Question / Help x265, particularly for streaming? (via ffmpeg?)

[Jon Freed]

(1) To stream with x265 through ffmpeg [from Windows], exactly which "binaries/dlls … [should be replaced] in C:\Program Files (x86)\obs-studio\bin\[32/64]bit"?

(@Fenrir has clarified via OBS chat that "iirc, you need to get the [ffmpeg's official] shared package from here: https://ffmpeg.zeranoe.com/builds/ and then copy its \bin\ files to the OBS bin folder.)​

Then, (2) what other settings in the user interface are then required to use it for streaming in OBS Studio? Can it be (A) used via “streaming” settings alone, and if yes, then how? Or can it only be (B) used through streaming-via-recording-settings, similar to what is described in the guide "OBS-Studio: Send an UDP Stream to a second PC using OBS"?

As far as I can tell, (A), no, it cannot be used via streaming settings alone. It can only be (B) used via those streaming-via-recording settings. After you copy the files and restart OBS Studio, you will then see the new "Video Encoding" option "libx265" after you select the container format "mp4".​

 

[Jon Freed]

FYI, here's some additional information.

This thread is a follow-up to the March 2016 thread where @Fenrir wonderfully instructed that “[you can u]pdate your ffmpeg install to a version that supports x265”. He then instructed that to do so, you should “[r]eplace the binaries/dlls in C:\Program Files (x86)\obs-studio\bin\XXbit”. (e.g. “32bit” and/or “64bit”, as is applicable for your use of OBS Studio)

Incidentally:

1. Regarding the "Container Format": The “MKV” container format is purportedly the best for x265 (versus mp4), and “MKV” isn’t in the container format select lists. However, “matroska” is, and they are apparently equivalent. However, when you select "matroska", then the Video Encoder list does not contain "libx265". So, select the container fomat "mp4" to use "libx265".
   
   
2. Regarding x265 and hardware: I do understand that x265 requires good hardware to get a decent FPS. However, more and more of us are getting better hardware. Folks can view hardware-to-fps results and test their hardware with the x265 HD Benchmark tool available at http://x265.ru/en/x265-hd-benchmark/. (I do not vouch for the safety of that tool.)
   
   
3. Regarding x265 and the relatively low FPS that many people can achieve with their current hardware: Not all of us are doing streaming that requires a FPS in the neighborhood of 30 or better. If I am understanding things correctly, People who are not streaming games or other video that has a lot of movement may not need a great FPS. For example, people who are streaming some kind of talk show (with perhaps some mostly motionless graphics or displays) might find that a really good (higher) audio bitrate is more important than video FPS. Folks can check out what different FPS numbers look like at https://frames-per-second.appspot.com/. If you set the second sphere to a slow velocity, like 50 px/s, then its features still seem decently discernible (to me) at a low FPS like 10 FPS. And, of course, if you set its velocity to 0 (zero), then the FPS number doesn’t matter at all.
   
   
4. Regarding x265 and the number of streaming services that support it: I do understand that few to no streaming services will accept x265. However, there are plenty of locations that have very slow upload speeds. For such people it may be worthwhile to stream up at x265 to a cloud server that can then convert to x264 and distribute onward.

 

[Fenrir]

Thanks for the detailed writeup and reasonable call outs to the limitations. Note that it's unlikely any streaming services will ever support x265, as the format was basically DOA.