Thank you, thank you, thank you. This is actually the least confusing explanation I've heard while being quite concise and relevant. Probably the single most useful video I've seen for the year! Thank you for this.
This is exactly what I thought! Thanks @Chris Olsen for taking the time to explain this not-so-sexy but important part of video editing, no matter if your amateur or pro.
This is the best video on codecs I’ve seen so far. I’ve read up on it from Adobe, seen the video from B&H photovideo and the Zacuto guy, and watched other videos. And this is absolutely by far the most helpful. Thank you!!
Watched 3/4 different videos explaining codecs before I found this one. This video explains codecs by far in the most understandable way for beginners. Much appreciated Chris! Subscribed
I agree with Darrin. My computer was stuttering during editing. I purchased a new graphics card but it didn't help. This video was concise and clear, and prevented me from buying a new computer. Wow! You really helped. Best video I've seen this year.
Computer is defined by it's software requirements. Keep in mind that software has elements that can be done to optimize it's use of hardware, usually in software "settings/preferences". I will assume that you've read and/or watched tutorials on how to do what you want to accomplish by now after 8 months. 😁✌
I actually learned far more in this 11 minute video than stuffing around for weeks trying to get answers to all the questions it addressed. Thank you! At least I now know my computer is not as bad as I thought it was!!
This was a particularly helpful video. I never really understood what a codec was or what H.264 meant every time I saw it when exporting my older RUclips videos from a couple years back. The graphic at 5:15 was especially good.
Great video - thank you. I would add that in my experience the M2 macs (I have a Macbook pro M2 with 32GB ram) seem to handle H.264 and H.265 using IPB-B with no issues.
Thank you Chris! I want to confirm what you said about high end computers still struggling... I use Ryzen threadripper 256gb ram and 3090 graphics card. H. 264 edits fine, but h. 265 I just go ahead and transcode now to save myself from an aneurysm. Do yourselves a favor and transcode footage before getting started.. I personally transcode to prores 422 most times and my editing experience is so much better after that.
Yeah, these days H.264 is handled fairly well by high end systems, but H.265 is definitely still garbage. Some computers might handle it acceptably depending on what you are doing, but in general if you are struggling, best to just transcode it. Especially drone footage where you likely don't have a ton of it for one project.
This happens only in premier pro... because hevc is not supported in premier pro...but latest version has this feature. So in future you don't need to transcode h.265
Great video. The information was on point. The thing for me is I've edited H.264 and H.265 footage on my MacBook Pro 2020 for the past two years and never had an issue with slower editing in Final Cut Pro. Ive had 200+gb footage imported to Final Cut with Codec H.264 and like I said did not have any issues with editing. Im now just learning this because I recently bought a Sony FX3 and trying to learn about the different codec formats on the camera. I recently had editing issues with XAVC 4k S-I in Final Cut and that codec is supposed to provide smoother editing experience since it is an Intra codec but it did not for me. So I am wondering if this video missed the point about these newer Apple computers can handle H.264 & H.265 with ease and you dont need to worry about storage sizes and buying external storages or upgrading your computer storage. Let me know if this is accurate, I am trying to figure out if I should shoot in XAVC 4k HS or XAVC 4k S-I moving forward. Not sure if this is an anomaly situation
This has been very helpful, to the point explanation of Video CODECs. I had been trying to figure our what works and what does not .... now I know why with explanation ! Very well done video. Much appreciated.
4:25 All video formats are compressed, except for a very few, but those are more or less unusable for video editing. So, any pro format, like DNxHR, DNxHD and ProRes are compressed. And these pro formats are usually many times bigger, than e.g. h.264, not just 4 times. They have a fixed bitrate, while h.264 and 265 can have their bitrate set to various numbers.
This was so helpful! My computer had a TERRIBLE time XAVC HS from my Sony camera, and I thought: well if it has trouble reading these relatively small file sizes I definitely have to avoid XAVC S-I with the huge file sizes, but now I understand that they actually make my editing a lot easier (although I do need to invest in some fast external ssds)! Many thanks for this video!!!
In the H.264 codec, the i-frames are the alpha, the omega, and the entire kitchen sink. They are like the parents of all frames, containing all the genetic material necessary to produce a fully-formed frame. B-frames are like the black sheep of the family, as they don't really fit in with the other frames. They are predicted from both the past and the future, which is a bit like trying to predict the weather. But unlike weather forecasters, the H.264 codec can actually make pretty accurate predictions, which is why B-frames can be so useful. And then there are P-frames, which are like the precocious younger siblings. They only need to be predicted from the past, but they still manage to be pretty impressive. They use motion compensation to make sure they're not just a carbon copy of the previous frame, but still manage to save on space and processing power.
