Video Encoding

Bitrates

Amazon H.264 currently (2020) has the following maximum bitrates while streaming:

Keep in mind that most videos will not be a constant bitrate, so actual streamed data will be lower.

Roku provides some guidelines around a bitrate ladder, with H.264 1080p @ 5.8, 4.3, then 720p at 3.5, 2.75. Not all their devices support 1080p60 so recommends 720p60 or 1080p24/30. For 4k recommends HEVC/H.265 up to 25mbps.

HEVC Notes

Some recommendations specifically for Anime - TLDR; Handbrake, Main 10 profile, slow preset:

• 1 Setting to rule them all: crf=19-20, limit-sao:bframes=8:psy-rd=1:aq-mode=3
• Flat, slow anime (slice of life, everything is well lit): crf=19-20, bframes=8:psy-rd=1:aq-mode=3:aq-strength=0.8:deblock=1,1
• Some dark scene, some battle scene (shonen, historical, etc.): crf=18-19 (motion + fancy FX), limit-sao:bframes=8:psy-rd=1.5:psy-rdoq=2:aq-mode=3 crf=20 (non-complex, motion only alternative), bframes=8:psy-rd=1:psy-rdoq=1:aq-mode=3:qcomp=0.8
• Movie-tier dark scene, complex grain/detail: crf=16-18, no-sao:bframes=8:psy-rd=1.5:psy-rdoq=4:aq-mode=3:ref=6
• I have infinite storage, a supercomputer, and I want details: preset=veryslow, crf=14, no-sao:no-strong-intra-smoothing:bframes=8:psy-rd=2:psy-rdoq=5:aq-mode=3:deblock=-1,-1:ref=6

Audio: Avoid FLAC (save the data rate for video quality) and reencode, prefer Opus to AAC. If already in a lossy format, just copy it.

• Opus: 192kbps stereo, 384kbps for 5.1.
• AAC (Apple): -V 109 stereo, -V 100 for 5.1.
• Fraunhofer FDK AAC (build your own Handbrake with non-free, docs): -m 5