Work in progress; for discussion. See PR #201 for implementation.

Device references:

• Chromecast
• Fire TV
  • https://developer.amazon.com/public/solutions/devices/fire-tv/docs/media-specifications (moved to https://developer.amazon.com/docs/fire-tv/device-specifications.html)
• Roku 4
  • https://support.roku.com/hc/en-us/articles/208754908-Roku-Media-Player-Playing-your-personal-videos-music-photos (moved to https://support.roku.com/article/208754908-how-to-use-roku-media-player-to-play-your-videos-music-and-photos)
• Windows Mobile

General settings:

• Automatically crop, decomb, and rotate (eventually) all the things.
• Storage size constrained to preset specification (2160p/1080p/720p/576p/540p/480p/240p).
• Anamorphic unless otherwise specified.
• Peak frame rate everywhere.
• x264 encoder unless otherwise specified
• x264 settings unless otherwise specified:
  • preset medium
  • tune none
  • CRF
    • 22: 1080p
    • 21: 720p
    • 20: 540p/576p/480p and lower
• x265 settings unless otherwise specified:
  • preset slow
  • options: strong-intra-smoothing=0:rect=0
  • tune none
  • CRF
    • 24: 2160p
    • 22: 1080p
    • 21: 720p
    • 20: 540p/576p/480p and lower
  • 2-pass ABR (alternate)
    • 12000: 2160p
    • 6000: 1080p
    • 3000: 720p
    • ~2250 (varies): 540p
    • ~1800 (varies): 576p
    • ~1500 (varies): 480p
    • 350: 240p
• VP8 settings unless otherwise specified:
  • preset: medium
  • options: qmin=0:qmax=24
  • 2-pass ABR
    • 6000: 1080p
    • 3000: 720p
    • 1800: 576p
    • 1500: 480p
  • CQ 4 (alternate)
• Subtitles behavior unless otherwise specified:
  • None
  • Add Foreign Audio Search
  • Burn in
    • Foreign Audio Subtitles Track
    • DVD Subtitles
    • Blu-ray Subtitles
• Chapter markers enabled unless otherwise specified
• Web optimized disabled unless otherwise specified
• iPod 5G Support disabled unless otherwise specified