Loved your video Chris! I didn't kow about you but you just gained a new subscriber. Thank you for explaning this topic in an esay way. Since I am starting in the filmmaking and video editing it was hard for me to understand the codecs and why its so important. I think is something much more important at the time of buying a camera or a computer than other factors such as 8k 60p in the camera. For an entry level is superimportant to know what you can afford and what will fit with your budget. I am getting the new Lumix S5ii and now I'm looking a laptop that fits with it (probably a Mac Pro 14' M2) Thank you for sharing!
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! I am now a subscriber. You explained it well enough for me to understand what I have been struggling with. You hit all the main points. Thank you! :)
Best (and understandable) explanation ever so far as i have seen in a tutorial. Thanks a lot for that! I always thougt the big files would bring my computer down :)
Just to clarify (on a pedantic level) - Apple ProRes etc ARE compressed, it's just that the compression is "lossless". Without it, the 4.04GB file would be nearer 10GB.
Thanks Chris - nicely explained and demonstrated with w a topic that is often confusing. It also helps save a lot of frustrating hours of tricky editing with horrible formats like .VOB files, and not too mention the money spent thinking that expensive hardware will simply fix the problem.
So, I listened carefully to all of the information you provided and then researched and found Easefab to transcode H.264 to PRORES. The first thing I encountered was that the transcode process took as long or longer to complete than doing the same rendering job directly on the H.264 file. Then I loaded that converted file into my video editor and applied a LUT and hit the start button on the render process and it's taking as long to complete that process as it always has which means I doubled up on the already lengthy process. I am running a maxed out AMD4 (with onboard graphics processing) Lenovo computer I had not encountered these beast files (for processing) before shooting in H.264 and H.265. They are 4K 60fps files shot in 10 bit D-Log M incidentally so they are large files to begin with. It's disappointing as I had not anticipated making a career out of video editing. The downside kicker to it all is that the finished product is STUNNING. It blows me away when I finally get finished.
non-pro, I know a good amount of this stuff and the video helped refresh my memory and learned new things, wasn't exactly sure about ProRes and mezzanine formats.
To compound the codec challenges, there are known issues with Win11 and Adobe Premier that crash the PC, or make the rendering of 4K so long, it's simply not worth doing.
Amazing video! 🎥 I finally understood the purpose of codec compression, but I had no idea it could affect editing performance so much! 🤯 #VideoEditing #CodecCompression
The h.265 codec is not simply more taxing on computer resources during editing, it is very often not compatible with the hardware installed, especially a slightly older build. One needs a GPU that agrees and a CPU that does as well. Oh and an editing platform too. Lots to do to unpack that compressed beast.
Hi Chris. I am a Adobe Premier editor (Not a Pro) English is my second language and I've learned a lot from your videos even though it's only been a couple of days since I found you on RUclips. It helps me a lot when you CC or title your videos. Thank you very much.
So I should upload Cineform to youtube instead of H.264/265? I have horrendous Banding when exporting those formats in Davinci Resolve, so I'm trying to figure out how to optimize for youtube.
For some combinations decoding performance probably is not an issue such as DaVinci Resolve with a NVidia GeForce GPU Apparently the paid version of Resolve is needed for a Windows PC to use the Cuda cores hardware H.264 decoding . Correct me if I am wrong. But maybe a more complete story of using H.264
Wow finally a clear straight to the point tutorial, not going through unnecessary geek details, thanks for that! Question for you, when Final Cut creates proxies for the h264 footage, isn’t it bypassing the whole “uncompressing” to read it? This way files are still light and easy to read until edit is done and we relink footage before export? This way we get quality (at the export), light files and easy editing, no?
I find that if one is concerned with reducing filesize while maintaining quality, lowering the bitrates of video and audio will help without a bunch of complicated codec conversions. For me, the optimum video file (MP4 for example) should be AVC/h264, with a bitrate of 2500kbps for video and 224kbps for audio, and the audio should have the sampling rate of 48kHz (48000Hz) or 1586kbps (WAV/PCM Uncompressed). Anything higher than those specs is just extravagance no one needs. If you want to reduce filesize (for disk space conservation or whatever), there's no need t switch to that god-awful HEVC/h265 or other compression crap like that - just reduce the bitrates. For video I personally would not go much lower than 2250-2000kbps, but one could safely go as low as 1500kbps and still retain some decent quality. The audio, I would not take lower than 192kbps, but could safely be dropped between 160-128kbps. I would still retain the 48kHz sampling rate though, as I have experienced some horrible distortion (static/noise) feedback when using 44kHz (44100Hz)/1411kbps sample rate. 44kHz (in WAV or AIF/AIFF format) is perfect for strictly audio files like music (I would not use anything higher lower in that regard), but that's all. I am finding it to be an unpredictable and often illogical nightmare trying to convert HEVC to AVC with any desired success. Sometimes, a HEVC/h265►AVC/h264 conversion works perfectly, other times the stupid output file keeps producing even lower filesize and bitrates despite my custom settings, and I cannot figure out why it happens or what is causing it. Why do some HEVC convert fine and others refuse and insist on being converted even smaller? I absolutely despise HEVC.
