> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.bitbonsai.app/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Codec Selection

> Choose between HEVC and AV1 codecs

## Quick Comparison

Choose the right [codec](/glossary#codec) for your [library](/glossary#library) based on [encoding](/glossary#encoding) speed, file size, and device compatibility.

<Note>
  **New to video encoding?** A codec is the format used to compress video. See the [codec glossary entry](/glossary#codec) for a simple explanation.
</Note>

| Feature                                                      | [HEVC](/glossary#codec) (H.265) | AV1                      |
| ------------------------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------- | ------------------------ |
| **File Size Reduction**                                      | 40-60% smaller vs H.264         | 50-70% smaller vs H.264  |
| **Encoding Speed**                                           | Fast (CPU/[GPU](/glossary#gpu)) | Slow (CPU only)          |
| **[Hardware Acceleration](/glossary#hardware-acceleration)** | NVIDIA, Intel, AMD              | Limited (Intel Arc only) |
| **Device Compatibility**                                     | Widespread (2015+)              | Limited (2020+)          |
| **Quality at Same [Bitrate](/glossary#bitrate)**             | Good                            | Excellent                |
| **Browser Playback**                                         | Safari, Edge                    | Chrome, Firefox, Edge    |
| **Smart TV Support**                                         | Most 2016+ models               | Few 2021+ models         |
| **Best For**                                                 | Balanced speed + compatibility  | Maximum storage savings  |

<Info>
  **TL;DR:** Use **HEVC** for faster encoding and broad device support. Use **AV1** for maximum space savings if you have time and modern playback devices.
</Info>

***

## When to Use HEVC

HEVC (H.265) is the **balanced choice** for most users who want significant file size reduction without sacrificing encoding speed or device compatibility.

### Ideal Scenarios

<Card title="Fast Encoding Required" icon="bolt">
  Encoding large libraries (1000+ movies) where time matters more than maximum compression. HEVC encodes 5-20x faster than AV1.
</Card>

<Card title="Hardware Encoder Available" icon="microchip">
  NVIDIA RTX 20/30/40 series, Intel 6th gen+, or AMD RX 6000+ [GPUs](/glossary#gpu) provide 3-10x speedup with NVENC/QSV/VCE [hardware acceleration](/glossary#hardware-acceleration).
</Card>

<Card title="Apple Ecosystem" icon="apple">
  iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV all support HEVC natively since 2016. Safari requires HEVC for efficient video streaming.
</Card>

<Card title="Smart TV Playback" icon="tv">
  Most smart TVs from 2016+ support HEVC hardware decoding. Older or budget TVs often lack AV1 support.
</Card>

### HEVC Performance Examples

| Hardware              | Resolution | Speed      | Time for 2-hour movie |
| --------------------- | ---------- | ---------- | --------------------- |
| Intel i5-12400 (CPU)  | 1080p      | 15-25 FPS  | 45-75 minutes         |
| Intel i9-13900K (CPU) | 1080p      | 30-50 FPS  | 25-40 minutes         |
| NVIDIA RTX 3060 (GPU) | 1080p      | 60-100 FPS | 12-20 minutes         |
| NVIDIA RTX 4090 (GPU) | 4K         | 80-120 FPS | 20-30 minutes         |
| Intel i5-12400 (CPU)  | 4K         | 5-10 FPS   | 3-5 hours             |

<Tip>
  Enable [hardware acceleration](/glossary#hardware-acceleration) in **Settings → Encoding** to unlock [GPU](/glossary#gpu) speeds. [HEVC](/glossary#codec) on NVIDIA RTX 3060+ provides near-identical quality to CPU at 5-10x the speed.
</Tip>

### HEVC File Size Savings

Typical storage reduction when converting from H.264 to HEVC:

| Original Size | Resolution       | HEVC Size | Savings |
| ------------- | ---------------- | --------- | ------- |
| 10 GB         | 1080p BluRay     | 5-6 GB    | 40-50%  |
| 20 GB         | 4K BluRay        | 8-10 GB   | 50-60%  |
| 2 GB          | 1080p TV Episode | 1-1.2 GB  | 40-50%  |
| 50 GB         | 4K HDR Remux     | 20-25 GB  | 50-60%  |

<Check>
  **Real example:** A 500-movie library (5 TB H.264) shrinks to **2.5 TB HEVC** in 2-3 days with NVIDIA RTX 3060.
</Check>

***

## When to Use AV1

AV1 delivers **maximum compression** at the cost of much slower encoding. Best for users with time to spare and modern playback devices.

