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x264
x264 is a free software library and application for encoding video streams into the H.264/MPEG-4 AVC format, and is released under the terms of the GNU GPL.
Download x264
master • Source • 475kB
Other Systems and Versions-->
Features Overview
Provides best-in-class performance, compression, and features.Achieves dramatic performance, encoding 4 or more 1080p streams in realtime on a single consumer-level computer.
Gives the best quality, having the most advanced psychovisual optimizations.
Support features necessary for many different applications, such as television broadcast, Blu-ray low-latency video applications, and web video.
x264 forms the core of many web video services, such as Youtube, Facebook, Vimeo, and Hulu. It is widely used in television broadcast and by ISP.
News
2011 May 12 -- The x264 Development Newsletter: Volume 16 is out.
2011 April 26 -- The x264 Development Newsletter: Volume 15 is out.
2011 April 13 -- The x264 Development Newsletter: Volume 14 is out.
2011 March 24 -- The x264 Development Newsletter: Volume 13 is out.
Getting x264
The latest x264 source code can always be found by anonymous git repository:
# git clone git://git.videolan.org/x264.git
Or grab a daily tarball.
You can browse the source on-line.
Builds for Windows are available from the list of unofficial builds, or from Jarod.
Awards
2010 May 25 -- x264 won MSU Sixth MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 Video Codecs Comparison, with ~24% better encoding than second place.
2005 December 26 -- x264 won Doom9's 2005 codec shoot-out, passing Ateme by a hair.
2005 December 12 -- x264 tied for 1st place (with Ateme) in the second annual MSU MPEG-4 AVC/ H.264 codecs comparison.
Encoder features
- 8x8 and 4x4 adaptive spatial transform
- Adaptive B-frame placement
- B-frames as references / arbitrary frame order
- CAVLC/CABAC entropy coding
- Custom quantization matrices
- Intra: all macroblock types (16x16, 8x8, 4x4, and PCM with all predictions)
- Inter P: all partitions (from 16x16 down to 4x4)
- Inter B: partitions from 16x16 down to 8x8 (including skip/direct)
- Interlacing (MBAFF)
- Multiple reference frames
- Ratecontrol: constant quantizer, constant quality, single or multipass ABR, optional VBV
- Scenecut detection
- Spatial and temporal direct mode in B-frames, adaptive mode selection
- Parallel encoding on multiple CPUs
- Predictive lossless mode
- Psy optimizations for detail retention (adaptive quantization, psy-RD, psy-trellis)
- Zones for arbitrarily adjusting bitrate distribution
Support
For support information and to ask questions, you have the following possibilities:
A mailing list (x264-devel), a forum (Doom10), and IRC (#x264@freenode and #x264dev@freenode).
Bugs
Please report any bugs to the mailing list. If it is a crash, then compile x264 with `./configure --enable-debug` and follow the ffmpeg bugreporting guidelines.
Licensing
In addition to being free to use under the GNU GPL, x264 is also available under a commercial license from x264 LLC and CoreCodec. Contact info@x264licensing.com for more details.
Software using x264
- Avidemux
- ELDER
- ffdshow
- ffmpeg
- GordianKnot
- Handbrake
- LiVES
- MeGUI
- MEncoder
- Bencos (formerly RealAnime)
- StaxRip
- VLC media player
- ... and many more
If you use x264 in another project, let us know!