Perhaps true for 4K+. I recorded lectures with Fujifilm x-s20, h.265, Long GOP, FullHD, 50 Mbps. Even with amd 3700x & 2060s playback smooth as butter. No lag at all in Davinci Resolve scrubbing the timeline. But this might be completely different when using Premiere.
Great video! I wonder with Blacmagic camera app - you can select Apple Log HDR as the color space but keep H.264 or H.265 for file size. Then if I transcode the file to a ProRes format - would this be the best of both worlds?
Great content! for someone like me that has no idea what coding was all about, I think you do a really really good job making me understand that! Thanks :D
thank you! this is info is a game changer...when you made the comment about buying an expensive computer and being angry when footage still stutters during playback, you were speaking directly to my experience...i'll look into transcoding footage going forward...any specific tips re sony mirrorless cams and the best 'file formats' and 'record settings' to film at to get the best balance between quality and editing speed?
👍🏻 Great and easy understandable explanation. I never heard of these issues before and I‘m looking forward to my first PRORES experience in future. Thanks.
Wow had to comment on how excellent this explanation was! Cleared up so much confusion for me! Big thanks for this!! Will sub and check out more of your video for sure! 💯👍
H.265 / HVEC is lower bitrate for the same quality, so it's clearly superior for streaming even if you can't edit it or view it on a standard windows PC without downloading a couple addons.
Great video! However, I have a question: In 8:33, you said that if one wants smooth editing and small file size, ProRes should be the codec of choice, but we would have to lower the resolution. With my iPhone 14 pro, I can record 4K 30fps in ProRes, which seems to be a quite high resolution. Were you talking about lowering the resolution to 1080p, for example, when recording, to keep the file sizes small?
very informative video, is like bread and butter. the bread is the video and the butter is prores (codec), the computer appreciate bread with butter it can't process plain bread
Chris, not sure you will come back here, but I have a question that is slightly off this topic. I'm new to video, but utilize the Nikon Z9 for my sports, wildlife, action (dance) photography. Clearly, there are a lot of choices when it comes to video recording including 264, 265, ProRes, and internal NRAW. Thanks for explaining the difference of ProRes (Intraframe) vs H264. So here's my seemly simple question that, despite looking, I can not find a simple answer to the following. In my simple understanding, as in photography, there are color spaces/gamut within them. If you shoot JPG, that is baked into the 8bit file. Shoot RAW and you can pick your colorspace (i.e. sRGB, Adobe RGB, ProPhoto) when using the demosaicing software. Is H.264 codec similar to JPG where the color (picture profile) is baked in? and the NRAW LUT is the colorspace for RAW video - with a gamma (luminance) curve to then apply to it? In the compressed codec, I'm having trouble understanding what colorspace is being applied (unless the one expressed in camera settings (i.e. sRGB) and picture profiles is being applied and encoded in the compressed data. Is this correct and if not can you explain this or point me to a video that explains it? Thanks.
Thank you so much!!! this was an amazing experience. What about colour profile? My original video was in clog3 and after conversion to prores it looks so weird and blown out.
It's the Ultimate Hacking Keyboard. My favorite keyboard I've ever owned! The split design is really comfortable and I love the mechanical blue switches.
@@ChrisOlson2 I have to look into this one. Thank you so much for responding. Have a wonderful day! I am patiently awaiting your follow-up video for this one.
Great video :) did the follow up video about transferring codec ever get made? I am having trouble finding it in the creator page 😯but I'd love to watch it if you made it! :)
Great explanation! All this editing issues, you mentioned, relate to SOFTWARE encoding on a computer. This / was usually the case. Yeeears ago Intel has a "meeting" with DaVinci (well documented) and the result was a HARDWARE encoding Intel graphic card; iPGU. This is pretty much what happend 15 years ago when CPUs were too slow to decode FHD video. I remember my AMD Athlon 64 that struggled. 2017 Intel launched the 7th Gen that was able to DEcode onboard so that 4k 60Hz was an easy task even for the entry model. Today this is standard!! De-and-Encode H264 and H265 is different, as is the Codecs: 4.2.0 or 4.2.2 and 8 or 10 or even 12 Bit and so on... So Hardware acceleration on H264 does not mean it supports 8 AND 10 Bit, as an example. So check first in your Software (DaVinci/Premiere/Sony ...) and your Hardware (Graphics Card/CPU etc) THAT is the reason why I bought Apple Silicon last year: My HATED MBA 16GB. I really hate Apple products and -Policy and I most of all hate the dumbest OS on planet! But: It decodes H265 in DaVinci in 5.8K 4.2.0 10 BIT with ease! This is really unbelievable. But Hardware Manufac. will come on. Like they did in the past. In 5 years from today nobody will ever think this has ever been an issue, quote me on that. Same as 4k playback on a cheapo phone today, where Desktops used to struggle.
