H264 Vs H265 - Which Should You Use?
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 12 ส.ค. 2024
- H.264 and H.265 are both delivery format codecs but which should you be using in your workflow and to deliver to clients?
Well, both have advantages and disadvantages to their use so let's take a look at which is best for your needs.
You can skip ahead to the part you need using these timecodes:
Intro: 00:00
What is H.264/AVC: 00:57
How Does H.264/AVC Work: 02:08
What is H.265/HEVC: 02:57
How Does H.265/HEVC Work: 04:17
Why You Shouldn't Edit With Either: 05:57
Bitrate Vs File Size Vs Quality: 06:41
Different Codecs - Different Destinations: 08:13
The Take Away: 09:35
The accompanying article to this video can found here:
www.digiprotips.com/h-264-vs-...
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Possible useful tip from personal experience: Only because of no budget for a new camera, I've continued to record heavy motion (real world, not gaming) HD 1080 video on a 2012 Canon camcorder (AVCHD files) all the way up to early 2023. But after upload to TH-cam, I was always bothered by blocking induced on busy backgrounds (quick movements of trees/bushes) from their compression. So around 2020, instead of doing my usual H.264 HD export out of Premiere, I began to explore exporting my 1080 video in H.265 4k. Long story short, now, after TH-cam compresses it, if I watch it on TH-cam in 4k, my fast-moving, busy backgrounds have zero induced blocking from TH-cam compression. This month I finally got a new rig (4k camera, faster computer, etc.) so maybe I won't need this trick anymore, but maybe someone out there can still use it.
The sound level difference between your voice and that music you plug in is too much! Friendly advice to lower the music you play (the transitional music between different segments).
Super clear and useful! Exactly what I was looking to understand!!
I'm watching this video in April 2024 on the s24 ultra. The super slow mo tap function stopped working. Why....well cause I switched to HEVC cause it looks better. But to use super slow mo tap it has to be in H.264 😂 thank you for explaining all of this. I got this phone for video recording in UHD10+ is nice the slow mo is just a neat trick. Recording in H.265 is noticeable to say the least. Venues started paying my for my IG stories. 😂
very good explanation of the differences between codecs
What are absolutely amazing video. I wish nothing but the best after watching two hours worth of videos. This was the most information and most organized information without a doubt. This video kicked videos with three times the views out of the water.
What an awesome comment!! Thank you!
Fantastic video. Thanks for taking the time to put this together.
Thanks Drew!
Everything I needed to know. Thank you!
This here is that video. Great explanation and straight to the point.
Thanks!
Thank you a lot! So much knowledge I didn't know I needed
Thanks!
Thank youuu!
I was surprised not to hear anything about the patent situation. Last I checked, essential parts of H.265 were claimed by members of MPEG-LA, HEVC Advance, and a third patent pool.
Will AV1 or VVC-H.266 ever be wildly adopted as Industry Standards? I understand that AV1 incorporates VP10, is Open, and Apple is slowly accepting it, but I have yet to see AV1 used on the iOS TH-cam apps. I’ve never seen VVC-H.266 used anywhere (except for online examples), let alone hearing about a company adopting it in their equipment so that it can be encoded, decoded, and rendered properly. I think MPEG-I is being saved for XR-MR-VR/AR.
Yours is by far the most comprehensive yet simple video I have found after trying to read about all of this online for over an hour - THANK YOU for taking the time to make these videos and educate us, beginners! Subscribed to your channel!
Thanks for the awesome comment! Glad it helped!
Great video! Learned a lot
I have a reasonably modern M1 Macbook, which comes with Quicktime, which I use a lot. It is not able to open videos created with H.265, so I've switched my IP camera to record in H.264, which Quicktime happily opens.
Thanks for the info!
Thanks. This was very helpful
Thanks for a very informative and helpful video.
You’re welcome Ian Harper!
thank you brother!
The day I bought my Fuji X-T3, I've only been shooting 4k h.265 in .MOV and then I proxy to DNxHR for easy editing. The file sizes triple, but my old 4th gen CPU can at least handle the footage, lol. I learnt that when I notice my friend has a hardcore PC but struggles to edit sometimes because he proxies to h.264. Smaller files, but harder to decode.
