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Faster encode vs slower encode for HEVC and H.264

Is it safe to say that "faster" encode is hardware (Apple T2, Intel QuickSync, or AMD VCN) encoding and "slower" encode is CPU encoding? It's a huge difference in speed on both my MacBook Pro 2019 and iMac 2019.

MacBook Pro with Touch Bar

Posted on Dec 2, 2020 10:19 PM

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Posted on Dec 28, 2020 10:55 PM

It seems that with T2 or M1 chip I must unlearn that slower and multi-pass = better quality (thanks for the link Luis!):


https://larryjordan.com/articles/apple-adds-hardware-to-improve-video-compression-speeds/

7 replies

Dec 25, 2020 7:12 AM in response to Ed Chan

No, that's not it. Faster is a quick one-pass encode. Slower is a two-pass encode. Slower will give better results as the second-pass of analysis allows for better quality transcodes, and usually slightly larger files sizes. Has nothing to do with that hardware/software performs the transcode.

Dec 29, 2020 1:33 PM in response to BenB

GPU encoding is hardware accelerated. Besides that point, quoting Apple: “T2 also features HEVC video transcoding that’s up to an incredible 30 times faster, enabling pro users to work more quickly with higher resolution video throughout their workflow.” From the announcement of the Mac mini 2018. I think “faster” is hardware (whether GPU or T2) accelerated.

Faster encode vs slower encode for HEVC and H.264

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