Hi Chris: Great presentation. Can you make a simplified Video on converting camera footage to Pro res, DNX Intermediate codecs using software like handbrake, and can we use Davincci Resolve t do the same? I think many people don't know because there aren't many (any) (simpler) YT clips that shows a step by step procedure on line
Hey Chris, Im filming at 4k 50p AL-I with C-log3, and i keep having the stuttering problem. When i remove the C-Log the problem solves, bug the colors are horrible. I need the 4k 50p with C-log or i will not get the cinematic look that i want. I saw the triangle but its not working very well for me, i want High quality footages with smooth editing, i really have alot of space to spare. Is it some config in my canon R5 that's making it stuttering?
I haven’t finished the video yet, but this is been helpful for my DJI mini pro. I went to Croatia, Slovenia and Austria shooting in H.265. I can’t edit any of my footage but I can see it on my RCA remote so I know the footage is good it’s just I don’t have a converter to get it to play on my eight year old laptop lol are there any known converters that could help me with editing, since then I went to the Florida Keys and shot in H.264 and everything is fine but it seems like my laptop can’t handle the H.265 ideas on conversion tools?
This was great. An idea for a future video would be to take a Rec 2100 HLG from the DJI Mavic 3 and show how to tussle with the codecs in premiere. I ether have lousy output from my color grading or a MASSIVE file that looks good but too big to do anything (like post to social media) with. An example of what do to tame this would be great.
Rec 2100 & Rec 2020 HLG are really god tier colour spaces when recording for HDR. Best part about HLG is you can do SDR and HDR within the same video and signal feed. Also, no manual input of the metadata, which save you so so much time. I’m surprised that it’s not used within the industry more, especially for small content creators, but most in the industry aren’t even aware the format exists.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. This is actually the least confusing explanation I've heard while being quite concise and relevant. Probably the single most useful video I've seen for the year! Thank you for this.
This is exactly what I thought! Thanks @Chris Olsen for taking the time to explain this not-so-sexy but important part of video editing, no matter if your amateur or pro.
AVI?
Right..broke my brain I’m kind of pissed now lol
I appreciated your triangle of trade-offs. That was a clear and effective way to see what gets optimized and what gets lost.
This is the best video on codecs I’ve seen so far. I’ve read up on it from Adobe, seen the video from B&H photovideo and the Zacuto guy, and watched other videos. And this is absolutely by far the most helpful. Thank you!!
Watched 3/4 different videos explaining codecs before I found this one. This video explains codecs by far in the most understandable way for beginners. Much appreciated Chris! Subscribed
Damn bro, you crushed it with the explanation. Much appreciated. Kudos!
This is a brilliant explanation, I've struggled for years to figure out why my editing lags so much.
This one is the best video on youtube explaining about Codecs! Thank you Chris!
I agree with Darrin. My computer was stuttering during editing. I purchased a new graphics card but it didn't help. This video was concise and clear, and prevented me from buying a new computer. Wow! You really helped. Best video I've seen this year.
Computer is defined by it's software requirements. Keep in mind that software has elements that can be done to optimize it's use of hardware, usually in software "settings/preferences". I will assume that you've read and/or watched tutorials on how to do what you want to accomplish by now after 8 months. 😁✌
I actually learned far more in this 11 minute video than stuffing around for weeks trying to get answers to all the questions it addressed. Thank you! At least I now know my computer is not as bad as I thought it was!!
Thank you, wonderful 11 minutes that explains everything about codec that no one can explain for easy to understand.
Hey, that triangle diagram makes the problem really clear. Thank you.
This is a good one !!!!
Only miss a a second video about transcoding that you mentioned.
Gamechanger for me. Didnt know this info was missing in my life. Thank you.
This was a particularly helpful video. I never really understood what a codec was or what H.264 meant every time I saw it when exporting my older RUclips videos from a couple years back. The graphic at 5:15 was especially good.
Great video - thank you. I would add that in my experience the M2 macs (I have a Macbook pro M2 with 32GB ram) seem to handle H.264 and H.265 using IPB-B with no issues.
