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My laptop can't handle 10bit H.265 / HEVC videos, so I'm looking to convert them to 10bit H.264. How do I do this using, say, ffmpeg, with the least quality loss? And how can I convert 10-bit H.265 to 8-bit H.265?

llogan
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HappyFace
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2 Answers2

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10-bit/12-bit HEVC to 8-bit H.264

ffmpeg -i input -map 0 -c:v libx264 -crf 18 -vf format=yuv420p -c:a copy output.mkv

  • -map 0 will include all streams (default stream selection only selects 1 stream per type). See FFmpeg Wiki: Map.

  • Adjust the -crf value to provide the desired level of quality. Add the -preset option if you want to adjust encoding speed. See FFmpeg Wiki: H.264 for more info on -crf and -preset.

  • Uses the format filter to choose the yuv420p pixel format to create 8-bit output.

10-bit/12-bit HEVC to 10-bit H.264

ffmpeg -i input -map 0 -c:v libx264 -crf 18 -c:a copy output.mkv

  • -map 0 will include all streams (default stream selection only selects 1 stream per type). See FFmpeg Wiki: Map.

  • Adjust the -crf value to provide the desired level of quality. Add the -preset option if you want to adjust encoding speed. See FFmpeg Wiki: H.264 for more info on -crf and -preset.

  • No need for the format filter in this case.

10-bit/12-bit HEVC to 8-bit HEVC

ffmpeg -i input -map 0 -c:v libx265 -crf 20 -vf format=yuv420p -c:a copy output.mkv

  • -map 0 will include all streams (default stream selection only selects 1 stream per type). See FFmpeg Wiki: Map.

  • Adjust the -crf value to provide the desired level of quality. Add the -preset option if you want to adjust encoding speed. See FFmpeg Wiki: HEVC / H.265 for more info on -crf and -preset.

  • Uses the format filter to choose the yuv420p pixel format to create 8-bit output.

12-bit HEVC to 10-bit HEVC

ffmpeg -i input -map 0 -c:v libx265 -crf 20 -vf format=yuv420p10le -c:a copy output.mkv

  • -map 0 will include all streams (default stream selection only selects 1 stream per type). See FFmpeg Wiki: Map.

  • Adjust the -crf value to provide the desired level of quality. Add the -preset option if you want to adjust encoding speed. See FFmpeg Wiki: HEVC / H.265 for more info on -crf and -preset.

  • Uses the format filter to choose the yuv420p10le pixel format to create 10-bit output. Other 10-bit pixel formats supported by libx265 are yuv422p10le & yuv444p10le, but your player may not like these. See ffmpeg -h encoder=libx265 for additional supported pixel formats.

llogan
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  • What about 10bit x265 to 8bit x265? – HappyFace Dec 05 '18 at 21:52
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    @HappyFace Looks like I misread the question. I added that section. – llogan Dec 05 '18 at 21:57
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    Adding `-map 0` to the commands above will preserve subtitles and other additional streams. – HappyFace Dec 07 '18 at 09:06
  • PS4 only allow 8bit H264/AVC. But if use ffmpeg convert the 10bit H265/HEVC to H624, with preset, you will get the 10bit H264, which is not recognized on PS4 vedio player. This comment mark it useful for getting compability on PS4. – Alex Chiang Sep 14 '19 at 03:04
  • Consider this answer https://superuser.com/questions/1296374/best-settings-for-ffmpeg-with-nvenc/1549953#1549953 – Sriram Murali May 08 '20 at 17:46
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Handbrake can handle most anything.

The release notes mention 10-bit support.

The UI has all the options. I suggest you start there and get familiar with it.
See quick start guide.

There is also a CLI that can be downloaded here.
And the guide that has all the options laid out.

BlueGI
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