H.265 4k Bitrate

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Avideo codec is a piece of software or hardware used to compress and decompress (that is, encode and decode) video files. This is a necessary step in video broadcasting, as it makes normally large video files small enough to send via the distribution network, but it also makes the video file playable once it reaches its destination.

H.264, also known as Advanced Video Coding (AVC) or MPEG-4 Part 10 is the most widely used video compression standard in the industry right now. It was first released in 2004 as a much more advanced version of its predecessors.

H.264 has the power to lower video bitrates by a much larger margin without compromising the quality of the video nearly as much as previous codecs. This high-efficiency video encoding is precisely what made H.264 become the most widely used codec of all time.

H.264 utilizes block-oriented coding. In other words, it breaks down each video frame into so-called macroblocks (up to 1616 pixels). It then uses data from the current and previous frames to form a prediction of motion, which, in turn, makes for a more efficient encoding process. During the decoding process, these predictions are used to reconstruct each macroblock. The video can then be played through an HTML5 video player.

Due to higher efficiency, HEVC requires better (and more expensive) hardware than its predecessor. Because of this, it is still mostly used by professional broadcasters and streamers, rather than the general public.

Unlike AVC, HEVC does not use macroblocks in the encoding and decoding process. Instead, it uses coding tree units (CTUs), which are not necessarily the same size or shape. CTUs can be as small as 44 pixels and as large as 6464 pixels, which allows the program to compress data way more efficiently.

Aside from differently-sized blocks, HEVC also boasts a much more efficient motion compensation and prediction technology, making it a particularly good choice for very dynamic videos.

More advanced technology also means that H.265 requires much more advanced hardware, which has been somewhat of an obstacle in this codec gaining popularity. On the other hand, H.265 requires much less bandwidth and processing power to go through the encoding and decoding processes.

So which one should you choose, H.264 or H.265? Are you a content creator looking to start live streaming from the comfort of your bedroom? Then H.264 should be more than enough for your needs. Do you work for a large broadcasting company looking to make the streaming process more efficient? Then you might get more bang for your buck with H.265.

The main difference between H.264 and H.265 is the efficiency of video compression. H.265 requires half as much bandwidth for the same task, but it also necessitates more powerful hardware.

H.265 is better for video streaming, as it has higher compression rates without visible deterioration of video quality. However, H.264 provides enough quality for most everyday uses, and it is still considered an industry standard.

H.265 can compress videos with no visible loss of video quality. However, even if there is no perceived quality deterioration, H.265 is considered a lossy codec, so some quality loss is expected.

Such video encoding technologies solve the issue with better, more efficient compression, which means you use less bandwidth for broadcasting a stable stream at the same (or better!) quality, and your viewers need less bandwidth to watch your content on any device they want, directly translating to better engagement numbers for you.

Also known as AVC or Advanced Video Coding, part of the MPEG4-Part 10 spec, H.264 was developed by the ISO/IEC MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) and ITU-T VCEG (Video Coding Experts Group), and first made available in 2014. It is ubiquitous; standardized near-universally after the release of the Apple iPad, and found everywhere from Blu-Rays to Twitch and Netflix, to the medical and surveillance industries.

First, each video frame is divided into a grid of pixel blocks, with low detail areas being larger (the default; 16x16 blocks), and high detail areas being smaller (transformable down to 8x8 or 44). Each of these is called a macroblock.

HEVC also uses spatial and temporal prediction to make up the difference for moving objects but packs a far more advanced solution for them (Merge Mode and Advanced Motion Vector Prediction). Plus, it boasts improved deblocking filters and sample adaptive offset filtering, ensuring better image quality.

This is a huge drawback if you make content that is live and interactive. The worse the delay between the streamer/broadcaster and the audience, the worse the live-streaming experience will be on both sides. From a business perspective, it is necessary to weed out streaming issues at the earliest so that your viewers will not only watch but could be persuaded to take a purchase decision.