Thank you Chris! I want to confirm what you said about high end computers still struggling... I use Ryzen threadripper 256gb ram and 3090 graphics card. H. 264 edits fine, but h. 265 I just go ahead and transcode now to save myself from an aneurysm. Do yourselves a favor and transcode footage before getting started.. I personally transcode to prores 422 most times and my editing experience is so much better after that.
Yeah, these days H.264 is handled fairly well by high end systems, but H.265 is definitely still garbage. Some computers might handle it acceptably depending on what you are doing, but in general if you are struggling, best to just transcode it.
Especially drone footage where you likely don't have a ton of it for one project.
This happens only in premier pro... because hevc is not supported in premier pro...but latest version has this feature. So in future you don't need to transcode h.265
why not use av1
😏
Because it's even worse@@PranshuTheGamer
Great video. The information was on point. The thing for me is I've edited H.264 and H.265 footage on my MacBook Pro 2020 for the past two years and never had an issue with slower editing in Final Cut Pro. Ive had 200+gb footage imported to Final Cut with Codec H.264 and like I said did not have any issues with editing. Im now just learning this because I recently bought a Sony FX3 and trying to learn about the different codec formats on the camera. I recently had editing issues with XAVC 4k S-I in Final Cut and that codec is supposed to provide smoother editing experience since it is an Intra codec but it did not for me. So I am wondering if this video missed the point about these newer Apple computers can handle H.264 & H.265 with ease and you dont need to worry about storage sizes and buying external storages or upgrading your computer storage. Let me know if this is accurate, I am trying to figure out if I should shoot in XAVC 4k HS or XAVC 4k S-I moving forward. Not sure if this is an anomaly situation
This has been very helpful, to the point explanation of Video CODECs. I had been trying to figure our what works and what does not .... now I know why with explanation ! Very well done video. Much appreciated.
4:25 All video formats are compressed, except for a very few, but those are more or less unusable for video editing.
So, any pro format, like DNxHR, DNxHD and ProRes are compressed.
And these pro formats are usually many times bigger, than e.g. h.264, not just 4 times. They have a fixed bitrate, while h.264 and 265 can have their bitrate set to various numbers.
This was so helpful! My computer had a TERRIBLE time XAVC HS from my Sony camera, and I thought: well if it has trouble reading these relatively small file sizes I definitely have to avoid XAVC S-I with the huge file sizes, but now I understand that they actually make my editing a lot easier (although I do need to invest in some fast external ssds)! Many thanks for this video!!!
Nicely done. Where is the Video on how to convert the footage? Thank you.
Wow, thank you so much for this incredible explanation! I didn't even knew I wanted to know this, but now everything just makes so much more sense =)
right it explains literally ALL of my editing woes
In the H.264 codec, the i-frames are the alpha, the omega, and the entire kitchen sink. They are like the parents of all frames, containing all the genetic material necessary to produce a fully-formed frame. B-frames are like the black sheep of the family, as they don't really fit in with the other frames. They are predicted from both the past and the future, which is a bit like trying to predict the weather. But unlike weather forecasters, the H.264 codec can actually make pretty accurate predictions, which is why B-frames can be so useful. And then there are P-frames, which are like the precocious younger siblings. They only need to be predicted from the past, but they still manage to be pretty impressive. They use motion compensation to make sure they're not just a carbon copy of the previous frame, but still manage to save on space and processing power.
What a phenomenal breakdown Chris
I wish this video was available 10 years ago, it would have saved me so much heartache and frustration, not to mention needless pc upgrades.
Thanks a ton Chris..such an informative video, and a precise presentation! And i am waiting for the continuation, the transcoding!
The H.264 info is so good and so important, but one of those things that one might not even know to ask about.
Wonderful clear explanations! I've passed this on to others who think because the file is mp4 that it should be easy to edit.
Dude you did a masterful job in explaining a hard subject. Great video!
This video should have more views. I've been watching a bunch of videos about codecs, but his one is the most comprehensive one.
This is the best video on this topic I have seen so far. Thank you.
Loved your video Chris! I didn't kow about you but you just gained a new subscriber. Thank you for explaning this topic in an esay way. Since I am starting in the filmmaking and video editing it was hard for me to understand the codecs and why its so important. I think is something much more important at the time of buying a camera or a computer than other factors such as 8k 60p in the camera. For an entry level is superimportant to know what you can afford and what will fit with your budget. I am getting the new Lumix S5ii and now I'm looking a laptop that fits with it (probably a Mac Pro 14' M2) Thank you for sharing!
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! I am now a subscriber. You explained it well enough for me to understand what I have been struggling with. You hit all the main points. Thank you! :)
Very informative, thanks for doing this video. Next I will seek out what you know about transcoding.
Best (and understandable) explanation ever so far as i have seen in a tutorial. Thanks a lot for that! I always thougt the big files would bring my computer down :)
Wow excellent work. I like how you show what you say. The labels are great. Thank you!