### Ideal Scenarios

<Card title="Maximum Storage Savings" icon="hard-drive">
  When disk space is expensive and you prioritize smallest file sizes over encoding speed. AV1 achieves 10-20% better compression than HEVC.
</Card>

<Card title="Future-Proofing Library" icon="sparkles">
  AV1 is royalty-free and backed by Google, Netflix, Amazon. It's the long-term successor to HEVC with improving hardware support.
</Card>

<Card title="Chrome/Firefox Streaming" icon="chrome">
  Web-based media servers (Plex, Jellyfin, Emby) benefit from AV1's native support in Chrome/Firefox for efficient browser playback.
</Card>

<Card title="Archival Encodes" icon="archive">
  Encoding a library once for long-term storage where speed doesn't matter. AV1 provides best quality-per-byte for archival purposes.
</Card>

### AV1 Performance Examples

| Hardware                | Resolution | Speed     | Time for 2-hour movie |
| ----------------------- | ---------- | --------- | --------------------- |
| Intel i5-12400 (CPU)    | 1080p      | 2-5 FPS   | 4-8 hours             |
| Intel i9-13900K (CPU)   | 1080p      | 5-10 FPS  | 2-4 hours             |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7950X (CPU) | 1080p      | 6-12 FPS  | 1.5-3 hours           |
| Intel i9-13900K (CPU)   | 4K         | 1-3 FPS   | 10-20 hours           |
| Intel Arc A770 (GPU)\*  | 1080p      | 20-40 FPS | 30-60 minutes         |

<Warning>
  **AV1 hardware encoding is rare.** Only Intel Arc GPUs (2022+) support AV1 encoding acceleration. Most users will encode on CPU at 1/10th the speed of HEVC.
</Warning>

### AV1 File Size Savings

Typical storage reduction when converting from H.264 to AV1:

| Original Size | Resolution       | AV1 Size | Savings |
| ------------- | ---------------- | -------- | ------- |
| 10 GB         | 1080p BluRay     | 4-5 GB   | 50-60%  |
| 20 GB         | 4K BluRay        | 6-8 GB   | 60-70%  |
| 2 GB          | 1080p TV Episode | 0.8-1 GB | 50-60%  |
| 50 GB         | 4K HDR Remux     | 15-20 GB | 60-70%  |

<Check>
  **Real example:** A 500-movie library (5 TB H.264) shrinks to **2 TB AV1** but takes **2-3 weeks** to encode on Intel i9 CPU.
</Check>

***

## Quality Settings (CRF Values)

Both [HEVC](/glossary#codec) and AV1 use **[CRF](/glossary#crf) (Constant Rate Factor)** to control quality. Lower CRF = higher quality + larger files.

| CRF Range | Quality           | File Size                     | Use Case                           |
| --------- | ----------------- | ----------------------------- | ---------------------------------- |
| **18-22** | Visually Lossless | Large (80-90% of source)      | 4K HDR archival, reference quality |
| **23-28** | High Quality      | Medium (40-60% of source)     | **Recommended for most users**     |
| **29-35** | Acceptable        | Small (20-40% of source)      | Low-bitrate streaming, mobile      |
| **36+**   | Low Quality       | Very Small (10-20% of source) | Not recommended                    |

<Info>
  **BitBonsai default: [CRF](/glossary#crf) 23** for both [HEVC](/glossary#codec) and AV1. This provides transparent quality indistinguishable from the source for most content.
</Info>

### CRF Comparison Examples

Encoding a 10 GB 1080p H.264 BluRay movie:

| CRF | HEVC Size | AV1 Size | Quality Notes                 |
| --- | --------- | -------- | ----------------------------- |
| 18  | 8 GB      | 7 GB     | Visually identical to source  |
| 23  | 5 GB      | 4 GB     | Transparent quality (default) |
| 28  | 3 GB      | 2.5 GB   | Minor banding in dark scenes  |
| 33  | 1.5 GB    | 1.2 GB   | Visible compression artifacts |

<Tip>
  **How to adjust [CRF](/glossary#crf):** Settings → Encoding → Quality → CRF slider. Lower for archival quality, higher for streaming/mobile [libraries](/glossary#library).
</Tip>

### Recommended CRF by Content Type

| Content Type      | Recommended CRF | Reasoning                                            |
| ----------------- | --------------- | ---------------------------------------------------- |
| **4K HDR Movies** | 20-23           | High detail, large screen viewing                    |
| **1080p Movies**  | 23-26           | Balanced quality and size                            |
| **TV Shows**      | 24-28           | Fast-paced action, smaller screens                   |
| **Animation**     | 20-24           | Flat colors compress well, benefit from high quality |
| **Old DVDs**      | 28-32           | Source already low quality, no benefit from low CRF  |

***

## Hardware Transcoding

[Hardware encoding](/glossary#hardware-acceleration) uses [GPU](/glossary#gpu)/iGPU for 3-10x speedup vs CPU. Quality is slightly lower but visually transparent for most content.

