We know that our customers are always looking to do more, better, faster, so we put together this list of best practices to help maximize the quality of your transcoding output and in turn make your workflow that much more efficient.
There are a myriad of settings that you can tweak in our platform. This list will help you quickly hone in on some of the more critical settings that affect output quality.
1) Consider Two-Pass Encoding. Two-pass encoding will improve output quality by roughly 10%, but it will also double the processing time.
To enable double pass encoding, simply use this API call.
yes2) Select the Right Bitrate. When choosing a bitrate for your video, a good starting point is to set a variable bitrate equal to the pixel-width of the video. For example, the bitrate 640 480 SD would be 640 kbps, and 1280 720 HD would be set at 1280 kbps. Video that contains extensive action scenes may require a slightly higher bitrate.
3) Consider Turbo Mode. For HD encoding jobs over 15 minutes in duration we recommend turbo mode or twin turbo mode. This will prove 2x-4x speed gains over normal mode. Enable turbo mode with this simple call. Using turbo mode will increase your costs $1-$2/GB, however baseline jobs will get turbo processing for free if we have idle processors available.
To enable turbo mode simply use this call:
yes4) Eliminate Blocking Artifacts. Blocking artifacts are often undesirable video characteristics in which objects appear to be made up of small squares, rather than proper detail and smooth edges. To reduce blocking artifacts and improve H.264 encoding efficiency, it's best that the horizontal and vertical framesize dimensions be multiples of 16. These are the most common framesizes:
- SD (4:3 aspect ratio): 320 240, 432 320, 480 360, 544 400, 640 480, 768 576
- HD (16:9 aspect ratio): 432 240, 576 320, 640 360, 720 400, 848 480, 1024 576, 1280 720, 1920 1080
5) Pay Attention to your Profile Settings. There's a big punch packed in just tweaking your profile settings. It can make the difference between your video playing or not playing. If your frame dimensions are LD chose baseline. If your frame dimensions are SD choose main frame dimensions SD (720) chose high.
LD mp4 0 240 h264 baseline profile @ 350 Kbps with aac audio 22050 Hz @ 40 Kbps
SD mp4 0 360 h264 main profile @ 600 Kbps with aac audio 44100 @ 64 Kbps
HD mp4 0 576 h264 high profile @ 1000 Kbps with aac audio 44100 @ 80 Kbps
6) Use Progressive Scan Mode for Source Video. Smartphones capture progressive automatically, and most professional cameras offer a progressive capture mode. Interlaced video consumes more bits to preserve fields.
7) Garbage-In Garbage-Out. Providing a high quality source is critical, your output is only as good as your input. The garbage-in garbage-out maxim applies here.
8) Optimize your profiles. MP4 H.264/AVC is the delivery codec used for modern video applications. It is decoded with hardware in just about every video device made today, from phones to HD televisions. Below are some of the optimal target to ensure the highest quality.
LD 240p 3G Mobile @ H.264 baseline profile 350 kbps (3 MB/minute)
LD 360p 4G Mobile @ H.264 main profile 700 kbps (6 MB/minute)
SD 480p WiFi @ H.264 main profile 1200 kbps (10 MB/minute)
HD 720p @ H.264 high profile 2500 kbps (20 MB/minute)
HD 1080p @ H.264 high profile 5000 kbps (35 MB/minute)
H.264 FRAMESIZES square pixel (PAR 1:1) examples for best performance
4:3 DAR (1.33) standard: 320 240, 384 288, 480 360, 576 432, 640 480, 768 576
16:9 DAR (1.77) widescreen: 432 240, 512 288, 640 360, 768 432, 854 480, 1024 576, 1280 720, 1920 1080
H.264 PROFILES based on vertical resolution p value
Baseline for low definition (LD) 240p to 288p, compatible with older 3G mobiles
Main for standard definition (SD) 360p to 480p, good for 4G smartphones and tablets
High for high definition (HD) 720p to 1080p, best quality for hardware with a good decoder
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
We know that our customers are always looking to do more, better, faster, so we put together this list of best practices to help maximize the quality of your transcoding output and in turn make your workflow that much more efficient.
