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LowEndBoxTV: Piotr's Video Encoding Course, Part 2: Constant vs. Variable Bitrates, Tools, Tips, and More

In Part 1, I explored what the heck a codec is, the difference between H.264, VP8, VP9, H.265, and AV1, compression, and more. Now let’s continue and talk about bitrate, video artifacts, constant vs variable bitrates, and helpful tips and tools.

What I cover:

  • What is ‘bitrate’?
  • Video artifacts and what causes them
  • Methods of assigning bitrate
  • When you should use “constant bitrate”
  • When you should use “variable bitrate”
  • When you should use “constant rate factor”
  • Encoder “presets” that you’d find in Adobe Premiere, Final Cut Pro, etc.
  • How to find best preset & bitrate/CRF & codec combination
  • A tool that will save your time (ab-av1)
  • Example script for ab-av1
  • How I used this tool to do one week job in one hour.
  • The meaning of VMAF score
  • Encoding ladder
  • Software vs Hardware encoder

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