Little comparison of x264 and x265 for anime source

We compare a small SD-part from anime (~14 MB) encoded with CRF mode using x264 and x265. CRF was chosen in such a way that the size of both encodes had similar size. As a result, we stopped at these settings:

x264 (core 144):
Type: 10 bit
Encoding settings: --crf 36.9 --preset placebo --no-mbtree --direct spatial --no-dct-decimate
Size of video track: 96.1 KB
Bitrate: 219 kbps


Download encoded video

UPDATE (More optimal x264 encode sent by nobody555):
Encoding settings: –crf 33 –preset placebo –psy-rd 0
Size of video track: 96.7 KB


Download encoded video

x265 (rev. 9327 (1.4+273)):
Type: 10 bit
Encoding settings: --crf 30 --preset placebo
Size of video track: 96.4 KB
Bitrate: 219 kbps


Download encoded video

13 thoughts on “Little comparison of x264 and x265 for anime source

  1. why –no-mbtree? maybe it’s too short?
    imho in bitrate-wise x265 obviously wins, but when compared vs normal x264 bitrate (ie x264 @ crf 16/20) x264 is still better in quality-wise

    • Experimenter tried to achieve maximum visual quality for both codecs. —no-mbtree gives better result.

      I also add the original video in post. May be someone can find keys for x264 which give better quality.

      • You can try to achieve 96.4 KB size of video using any method for x264 and try to get visual quality same as x265. This test just show it’s not possible for given bitrate, that’s all.

        • I’m aware. What I am saying is that the given bitrate for this input is so low that x264 (AVC in general, really) is operating WELL outside of its sweet spot here, no matter what the settings, while HEVC is much better suited for this kind of very low bitrate operation.

          Basically AVC is destined to fail compared to HEVC when compression is this extreme, so the results are not very interesting in my opinion.

  2. Your x264 settings are stupid for such low bitrate. First you shouldn’t mess with settings which you don’t know how to use (I am hinting at “–no-mbtree –direct spatial –no-dct-decimate”). Second you should disable psy-rd at such low bitrates.
    Here [URL]http://rghost.ru/6YCWSVw6b[/URL] is encode with “–crf 33 –preset placebo –psy-rd 0” settings and 96.6 KB size.
    Screenshots of frames 20 and 72:
    [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/5YCa81F.png[/IMG]
    [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/vbmOQ8x.png[/IMG]
    Which while not better than x265 but at least not this block-fest of your encode.

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