General

• Fast 1080p Full HD
  • Description: H.264 video (up to 1080p30) and AAC stereo audio, in an MP4 container.
  • Video: 1080p30 Main Profile Level 4.0; x264 preset fast, turbo 2-pass (alternate)
  • Audio: AAC 160 kbps Stereo/DPL2
  • Notes: New default preset, trade 50% speed for better motion/quality/filesize compared to legacy Normal preset
• Fast 720p HD
  • Description: H.264 video (up to 720p30) and AAC stereo audio, in an MP4 container.
  • Video: 720p30 Main Profile Level 3.1; x264 preset fast, turbo 2-pass (alternate)
  • Audio: AAC 160 kbps Stereo/DPL2
• Fast 576p PAL SD
  • Description: H.264 video (up to 576p25) and AAC stereo audio, in an MP4 container.
  • Video: 576p25 Main Profile Level 3.1; x264 preset fast, turbo 2-pass (alternate)
  • Audio: AAC 160 kbps Stereo/DPL2
• Fast 480p SD
  • Description: H.264 video (up to 480p30) and AAC stereo audio, in an MP4 container.
  • Video: 480p30 Main Profile Level 3.1; x264 preset fast, turbo 2-pass (alternate)
  • Audio: AAC 160 kbps Stereo/DPL2
• HQ 1080p Full HD Surround
  • Description: High quality H.264 video (up to 1080p30), AAC stereo audio, and Dolby Digital (AC-3) surround audio, in an MP4 container.
  • Video: 1080p30 High Profile Level 4.0; x264 RF 20, preset slow
  • Audio: AAC 160 kbps Stereo/DPL2, AC-3 Passthru
  • Notes: Successor to legacy High Profile preset, level 4.0 is slightly more compatible
• HQ 720p HD Surround
  • Description: High quality H.264 video (up to 720p30), AAC stereo audio, and Dolby Digital (AC-3) surround audio, in an MP4 container.
  • Video: 720p30 High Profile Level 3.1; x264 RF 19, preset slow
  • Audio: AAC 160 kbps Stereo/DPL2, AC-3 Passthru
• HQ 576p PAL SD Surround
  • Description: High quality H.264 video (up to 576p25), AAC stereo audio, and Dolby Digital (AC-3) surround audio, in an MP4 container.
  • Video: 576p25 High Profile Level 3.1; x264 RF 18, preset slow
  • Audio: AAC 160 kbps Stereo/DPL2, AC-3 Passthru
• HQ 480p SD Surround
  • Description: High quality H.264 video (up to 480p30), AAC stereo audio, and Dolby Digital (AC-3) surround audio, in an MP4 container.
  • Video: 480p30 High Profile Level 3.1; x264 RF 18, preset slow
  • Audio: AAC 160 kbps Stereo/DPL2, AC-3 Passthru
• Super HQ 1080p Full HD Surround
  • Description: Super high quality H.264 video (up to 1080p30), AAC stereo audio, and Dolby Digital (AC-3) surround audio, in an MP4 container.
  • Video: 1080p30 High Profile Level 4.0; x264 RF 18, preset veryslow, options ref=5:bframes=5 (for device compatibility)
  • Audio: AAC 160 kbps Stereo/DPL2, AC-3 Passthru
• Super HQ 720p HD Surround
  • Description: Super high quality H.264 video (up to 720p30), AAC stereo audio, and Dolby Digital (AC-3) surround audio, in an MP4 container.
  • Video: 720p30 High Profile Level 3.1; x264 RF 17, preset veryslow, options ref=5:bframes=5 (for device compatibility)
  • Audio: AAC 160 kbps Stereo/DPL2, AC-3 Passthru
• Super HQ 576p PAL SD Surround
  • Description: Super high quality H.264 video (up to 576p25), AAC stereo audio, and Dolby Digital (AC-3) surround audio, in an MP4 container.
  • Video: 576p25 High Profile Level 3.1; x264 RF 16, preset veryslow, options ref=5:bframes=5 (for device compatibility)
  • Audio: AAC 160 kbps Stereo/DPL2, AC-3 Passthru
• Super HQ 480p SD Surround
  • Description: Super high quality H.264 video (up to 480p30), AAC stereo audio, and Dolby Digital (AC-3) surround audio, in an MP4 container.
  • Video: 480p30 High Profile Level 3.1; x264 RF 16, preset veryslow, options ref=5:bframes=5 (for device compatibility)
  • Audio: AAC 160 kbps Stereo/DPL2, AC-3 Passthru