<Note>
  **What is hardware transcoding?** Using your graphics card to encode videos 5-10x faster than CPU-only encoding. See [hardware acceleration](/glossary#hardware-acceleration) in the glossary.
</Note>

### NVIDIA NVENC (GeForce/RTX)

**Supported cards:** GTX 1650+, RTX 20/30/40 series

**Codecs:** HEVC only (no AV1 on consumer cards)

**Performance:** 5-10x faster than CPU

**Quality:** Near-identical to CPU at default settings

**Setup:**

1. Install NVIDIA drivers 450+
2. Settings → Encoding → Hardware Acceleration → Enable NVENC
3. Select HEVC codec
4. Start encoding (GPU usage visible in `nvidia-smi`)

| GPU Model | 1080p Speed | 4K Speed  | Max Concurrent Jobs |
| --------- | ----------- | --------- | ------------------- |
| GTX 1660  | 40-60 FPS   | 10-15 FPS | 2-3                 |
| RTX 3060  | 60-100 FPS  | 20-30 FPS | 3-4                 |
| RTX 4070  | 80-120 FPS  | 30-40 FPS | 4-5                 |
| RTX 4090  | 100-150 FPS | 40-60 FPS | 5-6                 |

<Tip>
  **NVENC quality tip:** Use preset `p7` (slowest) for best quality. Only 10-20% slower than `p4` but significantly better quality.
</Tip>

### Intel Quick Sync (QSV)

**Supported CPUs:** Intel 6th gen (Skylake) to 14th gen (Raptor Lake)

**Codecs:** HEVC, AV1 (Arc GPUs only)

**Performance:** 3-8x faster than CPU

**Quality:** Good (slightly lower than NVENC)

**Setup:**

1. Enable iGPU in BIOS (may require dummy HDMI plug)
2. Settings → Encoding → Hardware Acceleration → Enable QSV
3. Select HEVC codec
4. Docker: Pass `/dev/dri` device to container

| CPU/GPU Model   | 1080p Speed | 4K Speed  | AV1 Support |
| --------------- | ----------- | --------- | ----------- |
| Intel i5-12400  | 30-50 FPS   | 8-12 FPS  | No          |
| Intel i9-13900K | 40-70 FPS   | 12-18 FPS | No          |
| Intel Arc A380  | 50-80 FPS   | 15-25 FPS | Yes (AV1)   |
| Intel Arc A770  | 80-120 FPS  | 25-40 FPS | Yes (AV1)   |

<Check>
  **Intel Arc is the only consumer GPU with AV1 encoding.** If you want fast AV1 encodes, Arc A380/A750/A770 is your best option.
</Check>

### AMD VCE/VCN

**Supported GPUs:** RX 5000 series (VCN), RX 6000/7000 series (VCN 2.0/3.0)

**Codecs:** HEVC only (no AV1)

**Performance:** 3-6x faster than CPU

**Quality:** Lower than NVENC/QSV (noticeable in complex scenes)

**Setup:**

1. Install AMD drivers
2. Settings → Encoding → Hardware Acceleration → Enable VCE
3. Docker: Pass `/dev/dri` and `/dev/kfd` devices

| GPU Model   | 1080p Speed | 4K Speed  | Notes   |
| ----------- | ----------- | --------- | ------- |
| RX 6600 XT  | 30-50 FPS   | 8-12 FPS  | VCN 3.0 |
| RX 6800 XT  | 40-70 FPS   | 12-18 FPS | VCN 3.0 |
| RX 7900 XTX | 50-80 FPS   | 15-25 FPS | VCN 3.0 |

<Warning>
  AMD hardware encoders have lower quality than NVIDIA/Intel. Recommended only for non-critical encodes or when NVENC/QSV unavailable.
</Warning>

### Hardware vs CPU Quality Comparison

| Encoder             | Quality        | Speed     | Recommendation                                  |
| ------------------- | -------------- | --------- | ----------------------------------------------- |
| **CPU (x264/x265)** | Excellent      | Slow      | Use for archival quality, small batches         |
| **NVENC (NVIDIA)**  | Near-identical | Very Fast | **Best balance of speed + quality**             |
| **QSV (Intel)**     | Good           | Fast      | Great for large batches, slightly lower quality |
| **VCE (AMD)**       | Fair           | Fast      | Last resort, noticeable quality drop            |

***

## Codec Compatibility Matrix

### Playback Device Support

| Device                  | HEVC (H.265)            | AV1                                |
| ----------------------- | ----------------------- | ---------------------------------- |
| **iPhone/iPad**         | ✅ Yes (iOS 11+)         | ❌ No                               |
| **Mac (Apple Silicon)** | ✅ Yes (hardware decode) | ✅ Yes (M3+, software)              |
| **Mac (Intel)**         | ✅ Yes (7th gen+)        | ❌ No                               |
| **Apple TV**            | ✅ Yes (4K model+)       | ❌ No                               |
| **Android Phone**       | ✅ Yes (Android 5.0+)    | ⚠️ Partial (Android 10+, software) |
| **Windows PC**          | ✅ Yes                   | ✅ Yes (software decode)            |
| **Chromebook**          | ⚠️ Partial (software)   | ✅ Yes (native support)             |