Just to clarify (on a pedantic level) - Apple ProRes etc ARE compressed, it's just that the compression is "lossless". Without it, the 4.04GB file would be nearer 10GB.
Thanks Chris - nicely explained and demonstrated with w a topic that is often confusing. It also helps save a lot of frustrating hours of tricky editing with horrible formats like .VOB files, and not too mention the money spent thinking that expensive hardware will simply fix the problem.
Wow, beautifully explained, concise, and easy to digest. Thank you so much for your time making this!
This is the best explanation on this subject I've seen. Thanks heaps.
So, I listened carefully to all of the information you provided and then researched and found Easefab to transcode H.264 to PRORES. The first thing I encountered was that the transcode process took as long or longer to complete than doing the same rendering job directly on the H.264 file. Then I loaded that converted file into my video editor and applied a LUT and hit the start button on the render process and it's taking as long to complete that process as it always has which means I doubled up on the already lengthy process. I am running a maxed out AMD4 (with onboard graphics processing) Lenovo computer I had not encountered these beast files (for processing) before shooting in H.264 and H.265. They are 4K 60fps files shot in 10 bit D-Log M incidentally so they are large files to begin with.
It's disappointing as I had not anticipated making a career out of video editing.
The downside kicker to it all is that the finished product is STUNNING. It blows me away when I finally get finished.
Thank you. I can now save myself from the headaches of editing laggy preview of my videos.
non-pro, I know a good amount of this stuff and the video helped refresh my memory and learned new things, wasn't exactly sure about ProRes and mezzanine formats.
1:54 Just call it interframe and intraframe.
Why? That is much more confusing. And English is my first language!
To compound the codec challenges, there are known issues with Win11 and Adobe Premier that crash the PC, or make the rendering of 4K so long, it's simply not worth doing.
Helps a lot for knowing what to use for my archives, thanks.
This is exactly what happens when experience speaks 👏👏👏 to the point and informative video
The best video to this topic so far.
great info, by far the least confusing video regarding understanding codecs
Amazing video! 🎥 I finally understood the purpose of codec compression, but I had no idea it could affect editing performance so much! 🤯 #VideoEditing #CodecCompression
HOLY CRAP DUDE THIS WAS SOME REAL GEMS YOU GAVE OUT! Thanks so much for the knowledge
The h.265 codec is not simply more taxing on computer resources during editing, it is very often not compatible with the hardware installed, especially a slightly older build. One needs a GPU that agrees and a CPU that does as well. Oh and an editing platform too. Lots to do to unpack that compressed beast.
Jesus, you are a monster. Finally some clarity in this obscene stuff.
Hi Chris. I am a Adobe Premier editor (Not a Pro) English is my second language and I've learned a lot from your videos even though it's only been a couple of days since I found you on RUclips. It helps me a lot when you CC or title your videos. Thank you very much.
So I should upload Cineform to youtube instead of H.264/265? I have horrendous Banding when exporting those formats in Davinci Resolve, so I'm trying to figure out how to optimize for youtube.
For some combinations decoding performance probably is not an issue such as DaVinci Resolve with a NVidia GeForce GPU
Apparently the paid version of Resolve is needed for a Windows PC to use the Cuda cores hardware H.264 decoding .
Correct me if I am wrong. But maybe a more complete story of using H.264
Thanks for making these super informative videos. Have you already done a video on Transcoding? That would be amazing. Thanks
Wow finally a clear straight to the point tutorial, not going through unnecessary geek details, thanks for that!
Question for you, when Final Cut creates proxies for the h264 footage, isn’t it bypassing the whole “uncompressing” to read it? This way files are still light and easy to read until edit is done and we relink footage before export? This way we get quality (at the export), light files and easy editing, no?
I thought h264 was a light and inefficient codec while h265 and av1 where heavy efficient ones, I haven't tried prores before.
Please make the video about transcoding.
Fantastic video man, extremely helpful!
I find that if one is concerned with reducing filesize while maintaining quality, lowering the bitrates of video and audio will help without a bunch of complicated codec conversions.
For me, the optimum video file (MP4 for example) should be AVC/h264, with a bitrate of 2500kbps for video and 224kbps for audio, and the audio should have the sampling rate of 48kHz (48000Hz) or 1586kbps (WAV/PCM Uncompressed). Anything higher than those specs is just extravagance no one needs.
If you want to reduce filesize (for disk space conservation or whatever), there's no need t switch to that god-awful HEVC/h265 or other compression crap like that - just reduce the bitrates. For video I personally would not go much lower than 2250-2000kbps, but one could safely go as low as 1500kbps and still retain some decent quality.
