Date: 2011-06-03
I recently had to encode a bunch of videos for my photo/video archive. I decided to use the H.264 (x264) codec and the matroska (mkv) container format. ffmpeg seemed like the best tool for encoding. When using libx264 with ffmpeg, a video preset (-vpre) is required.
In order to find the best suitable video preset for my use case, I decided to do some testing. ffmpeg comes with a few pre-defined video presets. In these tests, I have encoded the same video with each of the pre-defined video presets. The results are available below.
I hope this can help others choose a video preset and thus save some time. The results are also available in PDF (ffmpeg-video-preset-benchmark.pdf) as well as ODF (ffmpeg-video-preset-benchmark.ods)
All sizes are given in bytes.
|
INPUT |
OUTPUT |
||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
filename |
format |
acodec |
vcodec |
resolution |
duration |
bitrate |
size |
format |
acodec |
ac |
vcodec |
crf |
vpre |
size |
ratio |
time |
|
|
foo.avi |
avi |
pcm_u8 |
mjpeg/yuvj422p |
640x480 |
00:00:09.36 |
14959 kb/s |
17,515,434 |
matroska |
flac |
2 |
libx264 |
16 |
default |
10,992,835 |
0.628 |
22.322 |
|
|
foo.avi |
avi |
pcm_u8 |
mjpeg/yuvj422p |
640x480 |
00:00:09.36 |
14959 kb/s |
17,515,434 |
matroska |
flac |
2 |
libx264 |
16 |
fast |
11,082,766 |
0.633 |
17.988 |
|
|
foo.avi |
avi |
pcm_u8 |
mjpeg/yuvj422p |
640x480 |
00:00:09.36 |
14959 kb/s |
17,515,434 |
matroska |
flac |
2 |
libx264 |
16 |
fast_firstpass |
9,381,789 |
0.536 |
4.458 |
|
|
foo.avi |
avi |
pcm_u8 |
mjpeg/yuvj422p |
640x480 |
00:00:09.36 |
14959 kb/s |
17,515,434 |
matroska |
flac |
2 |
libx264 |
16 |
faster |
10,299,783 |
0.588 |
13.961 |
|
|
foo.avi |
avi |
pcm_u8 |
mjpeg/yuvj422p |
640x480 |
00:00:09.36 |
14959 kb/s |
17,515,434 |
matroska |
flac |
2 |
libx264 |
16 |
faster_firstpass |
9,372,348 |
0.535 |
5.681 |
|
|
foo.avi |
avi |
pcm_u8 |
mjpeg/yuvj422p |
640x480 |
00:00:09.36 |
14959 kb/s |
17,515,434 |
matroska |
flac |
2 |
libx264 |
16 |
fastfirstpass |
9,387,020 |
0.536 |
5.804 |
|
|
foo.avi |
avi |
pcm_u8 |
mjpeg/yuvj422p |
640x480 |
00:00:09.36 |
14959 kb/s |
17,515,434 |
matroska |
flac |
2 |
libx264 |
16 |
hq |
10,638,802 |
0.607 |
43.338 |
|
|
foo.avi |
avi |
pcm_u8 |
mjpeg/yuvj422p |
640x480 |
00:00:09.36 |
14959 kb/s |
17,515,434 |
matroska |
flac |
2 |
libx264 |
16 |
lossless_fast |
11,391,879 |
0.650 |
10.326 |
|
|
foo.avi |
avi |
pcm_u8 |
mjpeg/yuvj422p |
640x480 |
00:00:09.36 |
14959 kb/s |
17,515,434 |
matroska |
flac |
2 |
libx264 |
16 |
lossless_max |
10,893,240 |
0.622 |
259.683 |
|
|
foo.avi |
avi |
pcm_u8 |
mjpeg/yuvj422p |
640x480 |
00:00:09.36 |
14959 kb/s |
17,515,434 |