Very useful content.
Thanks my man this answered a lot of questions lol ya gotta sub and like for sure!
Thanks Jakethe!
Well done
Well Explained
Good video, clear precise. Well done
Thanks! Appreciate the comment!
Nice introduction, I like H.265 , but it is still not cvconvenient for distribution to everyone 😊
I am on M1 Pro. The decoding and encoding of H265 is not a problem for me. So, the ideal case for me is that, I shoot everything in H265, edit them in H265, but output them in H264, right? Thanks
Thanks for clarifying a little although I'm still a little confused, at least it gave me an idea that it's worth using h265 to record videos with the stock camera app on my phone, at least for some things, in other situations I use RAW video that has much higher quality and allows, later in the editor, to export h265 with a higher bitrate than the stock camera can record, not to mention that in RAW video the full sensor resolution (binned) is available
This is an excellent video!
Thanks!
I only film in H.265 since like 2019. But for youtube might just opt for H.264 for studio videos because it's enough quality then export it as H.265.
I learned a lot here. thank you for the value, implementing straight away especially intermediary codecs.
You are most welcome! Glad to help!
@@DigiProTips i learned about H264 and H265 what is best quality for watch movies?
@@gamingvithu2554 movies on blu-ray always come in H264, and on UHD blu-ray always in H265. Both have excellent quality; it is just a matter whether FHD is enough for you or if you want to go the extra mile and get UHD blu-ray for your 4K TV.
very interesting, so on a new large installation i guess one should go with H265 to keep up with the future. 😎 thanks.
Indeed. Been rendering all my gaming content in H265 from Nov 2020 with my RTX 3080, with Premiere Pro. Absolutely amazing quality and fast rendering. As I've been creating all my content in 4k for some years now, the CPU rendering has been a time consuming process prior to moving to H265 and GPU rendering. Now it takes about 90-95% of the length of the video, in 4k at 40Mbps, with H265, to render the final video. So a 20 minute gaming video in 4k 60fps 40Mbps takes about 18-19 minutes to render. The quality is sharp, and the pipeline is 4-6 times faster compared to any CPU rendering. And the 40Mbps with the H265 is more than enough for 60fps content. It's just that I'm still not sure if TH-cam processes the video back in H264. I'm getting conflicting info on the web for that. Some say the H265 format works nowadays on TH-cam, while other insist that it doesn't. Who knows 🤷♀️
TH-cam definitely supports H.265. I tried it myself. However, TH-cam reencodes all videos in H.264, VP9 or AV1. The choice of encoder depends on various factors. Videos with a resolution higher than FHD are encoded in VP9. If you have reached a certain size on TH-cam, TH-cam will even give you the AV1 codec. If you are an unknown TH-camr, but many have watched your video (and of course it has no higher resolution than FHD), VP9 will also be applied. Everything else is encoded in H.264/AVC.
@@plyplay3988 On point ^
@@plyplay3988 So it doesn't really matter if you upload a 4k 60fps video onto youtube in either h.264 or h.265, but just save some time and space on your ssd by using h265? Did I understand that right?
I would argue it also depends on your CPU. If you have an good R7900X (I have that one) or similar then CPU Rendering with H.264 is faster then H.265 with my GPU at 4K. Maybe I am missing something though. Not an expert and glad to learn what I am doing wrong if I am. (Edit I have an RTX3090)
@flimermithrandir Nvidia hardware rendering is easily 4-5 times faster than any CPU rendering. A modern RTX card is the fastest consumer rendering tech available.
I can render a 4k60fps gaming video at 80Mbps bitrate, H265, in the time of the length of the video, or a bit faster, with my 3080 Ti. So if I make a 20 minute video, it's rendering takes usually 17-19 minutes with hardware rendering in Premiere Pro.