The audio, I would not take lower than 192kbps, but could safely be dropped between 160-128kbps. I would still retain the 48kHz sampling rate though, as I have experienced some horrible distortion (static/noise) feedback when using 44kHz (44100Hz)/1411kbps sample rate.
44kHz (in WAV or AIF/AIFF format) is perfect for strictly audio files like music (I would not use anything higher lower in that regard), but that's all.
I am finding it to be an unpredictable and often illogical nightmare trying to convert HEVC to AVC with any desired success. Sometimes, a HEVC/h265►AVC/h264 conversion works perfectly, other times the stupid output file keeps producing even lower filesize and bitrates despite my custom settings, and I cannot figure out why it happens or what is causing it. Why do some HEVC convert fine and others refuse and insist on being converted even smaller?
I absolutely despise HEVC.
Perhaps true for 4K+. I recorded lectures with Fujifilm x-s20, h.265, Long GOP, FullHD, 50 Mbps. Even with amd 3700x & 2060s playback smooth as butter. No lag at all in Davinci Resolve scrubbing the timeline. But this might be completely different when using Premiere.
Thank You...Best explanation seen by me until now .
Great video!
I wonder with Blacmagic camera app - you can select Apple Log HDR as the color space but keep H.264 or H.265 for file size. Then if I transcode the file to a ProRes format - would this be the best of both worlds?
Great content!
for someone like me that has no idea what coding was all about, I think you do a really really good job making me understand that! Thanks :D
thank you! this is info is a game changer...when you made the comment about buying an expensive computer and being angry when footage still stutters during playback, you were speaking directly to my experience...i'll look into transcoding footage going forward...any specific tips re sony mirrorless cams and the best 'file formats' and 'record settings' to film at to get the best balance between quality and editing speed?
👍🏻 Great and easy understandable explanation. I never heard of these issues before and I‘m looking forward to my first PRORES experience in future. Thanks.
Omg thank you!! You made this so understandable for me!. Earned a sub
Wow had to comment on how excellent this explanation was! Cleared up so much confusion for me! Big thanks for this!! Will sub and check out more of your video for sure! 💯👍
THANK you, this is a wonderfully simple explanation
H.265 / HVEC is lower bitrate for the same quality, so it's clearly superior for streaming even if you can't edit it or view it on a standard windows PC without downloading a couple addons.
You're an excellent teacher. What about proxy files?
Great video! However, I have a question: In 8:33, you said that if one wants smooth editing and small file size, ProRes should be the codec of choice, but we would have to lower the resolution. With my iPhone 14 pro, I can record 4K 30fps in ProRes, which seems to be a quite high resolution. Were you talking about lowering the resolution to 1080p, for example, when recording, to keep the file sizes small?
I think yes
@@gesztidaniel Thanks.
I think He mean ProRes HQ to ProRes LT
Lt has lower Bitrate
@@card-joker5301And is the difference in quality noticeable?
Wow!! Thank you, so now on, all my car shot will be with h.264 and the podcast will be on h.265 (I shoot with a phone so....)
very informative video, is like bread and butter. the bread is the video and the butter is prores (codec), the computer appreciate bread with butter it can't process plain bread
this is a great explanistion and full of technical information. Thank you.
Bro best explanation out there man, thanks a lot 🙏🏼
This guy have a cool custom keyboards. And a funny stand for the monitor. WOW
What an information packed video. Loved it👍
Thank you for this brilliant explanation! I’m not a pro editor but it’s good to learn
Kambas i just wanna say that you can get it
hey ! I want to learn more about formats , like really detailed , Can you suggest some sources to look from . and thaks for this informative video
Great video. Thoughts on ProRes 422 LT vs 265?
Brilliantly explained, thanks for the video 👍
Chris, not sure you will come back here, but I have a question that is slightly off this topic. I'm new to video, but utilize the Nikon Z9 for my sports, wildlife, action (dance) photography. Clearly, there are a lot of choices when it comes to video recording including 264, 265, ProRes, and internal NRAW. Thanks for explaining the difference of ProRes (Intraframe) vs H264. So here's my seemly simple question that, despite looking, I can not find a simple answer to the following. In my simple understanding, as in photography, there are color spaces/gamut within them. If you shoot JPG, that is baked into the 8bit file. Shoot RAW and you can pick your colorspace (i.e. sRGB, Adobe RGB, ProPhoto) when using the demosaicing software. Is H.264 codec similar to JPG where the color (picture profile) is baked in? and the NRAW LUT is the colorspace for RAW video - with a gamma (luminance) curve to then apply to it? In the compressed codec, I'm having trouble understanding what colorspace is being applied (unless the one expressed in camera settings (i.e. sRGB) and picture profiles is being applied and encoded in the compressed data. Is this correct and if not can you explain this or point me to a video that explains it? Thanks.
