H.264 and H.265 are video compression standards widely used in various applications, including IP cameras and video streaming services. In this article, we'll discuss the differences between H.264 and H.265, their advantages, and the minimum requirements for devices and browsers to support them.

H.264

H.264, also known as Advanced Video Coding (AVC), is a video compression standard introduced in 2003. It has become the most widely used format for compressing and recording video, supported by a vast majority of devices and IP cameras. H.264 is popular due to its ability to provide high-quality video at lower bitrates, making it ideal for various applications, including video conferencing, streaming services, and surveillance systems.

H.265

H.265, also known as High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), is the successor to H.264. Introduced in 2013, H.265 aims to improve upon H.264 by offering better compression efficiency and supporting higher resolutions, such as 4K and 8K. H.265 can deliver the same video quality as H.264 at approximately half the bitrate, making it a more efficient choice for bandwidth-limited applications.

Advantages of H.265 over H.264

• H.265 offers superior compression efficiency, allowing for the same video quality at lower bitrates compared to H.264.
• With H.265, video streams require less bandwidth, making it ideal for applications with limited bandwidth resources.
• H.265 supports higher resolutions, such as 4K and beyond, without significantly increasing bandwidth requirements.
• H.265 enables smoother streaming experiences, especially in scenarios with fluctuating network conditions.

Minimum Requirements of H.264

Device Requirements

Most of the the devices manufactured since 2008 support H.264. Since, it is one of the widely used compression standards. This format is supported by majority of the devices (powering on Intel / AMD / Nvidia)

Browser Requirements

Note

• Firefox supports H.264 on Windows 7 and later since version 21
• Partial support for older Firefox versions refers to the lack of support in OS X & some non-Android Linux platforms.

Minimum Requirements of H.265

H.265 is more computationally intensive than H.264, and hardware-based encoding and decoding can significantly improve performance and reduce power consumption compared to software-based implementations. Most of the modern devices with dedicated GPUs support H.265.

Device Requirements

Please check whether the GPU of your device meets the demand below

Intel - Check Compatibility

AMD - Check Compatibility

NVIDIA - Check Compatibility

Browser Requirements

Note

• Supported only on macOS High Sierra or later
• Reported to work in certain Android devices with hardware support
• Supported for all devices on macOS (>= Big Sur 11.0) and Android (>= 5.0) if Edge >= 107, for devices with hardware support on Windows (>= Windows 10 1709) when HEVC video extensions from the Microsoft Store is installed

Test if your device supports H.265

• Try to open this Test Page and check if your device and browser is able to play the video.
• Open chrome://gpu link in your chrome, search for Video Acceleration Information. You should see "Decode hevc main" field and "Decode hevc main 10" field

Enable hardware acceleration in chrome

• Open Chrome Settings chrome://settings
• Search for Use graphics acceleration when available
• Enable this and restart your chrome and try accessing the H.265 test page.

Using Software based implementations for H.265

For Windows Devices that don't have hardware support for H.265, you can still try to play H.265 videos using Microsoft HEVC Video Extension Pack. You can try installing this from Microsoft store and test it out. Please note that software based implementations are slow when compared to hardware baed implementations.

References

• https://support.apple.com/en-us/116944
• https://support.reolink.com/hc/en-us/articles/16772268498329-What-s-the-Requirement-for-My-Device-to-Playback-HEVC-H-265-Videos
• https://caniuse.com/?search=h.264
• https://caniuse.com/?search=h.265
• https://bluesky-soft.com/en/dxvac/deviceInfo/decoder/intel.html
• https://github.com/StaZhu/enable-chromium-hevc-hardware-decoding

Updated on: 30/04/2024