### Smart TV Support

| TV Brand    | HEVC (H.265)   | AV1                           |
| ----------- | -------------- | ----------------------------- |
| **Samsung** | ✅ 2016+ models | ⚠️ 2020+ high-end models only |
| **LG**      | ✅ 2016+ models | ⚠️ 2019+ OLED models only     |
| **Sony**    | ✅ 2016+ models | ⚠️ 2021+ select models        |
| **TCL**     | ✅ 2017+ models | ⚠️ 2020+ Roku models          |
| **Vizio**   | ✅ 2016+ models | ❌ No                          |

<Warning>
  **AV1 smart TV support is extremely limited.** If you watch on TV, use HEVC for guaranteed hardware decoding. AV1 may software-decode (slow, stuttering).
</Warning>

### Browser Support

| Browser     | HEVC (H.265)                   | AV1                              |
| ----------- | ------------------------------ | -------------------------------- |
| **Chrome**  | ⚠️ Windows 10+ only (software) | ✅ Yes (native)                   |
| **Firefox** | ❌ No (licensing issues)        | ✅ Yes (native)                   |
| **Safari**  | ✅ Yes (native, hardware)       | ⚠️ Partial (macOS 14+, software) |
| **Edge**    | ✅ Yes (native)                 | ✅ Yes (native)                   |

<Info>
  **For web streaming (Plex, Jellyfin):** Use HEVC if users watch in Safari/Edge, AV1 if primarily Chrome/Firefox.
</Info>

### Media Server Support

| Server       | HEVC (H.265)              | AV1                                      |
| ------------ | ------------------------- | ---------------------------------------- |
| **Plex**     | ✅ Direct play + transcode | ✅ Direct play (transcoding experimental) |
| **Jellyfin** | ✅ Full support            | ✅ Full support (10.8+)                   |
| **Emby**     | ✅ Full support            | ⚠️ Partial support                       |
| **Kodi**     | ✅ Yes (hardware decode)   | ✅ Yes (19.0+, software)                  |
| **VLC**      | ✅ Yes                     | ✅ Yes (3.0+)                             |

***

## Decision Flowchart

```mermaid theme={null}
graph TD
    A[Choose Codec] --> B{Have NVIDIA/Intel GPU?}
    B -->|Yes| C{Need max compression?}
    B -->|No| D{Have time to wait?}
    C -->|Yes| E[AV1 if Intel Arc<br/>HEVC otherwise]
    C -->|No| F[HEVC with GPU]
    D -->|Yes| G{Playback devices?}
    D -->|No| F
    G -->|Apple/TV| F
    G -->|Modern PC/Chrome| H[AV1 on CPU]
    H --> I[Warning: Very slow<br/>5-20x slower than HEVC]
    F --> J[Fast encodes<br/>Broad compatibility]
    E --> K[Best compression<br/>Limited device support]
```

***

## Recommended Presets

### Fast Balanced (HEVC + GPU)

**Best for:** Large libraries, broad device support, fast encoding

```yaml theme={null}
Codec: HEVC
CRF: 23
Hardware: NVENC/QSV
Speed: 60-100 FPS (1080p)
Encoding time: 500 movies in 2-3 days
File size: 40-50% reduction
```

### Maximum Compression (AV1 + CPU)

**Best for:** Small libraries, archival, modern devices

```yaml theme={null}
Codec: AV1
CRF: 23
Hardware: CPU only
Speed: 2-5 FPS (1080p)
Encoding time: 500 movies in 2-3 weeks
File size: 50-60% reduction
```

### Ultra Quality Archival (HEVC + Low CRF)

**Best for:** Reference quality, 4K HDR collection

```yaml theme={null}
Codec: HEVC
CRF: 18-20
Hardware: CPU or NVENC p7
Speed: 10-30 FPS (4K)
Encoding time: 100 4K movies in 1 week
File size: 20-30% reduction (high quality)
```

### Fast Streaming (HEVC + High CRF)

**Best for:** Mobile/web streaming, non-critical content

```yaml theme={null}
Codec: HEVC
CRF: 28-30
Hardware: NVENC/QSV
Speed: 80-120 FPS (1080p)
Encoding time: 500 movies in 1-2 days
File size: 60-70% reduction (lower quality)
```

***

## Related Guides

* **[Hardware Requirements](/installation/requirements)** - Check GPU compatibility
* **[First Library Scan](/guides/first-scan)** - Queue videos for encoding
* **[Monitoring Progress](/guides/monitoring)** - Track encoding stats
* **[Multi-Node Setup](/advanced/multi-node)** - Speed up encoding with workers