HEVC

H.265, or HEVC as it is better-known, is the MPEG group's follow-up to the ubiquitous H.264/AVC video codec. It offers significant improvements in reduction of file size for equivalent perceptual quality over its predecessor.

Encoding.com offers a number of implementations of HEVC, including x265 (the default described here), content-adaptive HEVC encoding via Beamr CABR, as well as Dolby Vision.

x265's options frequently mirror those in its related project, x264, with some notable exceptions. The majority of users will not need to define these parameters in a job request, unless expressly required by your decoder, but they are documented here for those who need to modify them.

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<query>
    <userid><<id>></userid> <!-- required-->
    <userkey><<key>></userkey> <!-- required-->
    <action>[Action]</action> <!-- required-->
    <source>[SourceFile]</source> <!-- required-->
    <format>
        <output>[mpeg_dash|mp4]</output> <!-- required-->
        <video_codec>hevc</video_codec>
        <video_codec_parameters>
            <level>[Level]</level>
            <refresh>1</refresh>
            <rc-lookahead>20</rc-lookahead>
            <b-adapt>2</b-adapt>
            <bframes>4</bframes>
            <b-pyramid>1</b-pyramid>
            <ref>3</ref>
            <ctu>64</ctu>
            <tu-intra-depth>1</tu-intra-depth>
            <tu-inter-depth>1</tu-inter-depth>
            <me>1</me>
            <subme>2</subme>
            <merange>60</merange>
            <max-merge>2</max-merge>
            <rect>1</rect>
            <amp>1</amp>
            <early-skip>0</early-skip>
            <fast-cbf>0</fast-cbf>
            <signhide>1</signhide>
            <lft>1</lft>
            <tskip>0</tskip>
            <sao>1</sao>
            <weightp>1</weightp>
            <tskip-fast>0</tskip-fast>
        </video_codec_parameters>
        <!-- format params -->
    </format>
</query>

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<query>
    <userid><<id>></userid> <!-- required-->
    <userkey><<key>></userkey> <!-- required-->
    <action>[Action]</action> <!-- required-->
    <source>[SourceFile]</source> <!-- required-->
    <format>
        <output>[advanced_dash|fmp4_hls]</output> <!-- required-->
        <stream>
            <video_codec>hevc</video_codec>
            <video_codec_parameters>
                <level>[Level]</level>
                <refresh>1</refresh>
                <rc-lookahead>20</rc-lookahead>
                <b-adapt>2</b-adapt>
                <bframes>4</bframes>
                <b-pyramid>1</b-pyramid>
                <ref>3</ref>
                <ctu>64</ctu>
                <tu-intra-depth>1</tu-intra-depth>
                <tu-inter-depth>1</tu-inter-depth>
                <me>1</me>
                <subme>2</subme>
                <merange>60</merange>
                <max-merge>2</max-merge>
                <rect>1</rect>
                <amp>1</amp>
                <early-skip>0</early-skip>
                <fast-cbf>0</fast-cbf>
                <signhide>1</signhide>
                <lft>1</lft>
                <tskip>0</tskip>
                <sao>1</sao>
                <weightp>1</weightp>
                <tskip-fast>0</tskip-fast>
            </video_codec_parameters>
        </stream>
        <stream>
            <!-- stream params -->
        </stream>
        <!-- format params -->
    </format>
</query>

{
    "query": {
        "userid": "<<id>>", // required
        "userkey": "<<key>>", // required
        "action": "[Action]", // required
        "source": "[SourceFile]", // required
        "format": {
            "output": "[mpeg_dash|mp4]", // required
            "video_codec": "hevc",
            "video_codec_parameters": {
                "level": "[Level]",
                "refresh": "1",
                "rc-lookahead": "20",
                "b-adapt": "2",
                "bframes": "4",
                "b-pyramid": "1",
                "ref": "3",
                "ctu": "64",
                "tu-intra-depth": "1",
                "tu-inter-depth": "1",
                "me": "1",
                "subme": "2",
                "merange": "60",
                "max-merge": "2",
                "rect": "1",
                "amp": "1",
                "early-skip": "0",
                "fast-cbf": "0",
                "signhide": "1",
                "lft": "1",
                "tskip": "0",
                "sao": "1",
                "weightp": "1",
                "tskip-fast": "0"
            }
            // format params
        }
    }
}

