A computer-implemented method for providing media portability and compatibility for different destination platforms, the method comprising the steps of: receiving at least one command to launch a media portability capability provided by a computing system; receiving at least one instance of source media comprising video media as input for transformation on the computing system; automatically determining at least one profile setting based on data communicated from and representing an actual configuration of at least one destination system, the at least one profile setting specifying how to transform the source media for enhanced portability on the at least one destination system for playback and how to achieve a targeted visual quality when rendering the transformed media on the at least one destination system; transforming the source media in response to the profile setting into an intermediate media result; defining a first alpha mask associated with the source media, wherein the first alpha mask specifies visual effects for application to the intermediate media result; defining a second alpha mask different from said first alpha mask associated with the source media, wherein the second alpha mask specifies visual effects for application to the intermediate media result; inserting (412, 416) the intermediate media and the first and second alpha masks into a document; and distributing the document to the at least one destination system for playback of the final media result on the at least one destination system, wherein a final media result to be presented is flexibly obtainable on the at least one destination system from the document by either applying one of the defined alpha masks to the intermediate media result or by directly extracting the intermediate media result as the final media result. receiving at least one command to launch a media portability capability provided by a computing system; receiving at least one instance of source media comprising video media as input for transformation on the computing system; automatically determining at least one profile setting based on data communicated from and representing an actual configuration of at least one destination system, the at least one profile setting specifying how to transform the source media for enhanced portability on the at least one destination system for playback and how to achieve a targeted visual quality when rendering the transformed media on the at least one destination system; transforming the source media in response to the profile setting into an intermediate media result; defining a first alpha mask associated with the source media, wherein the first alpha mask specifies visual effects for application to the intermediate media result; defining a second alpha mask different from said first alpha mask associated with the source media, wherein the second alpha mask specifies visual effects for application to the intermediate media result; inserting (412, 416) the intermediate media and the first and second alpha masks into a document; and distributing the document to the at least one destination system for playback of the final media result on the at least one destination system, wherein a final media result to be presented is flexibly obtainable on the at least one destination system from the document by either applying one of the defined alpha masks to the intermediate media result or by directly extracting the intermediate media result as the final media result.