Encoding — codecs, CRF, presets, two-pass, targets

Recipe data lives in ../assets/encoding-presets.json (query it; don't re-derive). This file is the why behind those numbers.

CRF — constant quality, the default rate mode

CRF encodes to a perceptual quality level; size falls where it falls. Use CRF for everything except a hard size/bandwidth budget (then two-pass, below).

Encoder	Range	Visually lossless	Good delivery	Small	Notes
libx264	0–51	17–18	20–23	26–28	+6 ≈ half the size
libx265	0–51	20–21	23–26	28–30	x265 CRF ≈ x264 CRF + 3 for similar quality
libsvtav1	0–63	25–28	30–35	38–45	scale differs — do not map 1:1 from x264
libvpx-vp9	0–63	24–28	31–36	40+	needs `-b:v 0` for pure CRF mode

VP9 trap: -crf 32 alone is constrained quality; pure CRF needs -c:v libvpx-vp9 -crf 32 -b:v 0.

Presets — speed vs compression efficiency

Preset changes size at the same quality, not the quality itself (CRF pins that).

libx264/libx265: ultrafast..placebo. slow is the sweet spot for delivery; fast/medium for intermediates; never placebo (≈1% gain, 2× time over veryslow).
libsvtav1: numeric 0–13, lower = slower. 6 balanced, 4 quality-leaning, 8–10 for drafts.
Rule of thumb: if encode time doesn't matter, drop one preset slower rather than lowering CRF — better size/quality trade.

Tune (libx264)

-tune film (live action grain), -tune animation (flat areas + lines), -tune grain (preserve heavy grain — also consider this for film scans), -tune stillimage, -tune zerolatency (streaming only — disables lookahead). Don't set tune at all when unsure.

10-bit

-pix_fmt yuv420p10le reduces banding in gradients (skies, dark scenes) even for 8-bit sources, at ~5% size cost. x265 and SVT-AV1 handle it natively; for H.264 it breaks too many players — keep H.264 8-bit. HDR requires 10-bit (see color-hdr.md).

Two-pass — when you have a size budget

Target bitrate = (size_MB × 8192 ÷ seconds) − audio_kbps.

# 700 MB target for a 1h video with 128k audio → (700*8192/3600)-128 ≈ 1465k
ffmpeg -y -i in.mp4 -c:v libx264 -b:v 1465k -preset slow -pass 1 -an -f null -
ffmpeg    -i in.mp4 -c:v libx264 -b:v 1465k -preset slow -pass 2 \
  -c:a aac -b:a 128k -movflags +faststart out.mp4

Pass 1 writes ffmpeg2pass-0.log in the CWD — run both passes from the same directory. On Windows -f null - works in PowerShell; no need for NUL.

Audio codec choice

Codec	Use	Bitrates
libopus	Best per-bit; anything not chained to MP4-only players	voice 24–32k mono, music 96–128k stereo
aac (native)	MP4 delivery default; fine at ≥128k stereo	128–192k
libmp3lame	Legacy compat only	`-q:a 2` (~190k VBR)
flac / pcm_s16le	Archival / editing intermediates	lossless

Opus-in-MP4 exists but player support is patchy — Opus belongs in webm/mka/opus.

Intermediates for editing

Long-GOP H.264/HEVC is miserable to scrub/cut repeatedly. For multi-step edit pipelines, transcode once to an all-intra mezzanine and work on that:

ffmpeg -i in.mp4 -c:v libx264 -crf 14 -preset fast -g 1 -c:a pcm_s16le mezz.mov

(-g 1 = every frame a keyframe: any cut point is copy-safe, scrubbing is instant. ProRes via -c:v prores_ks -profile:v 3 if the destination is an NLE.)

Archival

FFV1 level 3 in MKV is the preservation standard (lossless, checksummed, seekable):

ffmpeg -i in.mp4 -c:v ffv1 -level 3 -g 1 -slicecrc 1 -c:a flac archive.mkv

Verify the round trip with -f framemd5 (see analysis-validation.md).

Hard size caps (upload limits)

CRF first, then check, then two-pass only if over:

ffmpeg -i in.mp4 -c:v libx264 -crf 23 -preset slow -pix_fmt yuv420p \
  -c:a aac -b:a 128k -movflags +faststart try.mp4
# over budget? compute bitrate for the cap and two-pass (above), or step CRF +2

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