{
    "query": {
        "userid": "<<id>>", // required
        "userkey": "<<key>>", // required
        "action": "[Action]", // required
        "source": "[SourceFile]", // required
        "format": {
            "output": "[advanced_dash|fmp4_hls]", // required
            "stream": [
                {
                    "video_codec": "hevc",
                    "video_codec_parameters": {
                        "level": "[Level]",
                        "refresh": "1",
                        "rc-lookahead": "20",
                        "b-adapt": "2",
                        "bframes": "4",
                        "b-pyramid": "1",
                        "ref": "3",
                        "ctu": "64",
                        "tu-intra-depth": "1",
                        "tu-inter-depth": "1",
                        "me": "1",
                        "subme": "2",
                        "merange": "60",
                        "max-merge": "2",
                        "rect": "1",
                        "amp": "1",
                        "early-skip": "0",
                        "fast-cbf": "0",
                        "signhide": "1",
                        "lft": "1",
                        "tskip": "0",
                        "sao": "1",
                        "weightp": "1",
                       "tskip-fast": "0"
                    }
                },
                {
                   // stream params
                }
            ]
        }
    }
}

Parameter	Definition	Allowed Values	Default Values
General Options
level	Video Level	Positive integer number 10 – 1.0, 20 – 2.0, 21 – 2.1, 22 – 2.2, 30 – 3.0, 31 – 3.1, 32 – 3.2, 40 – 4.0, 41 – 4.1, 50 – 5.0, 51 – 5.1, 52 – 5.2, 60 – 6.0, 61 – 6.1, 62 – 6.2	none
Slice Descision Options
refresh	Specify the intra refresh type	0 — none 1 — CDR 2 — IDR	1
rc-lookahead	Specify the number of frames for the frame-type lookahead.	An integer less than or equal to 250 and greater than the maximum consecutive bframes count.	20
b-adapt	Enable adaptive bframe scheduling.	0 — none 1 — fast 2 — full (trellis)	2
bframes	Specify the number of consecutive b-frames.	Positive integer from 0 to 16.	4
b-pyramid	Enable the use b-frames as references.	0 — Disabled 1 — Enabled	1
ref	Specify the max number of L0 references to be allowed.	Positive integer from 0 to 16.	3
weightp	Enable the weighted prediction in P slices.	0 — Disabled 1 — Enabled	1
Quad-Tree Analisys Options
ctu	Specify the maximum CU size (width and height).	16,32,64	64
tu-intra-depth	Specify the maximum TU recursive depth for intra CUs.	1,2,3,4	1
tu-inter-depth	Specify the maximum TU recursive depth for inter CUs.	1,2,3,4	1
Motion Search Options
me	Specify the motion search method.	0 — dia 1 — hex 2 — umh 3 — star 4 — full	1
subme	Specify the amount of subpel refinement to perform.	Positive integer from 0 to 7 (0: least … 7: most)	2
merange	Specify the motion search range.	Integer from 0 to 32768	60
max-merge	Specify the maximum number of merge candidates.	Positive integer from 1 to 5	2
rect	Specify the number of rectangular motion partitions Nx2N and 2NxN	0 — Disable 1 — Enable	1
amp	Specify the asymmetric motion partitions (requires rect enabled)	0 — Disable 1 — Enable	1
early-skip	Enable early SKIP detection.	0 — Disable 1 — Enable	0
fast-cbf	Enable CBF fast mode.	0 — Disable 1 — Enable	0
Rate Control Options
rd	Specify level of rate distortion in mode decision.	0 — Least 1 — Lightweight RDO Analysis	0
signhide	Hide the sign bit of one coeff per TU.	0 — Disable 1 — Enable	1
Loop Filter Options
lft	Enable the oop filter.	0 — Disable 1 — Enable	1
Intra Options
tskip	Enable intra transform skipping.	0 — Disable 1 — Enable	0
tskip-fast	Enable fast intra transform skipping	0 — Disable 1 — Enable	0
Sample Adaptive Offset Loop Filter Options
sao	Enable simple adaptive offset.	0 — Disable 1 — Enable	1