Devices

• Android 1080p Full HD
  • Description: H.264 video (up to 1080p30) and AAC stereo audio, in an MP4 container. Compatible with Android devices.
  • Video: 1080p30 High Profile Level 4.0
  • Audio: AAC 160 kbps Stereo/DPL2
• Android 720p HD
  • Description: H.264 video (up to 720p30) and AAC stereo audio, in an MP4 container. Compatible with Android devices.
  • Video: 720p30 Main Profile Level 3.1
  • Audio: AAC 160 kbps Stereo/DPL2
• Android 576p PAL SD
  • Description: H.264 video (up to 576p25) and AAC stereo audio, in an MP4 container. Compatible with Android devices.
  • Video: 576p25 Main Profile Level 3.0
  • Audio: AAC 128 kbps Stereo/DPL2
  • Notes: Some low-end devices only support AAC up to 128 kbps
• Android 480p SD
  • Description: H.264 video (up to 480p30) and AAC stereo audio, in an MP4 container. Compatible with Android devices.
  • Video: 480p30 Main Profile Level 3.0
  • Audio: AAC 128 kbps Stereo/DPL2
  • Notes: Some low-end devices only support AAC up to 128 kbps
• Apple 1080p60 Full HD Surround
  • Description: H.264 video (up to 1080p60), AAC stereo audio, and Dolby Digital (AC-3) surround audio, in an MP4 container. Compatible with Apple iPad Pro; iPad Air; iPad mini 2nd, 3rd Generation and later; Apple TV 4th Generation and later.
  • Video: 1080p60 High Profile Level 4.2
  • Audio: AAC 160 kbps Stereo/DPL2, AC-3 Passthru
• Apple 1080p Full HD Surround
  • Description: H.264 video (up to 1080p30), AAC stereo audio, and Dolby Digital (AC-3) surround audio, in an MP4 container. Compatible with Apple iPhone 5, 5S, 6, 6s, and later; iPod touch 6th Generation and later; iPad Pro; iPad Air; iPad 3rd, 4th Generation and later; iPad mini; Apple TV 3rd Generation and later.
  • Video: 1080p30 High Profile Level 4.0
  • Audio: AAC 160 kbps Stereo/DPL2, AC-3 Passthru
• Apple 720p HD Surround
  • Description: H.264 video (up to 720p30), AAC stereo audio, and Dolby Digital (AC-3) surround audio, in an MP4 container. Compatible with Apple iPhone 4 and later; iPod touch 4th, 5th Generation and later; Apple TV 2nd Generation and later.
  • Video: 720p30 High Profile Level 3.1
  • Audio: AAC 160 kbps Stereo/DPL2, AC-3 Passthru
• Apple 540p qHD Surround
  • Description: H.264 video (up to 540p30), AAC stereo audio, and Dolby Digital (AC-3) surround audio, in an MP4 container. Compatible with Apple iPhone 1st Generation, 3G, 3GS, and later; iPod touch 1st, 2nd, 3rd Generation and later; iPod Classic; Apple TV 1st Generation and later.
  • Video: 540p30 High Profile Level 3.1; x264 options qpmin=4:cabac=0:ref=2:b-pyramid=none:weightb=0:weightp=0:vbv-maxrate=9500:vbv-bufsize=9500
  • Audio: AAC 160 kbps Stereo/DPL2, AC-3 Passthru
  • Notes: Video encoder options based on legacy Apple TV 1st Generation preset
• Apple 240p QVGA
  • Description: H.264 video (up to 240p30) and AAC stereo audio, in an MP4 container. Compatible with Apple iPod 5th Generation and later.
  • Video: 320x240 Baseline Profile Level 1.3; Non-Anamorphic, Mod 16, iPod 5G atom, turbo 2-pass (alternate)
  • Audio: AAC 160 kbps Stereo/DPL2
• Chromecast 1080p Full HD Surround
  • Description: H.264 video (up to 1080p30), AAC stereo audio, and Dolby Digital (AC-3) audio, in an MP4 container. Compatible with Google Chromecast.
  • Video: 1080p30 High Profile Level 4.0
  • Audio: AAC 160 kbps Stereo/DPL2, AC-3 Passthru
  • Container: Web optimized
• Fire TV 1080p Full HD Surround
  • Description: H.264 video (up to 1080p30), AAC stereo audio, and Dolby Digital (AC-3) audio, in an MP4 container. Compatible with Amazon Fire TV.
  • Video: 1080p30 Main Profile Level 4.0
  • Audio: AAC 160 kbps Stereo/DPL2, AC-3 Passthru
  • Notes: Max 20 Mb/s
• Playstation 1080p Full HD Surround
  • Description: H.264 video (up to 1080p30), AAC stereo audio, and Dolby Digital (AC-3) surround audio, in an MP4 container. Compatible with Playstation 3 and 4.
  • Video: 1080p30 High Profile Level 4.0
  • Audio: AAC 160 kbps Stereo/DPL2, AC-3 Passthru
• Playstation Vita TV 720p HD
  • Description: H.264 video (up to 720p30) and AAC stereo audio, in an MP4 container. Compatible with Playstation Vita TV.
  • Video: 720p30 Main Profile Level 3.1
  • Audio: AAC 160 kbps Stereo/DPL2
  • Notes: Device supports 1080p30 High Profile Level 4.0 but output is only 720p
• Playstation Vita 540p qHD
