Festival ready codec?

1

Hello Community,

Noob here. I have a video which is ready for exporting. By default, my codec is set to libx264 but I’ve read somewhere that h264 is more the standard. I can see h264_mf as well as a number of other codecs… which one should I choose?

I’ve tested output as h264.mf and the video was just horrible :frowning:

Thanks,
Rob

2

H.264 is a specification. There are many encoders that create video files conforming to that specification, with libx264 being one of them. As in, libx264 is one of many ways to create a valid H.264 bitstream that a projector can display.

For festival purposes, it is best to check with the projectionist at the venue and ask what formats they prefer. Some may want ProRes, some may want an all-out DCP, some will let you connect a laptop to an HDMI input on the projector.

If H.264 is allowed, I would recommend libx264 over GPU encoding. Quality is paramount for a festival screening, and libx264 can tune for higher quality in a smaller file size than GPUs.

3

Thanks @Austin,
This was really helpful.
All the best,
Rob