AVC

This is by far the most popular video codec. AVC has relatively fast encoding speed and can support videos up to 3840x2160 in resolution. Hardware encoding support is available for AVC and can be enabled using the Hardware checkbox in the AVC > Main tab. Scroll down this page for more details. The supported hardware encoders are: NVENC (Nvidia), QuickSync (Intel), or AMF (AMD).

Recommend for:
General purpose, fast yet high quality encode, videos intended to be shared online, universal support across all devices.

NOT recommend for:
Resolutions above 3840x2160, high compression, videos with more than 8-bit color depth.

Usage

Encoding Mode

Constant Rate Factor (1 pass):
This is the recommended option. The video bitrate is automatically adjusted during the encoding process in accordance with the CRF value to provide a high quality output while having a highly compressed video.

Lower values = better quality (min: 0).
Higher value = lower quality (max: 51).
Lossless quality = 0.
Recommend option = 17.

Average Bitrate (1 pass):
Encodes the video in a defined average bitrate (kbits/s). The required bitrate varies on the basis of the resolution of the video, the frame rate, and the colors.

Higher value = higher quality.
Lower value = lower quality.

Target Bitrate (2 pass):
Encodes the video to a specified file size or a specific bitrate. This option is recommended if you need the video file to be at a specific file size. This encoding method is 2 pass, meaning the video encodes twice.

Constant Quantizer (1 pass):
This option is similar to Constant Rate Factor, but does not consider the visual aspects when encoding the video like Constant Rate Factor. This is the next best alternative to Constant Rate Factor rate control.

Lower values = better quality (min: 0).
Higher value = lower quality (max: 51).
Lossless quality = 0.
Recommend option = 17.

Hardware Encoding

Hardware encoding is available as an option for much faster encoding speeds. Profiling, Colors, Profile, Tune, Reference frames, and Bframes are disabled when hardware encoding is enabled.


NVENC:
This hardware encoder utilizes Nvidia GPUs. Constant quantizer, Average bitrate, and Target bitrate are all supported rate controls.

QuickSync:
This hardware encoder utilizes Intel GPUs. Constant quantizer, Average bitrate, and Target bitrate are all supported rate controls.

AMF:
This hardware encoder utilizes AMD GPUs. Constant quantizer, Average bitrate, and Target bitrate are all supported rate controls.

Profile and Tune:

Tune:
Sets the tune for the video on the basis of what type of video the source is.

Preset:
Sets the CPU preset (speed) to use for encoding.

Higher preset = faster encode but lower quality.
Lower preset = slower encode but higher quality.
Recommended: slow

AVC Profiling

You can manually adjust the profile if your video consists of high color depth and color sampling. Disabling it will simply allow the encoder to automatically assign the profile, level and colors (recommended).

Profile:
The encoding profile to use. The recommended option to use is High for most videos. Select High 10 for videos in 10-bit color depth and adjust the color depth in the colors group box to 10-bit. For videos in 4:2:2 sampling, set the profile to High 4:2:2 and set the color sampling to 4:2:2 in the colors group box.

Level:
The level to assign to the video profile. This option should be set on the basis of the resolution and frame rate of the video. Use a higher level for high frame rate / resolution videos and use a lower value for low frame rate / resolution videos. Set to Unlimited to allow the encoder to automatically assign a level (recommended).

Frames

Reference Frames:
The number of reference (future) frames for the encoder to use.

B-Frames:
The number of B-frames/prediction frames to assign to the video. More B-frames typically allow higher video compression.