  • Description: H.264 video (up to 540p30) and AAC stereo audio, in an MP4 container. Compatible with Playstation Vita.
  • Video: 540p30 Main Profile Level 3.1
  • Audio: AAC 160 kbps Stereo/DPL2
  • Notes: Device supports 1080p30 High Profile Level 4.0 but display is only 960x544
• Roku 2160p60 4k UHD-1 Surround
  • Description: H.265 video (up to 2160p60), AAC stereo audio, and surround audio, in an MKV container. Compatible with Roku 4.
  • Video: 2160p60 Main Profile Level Auto
  • Audio: AAC 160 kbps Stereo/DPL2, Auto Passthru AAC, E-AC-3, AC-3, DTS, MP3; AAC Fallback (no mixdown)
  • Notes: Device supports H.265 only in MKV, transcodes AAC 5.1 to LPCM Stereo or AC-3 5.1 as needed
• Roku 2160p 4k UHD-1 Surround
  • Description: H.265 video (up to 2160p30), AAC stereo audio, and surround audio, in an MKV container. Compatible with Roku 4.
  • Video: 2160p30 Main Profile Level Auto
  • Audio: AAC 160 kbps Stereo/DPL2, Auto Passthru AAC, E-AC-3, AC-3, DTS, MP3; AAC Fallback (no mixdown)
  • Notes: Device supports H.265 only in MKV, transcodes AAC 5.1 to LPCM Stereo or AC-3 5.1 as needed
• Roku 1080p Full HD Surround
  • Description: H.264 video (up to 1080p30), AAC stereo audio, and Dolby Digital (AC-3) surround audio, in an MP4 container. Compatible with Roku 1080p Full HD models.
  • Video: 1080p30 High Profile Level 4.0
  • Audio: AAC 160 kbps Stereo/DPL2, AC-3 Passthru
• Roku 720p HD Surround
  • Description: H.264 video (up to 720p30), AAC stereo audio, and Dolby Digital (AC-3) surround audio, in an MP4 container. Compatible with Roku 720p HD models.
  • Video: 720p30 Main Profile Level 3.1
  • Audio: AAC 160 kbps Stereo/DPL2, AC-3 Passthru
• Roku 576p PAL SD
  • Description: H.264 video (up to 576p25) and AAC stereo audio, in an MP4 container. Compatible with Roku standard definition models.
  • Video: 576p25 Main Profile Level 3.1
  • Audio: AAC 160 kbps Stereo/DPL2
• Roku 480p SD
  • Description: H.264 video (up to 480p30) and AAC stereo audio, in an MP4 container. Compatible with Roku standard definition models.
  • Video: 480p30 Main Profile Level 3.1
  • Audio: AAC 160 kbps Stereo/DPL2
• Windows Mobile 1080p Full HD
  • Description: H.264 video (up to 1080p30) and AAC stereo audio, in an MP4 container. Compatible with Windows Mobile devices with Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 (MSM8974), S4 (MSM8x30, MSM8960), and better CPUs.
  • Video: 1080p30 Main Profile Level 4.0
  • Audio: AAC 160 kbps Stereo/DPL2
  • Notes: Max 20 Mb/s, Peak 40 Mb/s
• Windows Mobile 720p HD
  • Description: H.264 video (up to 720p30) and AAC stereo audio, in an MP4 container. Compatible with Windows Mobile devices with Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 (MSM8x27), S2 (MSM8x55), S1 (MSM8x50), and better CPUs.
  • Video: 720p30 Main Profile Level 3.1; x264 options vbv-bufsize=10000:vbv-maxrate=10000
  • Audio: AAC 160 kbps Stereo/DPL2
  • Notes: Max 10 Mb/s, Peak 27 Mb/s (S4 MSM8x27: Max 14 Mb/s, Peak 28 Mb/s)
• Windows Mobile 540p qHD
  • Description: H.264 video (up to 540p30) and AAC stereo audio, in an MP4 container. Compatible with Windows Mobile devices with Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 (MSM8210, MSM8212) and better CPUs.
  • Video: 540p30 Main Profile Level 3.1; x264 options vbv-bufsize=4000:vbv-maxrate=4000
  • Audio: AAC 160 kbps Stereo/DPL2
  • Notes: Max 4 Mb/s, Peak 8 Mb/s
• Windows Mobile 480p SD
  • Description: H.264 video (up to 480p30) and AAC stereo audio, in an MP4 container. Compatible with Windows Mobile devices with Qualcomm Snapdragon S1 (MSM7x27a) and better CPUs.
  • Video: 480p30 Baseline Profile Level 3.0; x264 options vbv-bufsize=2000:vbv-maxrate=2000
  • Audio: AAC 160 kbps Stereo/DPL2
  • Notes: Max 2 Mb/s, Peak 4 Mb/s
• Xbox 1080p Full HD Surround
  • Description: H.264 video (up to 1080p30), AAC stereo audio, and Dolby Digital (AC-3) surround audio, in an MP4 container. Compatible with Xbox One.
  • Video: 1080p30 High Profile Level 4.0
  • Audio: AAC 160 kbps Stereo/DPL2, AC-3 Passthru
• Xbox Legacy 1080p Full HD Surround
  • Description: H.264 video (up to 1080p30), AAC stereo audio, and Dolby Digital (AC-3) surround audio, in an MP4 container. Compatible with Xbox 360.
  • Video: 1080p30 Main Profile Level 4.0; Non-Anamorphic, Mod 8
  • Audio: AAC 160 kbps Stereo/DPL2, AC-3 Passthru
  • Chapters: No chapter markers

