro 2020 (14.7)
27.09 seconds
26.51–27.47 s range · 91.6 MB output · 1797 decoded frames
VEGAS Pro 14 (build 161)
81.06 seconds
80.28–81.18 s range · 93.8 MB output · 1798 decoded frames
Premiere was fastest in this test. ForgeCut produced a larger file at its quality-18 setting. Larger output does not by itself establish better quality.
The test PC
- CPU
- Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-10400 CPU @ 2.90GHz
- GPU
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti · 6 GB
- Memory / OS
- 16 GB · Microsoft Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSC · build 19044
- GPU driver / power plan
- 32.0.15.9649 · Ultimate Performance
The workload
One synthetic clip with moving gradients, a checkerboard, a moving rectangle, and stereo tones. Approximately 60 seconds at 1920 × 1080, 29.97 fps. No effects, proxies, or preview reuse. This is not camera footage or a playback test.
Individual runs and settings
| Editor | Warm-up (excluded) | Run 1 | Run 2 | Run 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ForgeCut 0.70.8 | 34.74 s | 34.37 s | 34.06 s | 34.27 s |
| Premiere Pro 2020 (14.7) | 27.21 s | 27.09 s | 27.47 s | 26.51 s |
| VEGAS Pro 14 (build 161) | 81.02 s | 80.28 s | 81.18 s | 81.06 s |
- ForgeCut 0.70.8
- H.264 NVENC · quality 18 · AAC 192 kbps
- Premiere Pro 2020 (14.7)
- Adobe H.264 · 12 Mbps target / 24 Mbps max · AAC 192 kbps
- VEGAS Pro 14 (build 161)
- MainConcept AVC/AAC · Internet HD 1080p · 12 Mbps · AAC 192 kbps
Method and limitations
Each editor ran one excluded warm-up followed by three measured exports, with two seconds between runs. A monotonic timer measured the export operation through completion. Application launch, import, and project setup were excluded. Editors ran sequentially in the order VEGAS, Premiere, ForgeCut. The OS cache was warm, and normal desktop/browser activity was not laboratory-controlled.
The requested timeline range was 1,798 frames (59.993 seconds). Export endpoint handling differs: the decoded outputs contain 1,798 frames in ForgeCut and VEGAS, and 1,797 in Premiere. File duration also includes container and audio padding. These small differences are retained in the evidence.
All 12 files were fully decoded and checked for dimensions, frame cadence, duration, and non-silent stereo audio with the expected tones. Four picture samples per editor were visually reviewed. This checks content and integrity; perceptual quality equivalence has not been established. ForgeCut used NVIDIA NVENC. Premiere and VEGAS used their saved presets; this is not a comparison with identical hardware-encoding settings.
The installed versions were ForgeCut 0.70.8, Premiere 14.7.0 build 23, and VEGAS 14.0 build 161. The evidence includes executable hashes, source and project hashes, individual times, output sizes, and validation details. Earlier setup attempts with a different source frame rate are excluded from this dataset.
Download benchmark evidence (JSON)