--- layout: default category: "OBS" title: "High Quality Recording (in OBS Studio) with H.264/AVC" comments: true date: "2023-05-05" redirect_from: - /guides/high-quality-recordings/x264/ - /guides/high-quality-recordings/h264/ ---

The H.264/AVC codec is one of the oldest, and yet still one of the most versatile codecs out there. It is (relatively) simple to encode and decode, supports a variety of chroma subsampling and bit depths, and is one of the first codecs for stereoscopic video.

x264

Option	Lossless	Near Lossless	Indistinguishable	High Quality	Acceptable Quality
Rate Control	CRF
CRF	0	0 to 4	5 to 10	11 to 16	17 to 22
Keyframe Interval	1
Preset	ultrafast - placebo A slower preset only affects file size, quality should be unaffected.
Profile	None or high The `high` profile is required for 4:4:4 and 4:2:2 encoding.
Tune	None Tuning can slightly improve compression efficiency, but often harms it instead.
x264 Options	`bframes=0 keyint=1 min-keyint=1`
OBS Color Format	4:4:4	4:4:4 or 4:2:2	4:4:4, 4:2:2 or 4:2:0

For empty fields, look further left.

AMD AMF

Built-In

Option	Lossless	Indistinguishable	High Quality	Acceptable Quality
Rate Control	N/A	CQP
CQ Level		5 - 10	11 - 16	17 - 22+
Profile		Speed
Max B-frames		Any, but less may be faster
AMF/FFmpeg Options		`profile_tier=high preanalysis=false vbaq=false filler_data=false skip_frame=false`
OBS Color Format		4:2:0

For empty fields, look further left.

Additional Notes

AMDs H264 encoder is only capable of 4:2:0 SDR (8bit).
You can freely adjust the Key-Frame Interval for anything but Lossless. Lossless will (and should) always produce an IDR-Frame every frame.

Intel QSV

Built-In

Option	Lossless	Indistinguishable	High Quality	Acceptable Quality
Rate Control	N/A	CQP
CQQ		5 - 10	11 - 16	17 - 22+
Target Usage		veryfast
Profile		high
Keyframe Interval		1
Latency		normal
B Frames		0
OBS Color Format		4:2:0

For empty fields, look further left.

Additional Notes

OBS Studio does not export 4:2:2 and 4:4:4 support for QSV.
Intels QSV H.264 encoder is tied to CPU usage, so it may perform worse than x264 would.
You can freely adjust the Key-Frame Interval for anything but Lossless. Lossless will (and should) always produce an IDR-Frame every frame.

NVIDIA NVENC

StreamFX

Option	Lossless	Near Lossless	Indistinguishable	High Quality	Acceptable Quality
Preset	Fastest (P1)
Tune	Lossless	High Quality
H264
Profile	High 4:4:4 Predictive	High 4:4:4 Predictive (when using I444) High (when using NV12)
Level	Automatic
Rate Control Options
Mode	Constant Quantization Parameter
Multi-Pass	Single Pass
Look Ahead	0 frames
Adaptive I-Frames	Disabled
Adaptive B-Frames	Disabled
Quantization Parameters
I-Frame QP P-Frame QP B-Frame QP	0	0 to 4	5 to 10	11 to 16	17 to 22+
Adaptive Quantization
Spatial Adaptive Quantization	Disabled
Temporal Adaptive Quantization	Disabled
Other Options
Maximum B-Frames	Any
B-Frame Reference Mode	Any
Zero Latency	Default
Weighted Prediction	Default
Non-reference P-Frames	Default
Reference Frames	-1 frames
Low Delay Key-Frame Scale	-1
Key Frames
Interval Type	Frames	Any
Interval	1 frame	Any
OBS Color Format	4:4:4		4:4:4 or 4:2:0

For empty fields, look further left.

Built-In

Option	Lossless	Near Lossless	Indistinguishable	High Quality	Acceptable Quality
Rate Control	N/A	CQP
CQ Level		0 - 4	5 - 10	11 - 16	17 - 22+
Preset		P1: Fastest (Lowest Quality)
Tuning		High Quality
Multipass Mode		Single Pass
Profile		high
Look-ahead		Disabled
Psycho Visual Tuning		Disabled
Max B-frames		0
OBS Color Format		4:4:4	4:4:4 or 4:2:0

For empty fields, look further left.

Additional Notes

You can freely adjust the Key-Frame Interval for anything but Lossless. Lossless will (and should) always produce an IDR-Frame every frame.

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