The recently released Squeeze 9 from Sorenson Media is the first major point release of the video encoding software in about a year and a half. And if you’re into professional videography, you’ll want to add it to your arsenal. What’s new and kool in the upgrade. Here are just some of the improvements:

° It offers industry first HTML-5 optimization — which is great since iOS doesn’t like Flash.

° Squeeze 9 boasts a refined overall aesthetic and streamlined user experience. Squeeze 9 takes what was already there and optimizes it. It’s cleaner, more elegant and easier to use. Also, the iconography is more universal, and the search bar more prominent.

° It’s faster. How fast? About two times faster than version 8 and up to six times faster than competitors. It does this by, among other things, taking advantage of multi-core processors.

° Squeeze 9 adds closed captioning.

° It boasts new video stitching. You can implement pre and post rolls to, for example, add marketing.

° Squeeze 9 sports an enhanced “Review & Approval” feature that’s even snappier.

° There are enhanced time code options/support.

° Squeeze 9 integrates with Squeeze Server 2.0 for more efficiency.

° It sports Mountain Lion support.

Sorenson Squeeze 9 is now available at a price of US$799 in the Standard edition, $999 for Squeeze Pro, and at various upgrade prices for past versions of Sorenson Squeeze at http://www.sorensonmedia.com/upgrades. All Squeeze 9 customers receive full, free use of all Sorenson 360 unique features for Review and Approval.