Just Subbed, After the hard work you put in to this it would be rude not to llol
Thanks Stehume!
great one sube for you
9:32 the platform you are also streaming too has to be able to dish out the x265 encoded stream to its users
thanks for the vid, i just want to ask a question not actually in the right topic though...
i want to download videos from the internet and i dont know which i should choose (hevc or avc), i mean i like hevc more because it requires less storage to save a video but i dont know should i use it or not because of the hardware...
I have a question I can't seem to get an answer to. I use GH6. I can shoot in intra or I can shoot in pro res. They are both intra. If choosing between the two would there be any extra benefit to shooting in proRes when it comes to editing hardware. In other words is proRes easier to edit on my machine then just regular INTRA (.mov)
Thank You a lot, and what can You say about AV1 and VP9 codecs in comparison with H.265(HEVC)? Is it possible to get H.265 codec for Windows 8.1 OC?
Great video! One question; So H.265 is preferred for streaming... Would that include videos on one's TH-cam channel?? Is there an advantage to rendering your video using H.265 to upload to TH-cam? Thanks!
Hey Commander Tim, H.265 is only a benefit for streaming if it’s not going through another encoder and you have the computer power to stream in H.265. If streaming to TH-cam you wouldn’t see a benefit as TH-cam recompresses anything uploaded to it anyway.
If you have a newer computer or a Mac with an M1 chip then it could be quicker to export in H.265 and you could save storage space due to needing a lower bitrate. But if you have an older PC you’re still better off with H.264.
Hope that helps?
Unless you use Davinci Resolve 17 free version - because H.265 allows use of the GPU to encode, so it's way faster than H.264
Nice tip, thanks SpaceCouncil
If bandwidth allocation is limited, x265 can offer a huge advantage. For static uploading this might not be critical, for live streaming x265 can be a huge improvement though. While working at an event where we ran into a scenario where bandwidth was limited, x264 was possible, but came with a lot of frame drops and stuttering at the receiving end. That issue disappeared when we switched to x265. Despite the limited bandwidth we had at the location, we were even able to utilize two feeds, with very limited frame drops.
I can imagine that streamers that game online at the same time would love this benefit. If upgrading the internet connection isn't an option,.. upgrading to x265 might offer a nice solution. Having said that, I'm not sure what the servers at TH-cam or Twitch (for example) do with the format they receive, and if decompression at the viewer's end causes issues. So the benefit a streamer has (lower bandwidth usage on his or her end) might introduce drawbacks for the viewer. In the example used above however, all feedback was pretty promising.
Thanks for commenting with that real world example adudenamedDave. That’s exactly the sort of benefit I was talking about for streamers.
I’m not an expert whatsoever, just a teen into videography recently, but can’t TH-cam or the streaming platform convert it in real time? They produce billions in profits, I’m sure they could invest in architecture to produce a steady h.264 stream?
edit: (out of a h.265 that was uploaded by a streamer)
From my experience, I can confirm that H.264 is faster to render. TH-cam upload and processing slower with poorer video quality.
H.265 is slower to render, but faster and better quality video on TH-cam. The file size is the same.
Human eyes can't see higher than 4k at normal viewing angle, so I only regard 8k as being for producers, not public delivery. Though obviously, if you're uploading to TH-cam, the higher the resolution and quality, the better, ideally lossless.
In my case, I have slow upload speeds. So, using H. 265 to create a smaller file size seems like the best choice for me. But you said that editing with this codec is not recommended. It would have been nice if you had made a recommendation for which codec to use while editing. I use Davinci Resolve for my editing. I'd also like to get your recommendation for an ideal bit rate.
Hey Captain Daedalus, thanks for your comment. Either H.264 or H.265 are delivery formats only, they shouldn’t be edited with due to the pressure it puts on your system. You should always transcode your media to an intermediary codec to edit with (such as ProRes or DNxHD).
As for bit rate for delivery, it completely depends on the resolution of your timeline, the delivery destination (social will require lower bit rates than traditional platforms). As I mentioned in the video though, you can usually go by the rule of thumb if taking a third off what you’d normally export a H.264 file in.
Hope that helps?
@@DigiProTips Thanks so much for responding. As I'm still a novice and trying to educate myself, your answer helps greatly.
