x264 vs AMD HW H.264 (AVC) (2024)

D

danno84

New Member
  • Jan 12, 2024
  • #1

Hi guys,

I'm new here and I just started streaming on Twitch using OBS. One thing I noticed was that my webcam is very pixelated when I'm moving around and I'm wondering what video settings are best for my current setup.

I don't want to jump ship to buy a Nvidia GPU just yet.

PC Info below

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600x
GPU: Radeon RX 5500 XT
Upload speed: 78.8 MBPS
The resolution I'm using is 1920x1080.
1080p x 60FPS

I compared the two encoders I had available x264 and AMD HW H.264 (AVC).
The AMD encoder looked more pixelated than the x264...so I chose to use x264.

My current settings is

x264 vs AMD HW H.264 (AVC) (1)

Do you need my OBS log? If so, do I just go to Help > Log Files > View Current Log?

Any advice is much appreciated.

Thank you!

  • Jan 12, 2024
  • #2

There is not much more to say about this, you already found out the relevant details. This is the quality you will get. x264 has better quality than the AMD hardware encoder.
You can improve the quality for x264 by choosing a slower preset, but this will increase your CPU usage, which might impact the thing you intend to stream. Nvenc, the encoder Nvidia GPUs provide, produces similar quality to that of x264 with a preset between medium and slow (with RTX 2xxx) and slightly better, up to slow, with the newer nvenc generations with RTX 3xxx and 4xxx cards).

I'm not familiar with the current Twitch ingest policies, but my last information is that Twitch supports up to 6000 and not 8000. 8000 might be too high.

In general, reduce graphical complexity of the thing you stream. Foliage, snowflakes, fast moving high detail textures kill quality with the rather low bitrate Twitch supports.

D

danno84

New Member
  • Jan 12, 2024
  • #3

koala said:

There is not much more to say about this, you already found out the relevant details. This is the quality you will get. x264 has better quality than the AMD hardware encoder.
You can improve the quality for x264 by choosing a slower preset, but this will increase your CPU usage, which might impact the thing you intend to stream. Nvenc, the encoder Nvidia GPUs provide, produces similar quality to that of x264 with a preset between medium and slow (with RTX 2xxx) and slightly better, up to slow, with the newer nvenc generations with RTX 3xxx and 4xxx cards).

I'm not familiar with the current Twitch ingest policies, but my last information is that Twitch supports up to 6000 and not 8000. 8000 might be too high.

In general, reduce graphical complexity of the thing you stream. Foliage, snowflakes, fast moving high detail textures kill quality with the rather low bitrate Twitch supports.

Thanks for the response!

Do you know what the "Profile" setting is and should I use High? or should I leave it as "None"

Also, I read somewhere to put "bframes=2" in the x264 Options field. Needed?

D

danno84

New Member
  • Jan 12, 2024
  • #4

Should I also be streaming at 720p 60FPS vs 1080p 60 FPS?

koala

Active Member
  • Jan 13, 2024
  • #5

The "profile" setting defines encoder internal compression features. "High" allows your video to be encoded with all encoder features, so it's compressed best, so quality is best. If you expect viewers using ancient devices, so they're unable to decode this video, use main or even base, but in 2024 every computer and every mobile player will support "high".

About other settings, keep them at their default unless you know what they do and you have a requirement and a reason to change them. The defaults are the best settings in general, they don't need to be changed. There is no setting that just unconditionally increases quality. If there was, it would be the default setting.

Using 720p instead of 1080p makes your video slightly blurry but the general quality increases. You have to experiment and see where the sweet spot is. This also depends on the kind of video you will show.

D

danno84

New Member
  • Jan 13, 2024
  • #6

koala said:

The "profile" setting defines encoder internal compression features. "High" allows your video to be encoded with all encoder features, so it's compressed best, so quality is best. If you expect viewers using ancient devices, so they're unable to decode this video, use main or even base, but in 2024 every computer and every mobile player will support "high".

About other settings, keep them at their default unless you know what they do and you have a requirement and a reason to change them. The defaults are the best settings in general, they don't need to be changed. There is no setting that just unconditionally increases quality. If there was, it would be the default setting.

Using 720p instead of 1080p makes your video slightly blurry but the general quality increases. You have to experiment and see where the sweet spot is. This also depends on the kind of video you will show.

Thank you so much!

I used the High profile, faster, and 1080p for my stream and it seems to be pretty good for my set up.