matroska |
flac |
2 |
libx264 |
16 |
lossless_medium |
10,321,006 |
0.589 |
17.724 |
|
|
foo.avi |
avi |
pcm_u8 |
mjpeg/yuvj422p |
640x480 |
00:00:09.36 |
14959 kb/s |
17,515,434 |
matroska |
flac |
2 |
libx264 |
16 |
lossless_slow |
11,080,834 |
0.633 |
31.632 |
|
|
foo.avi |
avi |
pcm_u8 |
mjpeg/yuvj422p |
640x480 |
00:00:09.36 |
14959 kb/s |
17,515,434 |
matroska |
flac |
2 |
libx264 |
16 |
lossless_slower |
11,148,524 |
0.636 |
55.986 |
|
|
foo.avi |
avi |
pcm_u8 |
mjpeg/yuvj422p |
640x480 |
00:00:09.36 |
14959 kb/s |
17,515,434 |
matroska |
flac |
2 |
libx264 |
16 |
lossless_ultrafast |
12,724,773 |
0.726 |
5.409 |
|
|
foo.avi |
avi |
pcm_u8 |
mjpeg/yuvj422p |
640x480 |
00:00:09.36 |
14959 kb/s |
17,515,434 |
matroska |
flac |
2 |
libx264 |
16 |
max |
10,497,089 |
0.599 |
592.228 |
|
|
foo.avi |
avi |
pcm_u8 |
mjpeg/yuvj422p |
640x480 |
00:00:09.36 |
14959 kb/s |
17,515,434 |
matroska |
flac |
2 |
libx264 |
16 |
medium |
10,992,992 |
0.628 |
38.108 |
|
|
foo.avi |
avi |
pcm_u8 |
mjpeg/yuvj422p |
640x480 |
00:00:09.36 |
14959 kb/s |
17,515,434 |
matroska |
flac |
2 |
libx264 |
16 |
medium_firstpass |
9,386,127 |
0.536 |
8.213 |
|
|
foo.avi |
avi |
pcm_u8 |
mjpeg/yuvj422p |
640x480 |
00:00:09.36 |
14959 kb/s |
17,515,434 |
matroska |
flac |
2 |
libx264 |
16 |
normal |
10,454,342 |
0.597 |
23.808 |
|
|
foo.avi |
avi |
pcm_u8 |
mjpeg/yuvj422p |
640x480 |
00:00:09.36 |
14959 kb/s |
17,515,434 |
matroska |
flac |
2 |
libx264 |
16 |
placebo |
10,198,622 |
0.582 |
651.605 |
|
|
foo.avi |
avi |
pcm_u8 |
mjpeg/yuvj422p |
640x480 |
00:00:09.36 |
14959 kb/s |
17,515,434 |
matroska |
flac |
2 |
libx264 |
16 |
placebo_firstpass |
10,198,622 |
0.582 |
692.313 |
|
|
foo.avi |
avi |
pcm_u8 |
mjpeg/yuvj422p |
640x480 |
00:00:09.36 |
14959 kb/s |
17,515,434 |
matroska |
flac |
2 |
libx264 |
16 |
slow |
10,698,080 |
0.611 |
67.397 |
|
|
foo.avi |
avi |
pcm_u8 |
mjpeg/yuvj422p |
640x480 |
00:00:09.36 |
14959 kb/s |
17,515,434 |
matroska |
flac |
2 |
libx264 |
16 |
slow_firstpass |
9,024,519 |
0.515 |
10.760 |
|
|
foo.avi |
avi |
pcm_u8 |
mjpeg/yuvj422p |
640x480 |
00:00:09.36 |
14959 kb/s |
17,515,434 |
matroska |
flac |
2 |
libx264 |
16 |
slower |
10,683,483 |
0.610 |
224.948 |
|
|
foo.avi |
avi |
pcm_u8 |
mjpeg/yuvj422p |
640x480 |
00:00:09.36 |
14959 kb/s |
17,515,434 |
matroska |
flac |
2 |
libx264 |
16 |
slower_firstpass |
9,036,067 |
0.516 |
12.018 |
|
|
foo.avi |
avi |
pcm_u8 |
mjpeg/yuvj422p |
640x480 |
00:00:09.36 |
14959 kb/s |
17,515,434 |
matroska |
flac |
2 |
libx264 |
16 |
slowfirstpass |
10,157,608 |
0.580 |
24.597 |
|
|
foo.avi |
avi |
pcm_u8 |
mjpeg/yuvj422p |
640x480 |
00:00:09.36 |
14959 kb/s |
17,515,434 |
matroska |
flac |
2 |
