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Glossary · codec

What is H.265 (HEVC)?

H.265 (also called HEVC, High Efficiency Video Coding) is the successor to H.264. It compresses ~50% more efficiently — the same quality at half the bitrate. Apple devices use H.265 extensively. YouTube does not serve H.265 publicly; AV1 and VP9 are its open-source alternatives.

Also called:hevc · h.265 · mpeg-h

H.265 was designed to halve the bitrate of H.264 at equal visual quality. The math worked, but the licensing did not — H.265 is encumbered by overlapping patent pools that have made it expensive to license, which is why YouTube, Twitch, and most browsers chose VP9 and AV1 instead.

Consumer-side, H.265 is most visible on iPhones (every video shot since 2017 is HEVC by default) and on 4K Blu-ray. Editing-wise, every modern NLE supports H.265 source files, though some prefer H.264 proxies for performance.

Common questions

Does YouTube serve H.265 / HEVC?
No, not publicly. YouTube's codec roadmap is H.264 (compatibility), VP9 (modern devices), and AV1 (latest). For HEVC content, look at Apple ProRes or 4K Blu-ray sources.

Related terms

Codec

A codec is the algorithm that encodes (compresses) and decodes raw audio or video into a smaller stream.

H.264 (AVC)

H.

AV1

AV1 is a royalty-free, open-source video codec from the Alliance for Open Media.

VP9

VP9 is a royalty-free video codec developed by Google, used widely on YouTube and in WebM files.

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