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x264 vs AMD HW H.264 (AVC) (2024)

FAQs

Is AVC the same as x264? ›

x264 is a free and open-source software library and a command-line utility developed by VideoLAN for encoding video streams into the H. 264/MPEG-4 AVC video coding format.

What is h264 AVC? ›

Advanced Video Coding (AVC), also called H. 264, is the most common video compression standard in use today. AVC/H. 264 can encode high-quality video at lower bit rates than older compression standards (the "bit rate" is the number of units of information that have to be processed for each second of video).

What is the difference between AMD HW H 264 and x265? ›

265 provides higher compression efficiency with reduced bandwidth requirements and storage space compared to H. 264 while maintaining the same quality. If you have older devices or systems, opting for H. 264 would be safer.

What video encoder should I use in OBS AMD? ›

x264 has better quality than the AMD hardware encoder. You can improve the quality for x264 by choosing a slower preset, but this will increase your CPU usage, which might impact the thing you intend to stream.

Is AVC a good codec? ›

AVC, often called H. 264, emerged as a widely adopted video codec in recent times. If you've ever watched an online video or streamed content on any platform, chances are you've encountered AVC. It's a standard that aims to offer good video quality with relatively lower bit rates.

Is x264 better quality than x265? ›

File size: This is where x265 flexes its muscles. X265 is capable of achieving smaller file sizes or lower bitrates compared to x264 while maintaining acceptable visual quality. If you're all about efficiency, x265 is a game-changer.

What codec does Netflix use for AVC? ›

Many Netflix-ready devices receive streams which are encoded using the H. 264/AVC Main profile (AVCMain). This is a widely-used video compression format, with ubiquitous decoder support on web browsers, TVs, mobile devices, and other consumer devices.

What type of video is AVC? ›

Advanced Video Coding (AVC), also known as H. 264, is a video codec developed by MPEG. It is the most commonly supported video codec on the planet and is available in every major browser and device. It is comparatively cheap to encode and decode.

What is x264VfW H 264 MPEG-4 AVC codec? ›

x264VfW - H. 264/MPEG-4 AVC codec is an improved version of x264 VfW (Video for Windows) which has been added an integrated VfW decoder. It allows you to render and edit VfW AVC files without needing additional software.

What is the difference between x264 and H264? ›

H. 264 is a video standard, and x264 is an implementation of that standard available in FFmpeg, OBS, Wirecast, vMix, and most other live switchers. The developers of x264 use a system of presets to allow users to balance CPU usage and quality.

Which is best, HEVC or AVC? ›

HEVC (H. 265) offers superior compression efficiency compared to AVC (H. 264). This means HEVC can deliver high-quality video at about half the bit rate of AVC, reducing file size and saving bandwidth.

Does H265 look better than H264? ›

265 is a new way of making video files smaller and better. It is also called HEVC or MPEG-H Part 2. It is better than the old way, H. 264 or AVC, because it can save more details and colors with less space.

Should I use OBS encoder X264 or hardware? ›

Hardware encoders, as opposed to the included x264 software encoder, are generally recommended for best performance as they take the workload off the CPU and to a specialised component in the GPU that can perform video encoding more efficiently.

What is the best encoder option for OBS? ›

To sum up, a working Output setting for recording would be “H. 264” for the encoder, “mp4” for recording format, “CBR” for rate control, 4000 Kbps for bitrate, “2” for keyframe interval, and “high” for the profile.

What encoder is better for streaming? ›

Which 4K streaming encoder should I choose? The best 4K software video encoders are vMix and VidBlasterX. The best 4K hardware video encoders are the Teradek Prism and the TriCaster Mini 4K.

Is AVC1 the same as H264? ›

H. 264 (also called AVC, or Advanced Video Coding) is an industry standard for video compression that allows for the recording, compression, and distribution of digital video content. It works by processing frames of video using a block-oriented, motion-compensation-based video compression standard.

Is AV1 x264? ›

Yes, but AV1 hardware encoding beats x264 software encoding, if thats the only other option (albeit not by much). x264 opponents are earlier versions of AV1, namely VP8 and VP9. x265 should be what is compared against AV1 when discussing quality and encode speeds.

Are H264 and x264 the same thing? ›

H. 264 is a video standard, and x264 is an implementation of that standard available in FFmpeg, OBS, Wirecast, vMix, and most other live switchers. The developers of x264 use a system of presets to allow users to balance CPU usage and quality. These presets are shown in Figure 1, which is a screenshot from OBS.

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