This article is for an older version of HandBrake. All versions.

Dieser Artikel ist für eine ältere Version von HandBrake. Alle Versionen.

Video codecs

The following video codecs are available for encoding in HandBrake.

H.264 (x264):
- MPEG-4 Part 10, also known as H.264/AVC
- Provides excellent quality, performance, and file size
- Widely supported by media players, including mobile devices
H.264 (Intel QSV):
- MPEG-4 Part 10, also known as H.264/AVC
- Hardware based encoder available on Intel processors with Intel HD Graphics (Haswell or newer series CPUs recommended for best quality and file size)
- Very fast with significantly lower CPU usage than software H.264 encoders such as x264
- Produces larger (but usually not significantly larger) file sizes and slightly lower quality to an equivalent x264 encode, a trade-off that is typically acceptable, especially on lower performance systems
H.265 (x265)
- MPEG-H Part 2, also known as H.265/HEVC
- Successor to H.264/AVC offering higher quality encodes and smaller file sizes
- Current strengths of x265 are improved quality and compression for low bit rate encodes, and for ultra high definition content
- Significantly slower than software H.264/AVC encoders
- Limited device compatibility compared to H.264/AVC, but this is improving rapidly
MPEG-4 (ffmpeg):
- MPEG-4 Part 2, also known as MPEG-4 Visual
- Predecessor to H.264/AVC offering fast encoding with lower overall quality than H.264/AVC
- Compatible with older devices, inexpensive DVD/flash/network players
MPEG-2 (ffmpeg):
- MPEG-2 Part 2, also known as MPEG-2 Visual and H.262
- Predecessor to MPEG-4 Visual offering very fast encoding with lower quality than modern codecs
- Creates larger files than modern encoders
VP9 (libvpx):
- Developed by Google and the successor to VP8, VP9 is a free and open video codec
- Comparable to HEVC/H.265 in quality and file size
- Slower encoding compared to x265
VP8 (libvpx):
- Developed by On2 Technologies and acquired by Google, VP8 is a free and open video codec
- Successor to Theora offering significant improvements, comparable to H.264/AVC
Theora:
- Developed by Xiph.Org Foundation and based on On2 Technologies' VP3, Theora is a free and open video codec
- Comparable to MPEG-4 Visual in quality and file size