Handbrake x264 'Constant Quality' (RF) comparisons

Try to watch in fullscreen at the 1080p setting, or you won't see the details well enough to notice the differences in RF values (there are 4x480p sources contained in the video).

Pausing at various points to look for differences can be helpful. Pay close attention to flatter "background" areas, as that's where signs of blockiness tend to first show up.

If you're unable to watch in 1080p or if YouTube's compression causes the video to deteriorate too much, there are DVD-resolution screenshots in the write-up on the site.

Comparison includes the following RF values:
0, 10, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30, 32

CORRECTION: The final clip says "weak settings (RF 22, 24, 26)". It should say "weak settings (RF 28, 30, 32)".

Disclaimer & legal junk:
Contains content from "24" Season 6, Episode 1 (between 18m03s-18m14s), of which Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation holds the copyright. If you re-use this in a context of which the law does not permit and they sue your pants off or Jack Bauer comes to your house looking for answers, you're on your own.

It is believed that this usage of this content falls within the "fair dealing" clause of the Canadian Copyright Act, pursuant to Section 29 for purposes of being educational and/or of research value.

It is believed that this usage of this content falls within the "fair use" provision of US copyright law, for reasons including but not limited to: being transformative & non-commercial in nature of use, containing minimal content, and having no negative impact on the value of the original work.

[treighpedroche]

Valuable information. I just recently got into encoding with handbrake and found this comparison of RF quality very useful. Thank you for posting!

[davidnaylor]

Might have been useful before it was smashed through Youtube's compression ... =)

[bccabernet]

I've just started ripping my collection and was trying to figure Handbrake out. I've been doing well using presets, but not understanding what any of the settings meant.. until I found your videos/website. And I didn't think I needed to until I started converting my PAL shows into NTSC. I followed someone's settings and was shocked at how much larger each episode was compared to the others. And it all had to do with the kbps set to 5000 (I had no idea it altered the file size). Now, armed with knowledge, I can figure out a better setting. Thank you. I am so happy I found your site.

[amusement]

Nice comparison and web page. Handbrake's site says (although it's 3yrs old) Standard Definition (e.g DVD's) Use an RF value of around 20 +/- 1. (20 being the default) High Definition (e.g Blurays 720/1080) Use an RF value of 22 +/- 1. (I think that's too much in one test I did) I used MakeMKV to rip a BR Title which looked fine in VLC. But was squashed anamorphic. Handbrake made it anamorphic. I used the film setting. Your site's reported 355.6MB file size is good.

[allencooperphotos]

Thanks for the post! Another newb handbrake user here, trying to figure it all out.

[KeithBlade]

Great stuff Matt, your website has always been helpful also for encoding.

[DMWill]

first, i have to say i'm surprised no one has commented. this is extremely helpful if someone really doesn't understand how constant quality and RF works. it came in handy when i needed to explain to someone why this setting can be very important.

[DivergentDroid]

I don't see a lot of talk about other settings. 22 RF. I use Placebo for speed, Tune is Film as opposed to none, Profile is High444, and Encoder level at 6.2, I get the smallest size possible without sacrificing quality. Auto or Main will give you a slightly larger file size. Film and encoder level also effects file size by shrinking it. Constant or Peak framerate don't make a difference. I use Handbreak to shrink my videos before upload. You can fit a lot of information in 1 minute. I got that down to 2.23 MB's.

[psijacko]

excelente comparacion, aunque se nota mas la diferencia en escenas de accion o con imagen granulada.

[neon_one]

wait but these are downscaled and put on youtube. I mean you can still maybe note a difference but it's just a reference

[TheMRTIMBUK]

This compressor is crazy
It compresses video to 99.97%. 
5.47 Gb = 15.6Mb 
insane

[DisgruntledPigumon]

Thanks for this info. BTW you left the medium setting numbers when you showed the weak settings.

[simonghoul]

made a typo when you mentioned "weak settings", you said RF 22, 24, 26

[NullyEmptier]

few yt videos show actual quality comparison, thx

[mouykhshabon]

Anything below 28, you won't be able to tell the difference in quality as it is going through youtube's own compression. Apart from the quality loss from going through the pipeline twice.

[DrxSlump]

22 is close to the perfect balance in my opinion.

[SvenskaIdioterna]

I’ll go for 25 or 26 for huge files where I don’t care about quality that much. Tried a few myself and I want files to get below 1GB at least. 21 gave me 1.79gb in size and it’s far too big for tv show episodes, who cares, not as if you’re likely to notice a huge difference. This crap is in 1080p but they come in file sizes between 2 to 6gb for 45 minutes

[danielscissorhands]

I don't understand your video... isn't the higher the number the better quality? Like RF 20 is better quality than RF 18, right?

[azmalhoque]

hi matt your site helps me alot to understand HEVC.i did download 10-bit x264 and 10/12-bit x265 encodes zip file from your site.now 264-10bit work perfectly .265 10-12 both show on video codec but when i try to convert file its show errors.can you please help me with new link of x265 10-12bit.it will be so kind of you brother

[Avrelivs_Gold]

anything higher than 10 for me is horrible
i just lower the bitrate cap if file is too large