8:39 Do the new M2 macs change this with H.265 decoders?
Thank you so much!!! this was an amazing experience.
What about colour profile? My original video was in clog3 and after conversion to prores it looks so weird and blown out.
Thank you this should help my lagging editing. Please tell me about your wood-laced keyboard, curious minds need to know.
It's the Ultimate Hacking Keyboard. My favorite keyboard I've ever owned! The split design is really comfortable and I love the mechanical blue switches.
@@ChrisOlson2 I have to look into this one. Thank you so much for responding. Have a wonderful day! I am patiently awaiting your follow-up video for this one.
Ready for that tutorial on transforming h.264 drone footage to ProRes :)
What camera you should buy in 2023 for a travel vlog if you want to make a video in raw format and edit it in DaVinci after?
Great video :) did the follow up video about transferring codec ever get made? I am having trouble finding it in the creator page 😯but I'd love to watch it if you made it! :)
Great explanation!
All this editing issues, you mentioned, relate to SOFTWARE encoding on a computer. This / was usually the case. Yeeears ago Intel has a "meeting" with DaVinci (well documented) and the result was a HARDWARE encoding Intel graphic card; iPGU.
This is pretty much what happend 15 years ago when CPUs were too slow to decode FHD video. I remember my AMD Athlon 64 that struggled. 2017 Intel launched the 7th Gen that was able to DEcode onboard so that 4k 60Hz was an easy task even for the entry model. Today this is standard!!
De-and-Encode H264 and H265 is different, as is the Codecs: 4.2.0 or 4.2.2 and 8 or 10 or even 12 Bit and so on... So Hardware acceleration on H264 does not mean it supports 8 AND 10 Bit, as an example. So check first in your Software (DaVinci/Premiere/Sony ...) and your Hardware (Graphics Card/CPU etc)
THAT is the reason why I bought Apple Silicon last year: My HATED MBA 16GB. I really hate Apple products and -Policy and I most of all hate the dumbest OS on planet! But: It decodes H265 in DaVinci in 5.8K 4.2.0 10 BIT with ease!
This is really unbelievable.
But Hardware Manufac. will come on. Like they did in the past. In 5 years from today nobody will ever think this has ever been an issue, quote me on that.
Same as 4k playback on a cheapo phone today, where Desktops used to struggle.
whats your method of transcoding? is that just another term for making proxies? and working off that ?
No,. it's a brand new copy of the footage to be used for editing, effects, color correction and output, not just as proxies. Good question.
Hi Chris: Great presentation. Can you make a simplified Video on converting camera footage to Pro res, DNX Intermediate codecs using software like handbrake, and can we use Davincci Resolve t do the same? I think many people don't know because there aren't many (any) (simpler) YT clips that shows a step by step procedure on line
It's magical. You make it all super simple and too good to understand. Superb and superb. 😍🙏 And how to transcode H.265 to proress or to H.264?
You do NOT want to transcode to H.264 unless that is your final delivery to SM.
Hey Chris, Im filming at 4k 50p AL-I with C-log3, and i keep having the stuttering problem. When i remove the C-Log the problem solves, bug the colors are horrible. I need the 4k 50p with C-log or i will not get the cinematic look that i want. I saw the triangle but its not working very well for me, i want High quality footages with smooth editing, i really have alot of space to spare. Is it some config in my canon R5 that's making it stuttering?
Btw you also have H.265 All-Intra
Which is pretty similar to Prores
I haven’t finished the video yet, but this is been helpful for my DJI mini pro. I went to Croatia, Slovenia and Austria shooting in H.265. I can’t edit any of my footage but I can see it on my RCA remote so I know the footage is good it’s just I don’t have a converter to get it to play on my eight year old laptop lol are there any known converters that could help me with editing, since then I went to the Florida Keys and shot in H.264 and everything is fine but it seems like my laptop can’t handle the H.265 ideas on conversion tools?
Great explanation. ProRes it is. I have a Gopro and use a Mac. Thank you.
This was great. An idea for a future video would be to take a Rec 2100 HLG from the DJI Mavic 3 and show how to tussle with the codecs in premiere.
I ether have lousy output from my color grading or a MASSIVE file that looks good but too big to do anything (like post to social media) with.
An example of what do to tame this would be great.
Rec 2100 & Rec 2020 HLG are really god tier colour spaces when recording for HDR. Best part about HLG is you can do SDR and HDR within the same video and signal feed. Also, no manual input of the metadata, which save you so so much time.
I’m surprised that it’s not used within the industry more, especially for small content creators, but most in the industry aren’t even aware the format exists.
Good explanation on Codec 👑