Use H.264. For WebRTC/Twitch feeds, your latency requirements take priority over your space/bandwidth requirements. H.265, while amazing, also takes 10-20x longer to encode, which is just not going to cut it for real-time use cases. Not to mention how WebRTC is notoriously difficult to get working on some devices using H.265.

H.264 is the only choice here. It has had decades to mature and cultivate an ecosystem that supports it universally. Pretty much every OTT/streaming platform and device (including old cameras) supports it natively, and there have been tremendous efficiency gains in the past decade that make it work without too much hassle on older hardware.

It occupied 82% of the global market of video codecs and containers till 2018 (Statista). Its market share has evidently increases since Apple rejected Adobe Flash and made the (then controversial) move to champion H.264 and HTML5 video for the iPad and connected devices.

x264 works well enough for 95% of the video content on the internet, and the bitrate/quality ratio it offers has been good enough to be used everywhere from Blu-Ray discs to Twitch streaming, for years now. Yes, H.265 wins vs. H.264 at raw numbers, but at what cost? Its encoders are far slower, so when you modify its settings to get faster encode times, it lowers quality.

Hopefully, now you have enough of a technical primer to jump into streaming, and content creation. RAW videos must be encoded/compressed into sizes and formats manageable enough for the internet, before they can be uploaded and cached on a content delivery network (CDN) that can optimize them for delivery, from servers nearest to your viewers.

Striking a balance between file sizes, visual fidelity, latency, and in a format that lets you reach as many people as you can is critical for this industry, and knowing your stuff when it comes to compression techniques like H.264 and H.265 will help you do just that.

I just built a desktop PC to speed things up. I have an AMD 3970X 32 core CPU, ASUS TRX40 Zenith II Extreme Alpha mobo, 64 gigs of RAM, and just got my hands on an Asus TUF O.C. 3090 GPU Freekin insane BEAST! The editing and rendering process is INCREDIBLE!!

Sorry, but when utilizing Hardware Encoding, you have to abide by certain constraints brought about by Quick Sync technology. Once you exceed those constraints, you are forced to use Software Encoding. My guess is that by pumping up the bitrate, you are doing just that.

I don't think it has anything to do with that, I'm using Hardware encoding and i was able to change the bitrate, all i had to do is in encoding settings change the Teir from Main to High and the bitrate uncapped

While AVC uses the integer discrete cosine transform (DCT) with 44 and 88 block sizes, HEVC uses both integer DCT and discrete sine transform (DST) with varied block sizes between 44 and 3232. The High Efficiency Image Format (HEIF) is based on HEVC.[2]

In most ways, HEVC is an extension of the concepts in H.264/MPEG-4 AVC. Both work by comparing different parts of a frame of video to find areas that are redundant, both within a single frame and between consecutive frames. These redundant areas are then replaced with a short description instead of the original pixels. The primary changes for HEVC include the expansion of the pattern comparison and difference-coding areas from 1616 pixel to sizes up to 6464, improved variable-block-size segmentation, improved "intra" prediction within the same picture, improved motion vector prediction and motion region merging, improved motion compensation filtering, and an additional filtering step called sample-adaptive offset filtering. Effective use of these improvements requires much more signal processing capability for compressing the video but has less impact on the amount of computation needed for decompression.

HEVC was standardized by the Joint Collaborative Team on Video Coding (JCT-VC), a collaboration between the ISO/IEC MPEG and ITU-T Study Group 16 VCEG. The ISO/IEC group refers to it as MPEG-H Part 2 and the ITU-T as H.265. The first version of the HEVC standard was ratified in January 2013 and published in June 2013. The second version, with multiview extensions (MV-HEVC), range extensions (RExt), and scalability extensions (SHVC), was completed and approved in 2014 and published in early 2015. Extensions for 3D video (3D-HEVC) were completed in early 2015, and extensions for screen content coding (SCC) were completed in early 2016 and published in early 2017, covering video containing rendered graphics, text, or animation as well as (or instead of) camera-captured video scenes. In October 2017, the standard was recognized by a Primetime Emmy Engineering Award as having had a material effect on the technology of television.[3][4][5][6][7]

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