Any issue if I record in H265 but export in H264? Would like to have more efficient storage on long shoots, but still want to export from premiere in H264. Thanks for the great video!
No issue with that whatsoever for exporting. Only issue is editing. You don’t really want to be editing with either H.264 or H.265, you want to transcode to a more efficient codec for editing with.
@@DigiProTips got it, thank you! Yeah I agree, I do use proxies. Once I was editing iPhone HEVC footage and it was such a headache, but I think the issue was that it was HDR which I wasn’t prepared for, so I’ve just been wary after that 😅
I will subscribe if you answer this question for me please.
What is streaming or what does streaming mean ?
Thanks
If II am using an action camera to record and I am going to edit later should I record 264 or 265 ? I have been doing some high speed recording on a car in 264 4k and there has been some bad effects in hedge, tree and sky with clouds , which I assume is compression and code , perfectly fine at slowe speeds .I have started recording in 265 , but if it's harder for the small processor in the action camera to compress a 265 file will I have worse quality with 265 than 264 . Which format is best to record in ? Which will give me the highest quality video ?
You’ll get more storage space and better quality from your action cam if you record in H.265 BUT and this is the big BUT from the video… you shouldn’t be editing with either H.264 or H.265. You should always transcode it to an editing friendly codec like ProRes before editing. You’ll have a much better time in post-production if you do that.
Great video, my friend! I know that H.265 makes the computer suffer when the edit is done. I wonder if the footage is h.265 from sony, for example, would it be possible to make them Proxy (Davinci) for low resolution and after the edit we convert them to their original format ?? Is this the right solution?
Thank you!! 100% the solution to go with! Proxy workflow is always a smoother editing experience.
Thanks!!@@DigiProTips
Modern dash cams can record MP4 with both H.264 and H.265 codecs.
RECORDING in H.265 can improve video quality (and car license plate identification) or simply reduce file size (so microSD can record for longer)?
In short, is *RECORDING* in H.265 also good for quality or just for space consumption?
By extension of being able to save space you can improve quality with H.265 because you can record a higher resolution with a lower bitrate than H.264 but neither are better quality out of the box, they are technically the same quality when it comes to resolution.
@@DigiProTips 👍 thanks!
@@DigiProTips It can also do 12 bit color.....
So...when recording on my DJI Air 2S, which can push out 5.4K video and coupled with my 1st generation M1, it's safe to say I can record in H.265...correct? My computer can pretty much keep up with this 'worst'(yet best) possible scenario. I am very new to video and I'm trying real hard to wrap my head around all this stuff. As for stills...I have 40+ years behind the lens of a camera. I did subscribe...nice video.
Hi Harrison Gould, so the answer to the question is yes but the real question is ‘should you edit with that H.265 recording?’ To which the answer would be ‘no’.
The DJI records in H.265 to get better quality with lower file sizes but this is not efficient when it comes to editing. Even with an M1 processor you want to transcode that H.265 recording into something less demanding on the computer. This would be something like Apple ProRes.
You can then export your final edit back out at H.265 to save space and with an M1 processor it would actually be quicker too but for the actual phase of editing you don’t want to edit with H.265.
Hope that helps?
@@DigiProTips I guess it helps if I knew as much as you. I see where you're going but wrapping my head around it is a tad hard. I need to re-read and apply the workflow to fully understand. Thanks a lot.
@@harrisongould9460 yah just when you think you have understood how it kind of works ten a video like tis pops up and back to square one lol. i have an M1 as well and after watching a video on colour grading by a top pro he says that the M1 can pretty much handle the H265 and only if you have an older computer or a windows machine then use a different format to edit in ...........just mind boggling , if you read this can you tell me what you now us to edit and export and has it made any different to quality and file size. thanks
@@DigiProTips Yup…I’m back again. I caught everything you said this time around. So my question is, should I just recorded H.264? Would this allow me to skip the Apple ProRes route? I like the fact of playing around with Apple ProRes but if I don’t have to… I don’t want to. Thanks so much and have a wonderful summer.