libx264 |
16 |
superfast |
12,996,651 |
0.742 |
8.700 |
|
|
foo.avi |
avi |
pcm_u8 |
mjpeg/yuvj422p |
640x480 |
00:00:09.36 |
14959 kb/s |
17,515,434 |
matroska |
flac |
2 |
libx264 |
16 |
superfast_firstpass |
13,703,325 |
0.782 |
8.358 |
|
|
foo.avi |
avi |
pcm_u8 |
mjpeg/yuvj422p |
640x480 |
00:00:09.36 |
14959 kb/s |
17,515,434 |
matroska |
flac |
2 |
libx264 |
16 |
ultrafast |
15,575,991 |
0.889 |
6.161 |
|
|
foo.avi |
avi |
pcm_u8 |
mjpeg/yuvj422p |
640x480 |
00:00:09.36 |
14959 kb/s |
17,515,434 |
matroska |
flac |
2 |
libx264 |
16 |
ultrafast_firstpass |
15,575,991 |
0.889 |
6.085 |
|
|
foo.avi |
avi |
pcm_u8 |
mjpeg/yuvj422p |
640x480 |
00:00:09.36 |
14959 kb/s |
17,515,434 |
matroska |
flac |
2 |
libx264 |
16 |
veryfast |
10,784,348 |
0.616 |
11.846 |
|
|
foo.avi |
avi |
pcm_u8 |
mjpeg/yuvj422p |
640x480 |
00:00:09.36 |
14959 kb/s |
17,515,434 |
matroska |
flac |
2 |
libx264 |
16 |
veryfast_firstpass |
11,197,726 |
0.639 |
8.915 |
|
|
foo.avi |
avi |
pcm_u8 |
mjpeg/yuvj422p |
640x480 |
00:00:09.36 |
14959 kb/s |
17,515,434 |
matroska |
flac |
2 |
libx264 |
16 |
veryslow |
10,197,403 |
0.582 |
309.936 |
|
|
foo.avi |
avi |
pcm_u8 |
mjpeg/yuvj422p |
640x480 |
00:00:09.36 |
14959 kb/s |
17,515,434 |
matroska |
flac |
2 |
libx264 |
16 |
veryslow_firstpass |
8,630,155 |
0.493 |
15.062 |
|
First graph shows time taken to encode for each video preset.
In the second graph I have removed video presets that took more than 100 seconds to encode. This was done in order to better visualize the difference between the fast presets.
ss/foo.avi.jpeg
ss/foo.mkv.default.mkv.jpeg
ss/foo.mkv.faster_firstpass.mkv.jpeg
ss/foo.mkv.faster.mkv.jpeg
ss/foo.mkv.fast_firstpass.mkv.jpeg
ss/foo.mkv.fastfirstpass.mkv.jpeg
ss/foo.mkv.fast.mkv.jpeg
ss/foo.mkv.hq.mkv.jpeg
ss/foo.mkv.jpeg
ss/foo.mkv.lossless_fast.mkv.jpeg
ss/foo.mkv.lossless_max.mkv.jpeg
ss/foo.mkv.lossless_medium.mkv.jpeg
ss/foo.mkv.lossless_slower.mkv.jpeg
ss/foo.mkv.lossless_slow.mkv.jpeg
ss/foo.mkv.lossless_ultrafast.mkv.jpeg
ss/foo.mkv.max.mkv.jpeg
ss/foo.mkv.medium_firstpass.mkv.jpeg
ss/foo.mkv.medium.mkv.jpeg
ss/foo.mkv.mkv.jpeg
ss/foo.mkv.normal.mkv.jpeg
ss/foo.mkv.placebo_firstpass.mkv.jpeg
ss/foo.mkv.placebo.mkv.jpeg
ss/foo.mkv.slower_firstpass.mkv.jpeg
ss/foo.mkv.slower.mkv.jpeg
ss/foo.mkv.slow_firstpass.mkv.jpeg
ss/foo.mkv.slowfirstpass.mkv.jpeg
ss/foo.mkv.slow.mkv.jpeg
ss/foo.mkv.superfast_firstpass.mkv.jpeg
ss/foo.mkv.superfast.mkv.jpeg
ss/foo.mkv.ultrafast_firstpass.mkv.jpeg
ss/foo.mkv.ultrafast.mkv.jpeg
ss/foo.mkv.veryfast_firstpass.mkv.jpeg
ss/foo.mkv.veryfast.mkv.jpeg
ss/foo.mkv.veryslow_firstpass.mkv.jpeg
ss/foo.mkv.veryslow.mkv.jpeg
ss/merged.mkv.jpeg
Last modified: 2011-06-03