User:Mai X/HEVC

Here I want to explain some effective ways to transcode or re-encode video (with or without audio). I'll give a list of codecs that I use regulary. Also I'll compare some codecs by main parameters.

Video Features

About pixel formats, alpha-channel, bpp and YUV-subsampling.
Special words:

1. BPP (bpp) - Bits Per Pixel (Total bits for 1 pixel, i.e. RGB24 - 24 BPP).
2. BPC (bpc) - Bits Per Channel (bits for 1 component of a pixel, i.e. RGB24: 3 components - R, G, B; So 24/3 = 8; 8 BPC).
3. VFW (vfw) - Video For Windows. For more info - go here.

Pixel formats

These pixel formats are the most useful for me:

• RGB24 - raw RGB samples without alpha-channel (8 bpc). Can be compressed.
• RGBA32 - raw RGB samples with alpha-channel (8 bpc). Can be compressed.
• YUV 4:4:4 (YV24) - YUV format with highest bpc subsampling. Can be used with 10 or 12 bits profiles in H.26x codecs.
• YUV 4:2:2 (YUYV/YUY2) - Same as above, but with lower bpc subsampling. Can be used only with 8 or 10 bits profiles in same codecs.
• YUV 4:2:0 (NV12/YV12) - Same as above, but with the lowest bpc subsampling. Can be used only with 8 bits profiles in same codecs.
• RGBA64 - raw RGB samples with alpha-channel (16 bpc). Can be compressed. Not really useful, because 8 bpc is enough for everything.

Video Codecs

The list of my favourite lossless video codec:

• PNG Video - Video codec, that encodes every video frame in PNG format. The only lossless codec, that supports Alpha-channel (transparency). Not counting Apple ProRes.
• DV SD - Codec, that used in MiniDV cassettes. Officially, this codec is Lossy, but in my tests it produces NO quality loss. This version is for SD video (supports: 720x480 @ 29.970 fps for NTSC, 720x576 @ 25 fps for PAL/SECAM).
• DV HD - Same as above, but for HD video (supports: 960x720 @ 60 fps @ 16:9 for all standards).
• Lagarith - Codec, that based on HuffYUV codec, but produces smaller files.
• FFV1 Lossless - New video codec, that is more efficient than Lagarith, but is not as widely supported as HEVC.
• HEVC Lossless - One of my favourite lossless codecs (except: PNG Video). Produces smallest files through all lossless codecs. And it has the best support in many devices.

21:12, 4 November 2022 (CET)
Konoko.