Thanks for the info. I got a question though I started a TH-cam channel and I am uploading videos when I watch them on the app on my phone or computer it come out Crystal clear. However when I upload them on TH-cam they become blurry. I'm not too sure why this is and it's a little frustrating, should I use h.264 or h.265 for better video quality.
Hi Roostwire, are you checking immediately after upload? TH-cam takes a little while to create the HD & 4K versions after upload. You will only see the SD version until it had completed that process.
@@DigiProTips Thank you for your reply. I have waited for the HD version to fully load up and it still seems a little grainy or not clear. Do I have to shoot in 4k to get the 4K quality on TH-cam. Currently I'm just doing 1080p
@@roostwire You probably know this by now but, you have to upload it in anything higher then 1080p to get the better quality codec from youtube. You could shoot in 1080p60 and export it in 4k60, cause 4k30 doesn't look that smooth, but that's a personal thing.
@@roostwireOn which codec are you uploading on TH-cam ??
Hi bro,
I am exporting video to laptop and uploading it to my TH-cam channel. Which is better for me H.264 or H.265???
Did you get the answer ??
@@Gaurav.P0 no. But I tried h.265. It is good.
I use x264 because I don't like odd numbers! :)
🤣
My DJI Air 2s shoots in h.265 but I render in h.264 because YT seems to make H.265 flicker and show more artifacts, even when rendered at a higher bitrate. It's a bit wank.
That’s a strange bug I haven’t seen before. Will need to look into that
@@DigiProTips I've seen a few people it happens to. It's weird for sure.
Out of interest, what did you export this video as for youtube?
Haha! Good question! H.264 (just habit/personal preference at this point)
I shot a 4-minute short film using H265, I haven't gotten to editing it yet, it was intended for youtube, now I am concerned people won't be able to watch it. Anyway to convert it to H264?
i know this is old and you prob know the answer now, im also new to this but i think whatever you load it to youtube as if youtube takes it it will play it,
When you upload a video to TH-cam, TH-cam automatically converts it to several different sizes and formats to serve to different viewers. This may include H.264, H.265, VP8, VP9, and AV1, at LD, SD, HD, and 4K resolutions.
Does h265 recording require more battery power than h264? Just from the camera side, before video editing.
Money isn't the problem, weight and space savings are, it is easier to carry memory cards and ssds, but batteries are big and heavy.
In this case, is h264 better than h265?
Hey, so this is a great question and I can’t say I’ve done much research into it.
But what I do know is that H.265 takes more computational power to encode and decode than H.264 to get the higher level of compression without compromising on quality.
So with that in mind you’d lean towards it requiring more battery power. However, a caveat is that new camera processors are getting better and better and so the disparity is getting less and less.
For most, the file size saving and therefore less cards would be the winning factor but if weight is your priority then yes, I’d lean to using H.264.
I’d just do a simple test though, start with two equal batteries at full charge. Record for 20 mins or so on one in H.264 and then another test on the other battery in H.264 and compare battery remaining on both.
Be interested to know so please write in the comments if you do. Thanks!
I just thought H.265 was better because it's a higher number🤣
Which is the best x264 or x265
H.266
does H.265 use more CPU and more GPU than H.264 ?
For older systems yes but for newer ones where they are more powerful and optimised for H.265 processing now it really doesn’t make too much difference. If you have an older PC then stick with H.265 for speed and use H.265 if you need to save space.
H.265 best for movies
the chapter title music is like 15 db too loud
I just switched to h265 and the video quality is way worse. it is blocky and pixelated and just agly. I will switch back again.
I do not agree with these codecs being only useful as a delivery format. You usually don't really have a choice when it comes to the source format. For the semi-professional use, a 3.000$ camcorder delivering 200Mbps HEVC is already extremely good for 4K.
For AVC and Full HD, 50Mbps is very good as a source. There will be no artifacting whatsoever.
h264 - less CPU intensive good quality and speeds
h265 - more CPU intensive great quality and better speeds
personally h264 isn't going anywhere soon and until hardware catches up to the public h265 will be limited.
hache dot 265 what is Hache
hache =
h lol