Matroska

• H.264 MKV 1080p Full HD
  • Description: H.264 video (up to 1080p30) and AAC stereo audio, in an MKV container.
  • Video: 1080p30 Main Profile Level 4.0
  • Audio: AAC 160 kbps Stereo/DPL2
• H.264 MKV 720p HD
  • Description: H.264 video (up to 720p30) and AAC stereo audio, in an MKV container.
  • Video: 720p30 Main Profile Level 3.1
  • Audio: AAC 160 kbps Stereo/DPL2
• H.264 MKV 576p PAL SD
  • Description: H.264 video (up to 576p25) and AAC stereo audio, in an MKV container.
  • Video: 576p25 Main Profile Level 3.1
  • Audio: AAC 160 kbps Stereo/DPL2
• H.264 MKV 480p SD
  • Description: H.264 video (up to 480p30) and AAC stereo audio, in an MKV container.
  • Video: 480p30 Main Profile Level 3.1
  • Audio: AAC 160 kbps Stereo/DPL2
• H.265 MKV 1080p Full HD
  • Description: H.265 video (up to 1080p30) and AAC stereo audio, in an MKV container.
  • Video: 1080p30 Main Profile Level Auto
  • Audio: AAC 160 kbps Stereo/DPL2
• H.265 MKV 720p HD
  • Description: H.265 video (up to 720p30) and AAC stereo audio, in an MKV container.
  • Video: 720p30 Main Profile Level Auto
  • Audio: AAC 160 kbps Stereo/DPL2
• H.265 MKV 576p PAL SD
  • Description: H.265 video (up to 576p25) and AAC stereo audio, in an MKV container.
  • Video: 576p25 Main Profile Level Auto
  • Audio: AAC 160 kbps Stereo/DPL2
• H.265 MKV 480p SD
  • Description: H.265 video (up to 480p30) and AAC stereo audio, in an MKV container.
  • Video: 480p30 Main Profile Level Auto
  • Audio: AAC 160 kbps Stereo/DPL2
• VP8 MKV 1080p Full HD
  • Description: VP8 video (up to 1080p30) and Vorbis stereo audio, in an MKV container.
  • Video: 1080p30
  • Audio: Vorbis 160 kbps Stereo/DPL2
• VP8 MKV 720p HD
  • Description: VP8 video (up to 720p30) and Vorbis stereo audio, in an MKV container.
  • Video: 720p30
  • Audio: Vorbis 160 kbps Stereo/DPL2
• VP8 MKV 576p PAL SD
  • Description: VP8 video (up to 576p25) and Vorbis stereo audio, in an MKV container.
  • Video: 576p25
  • Audio: Vorbis 160 kbps Stereo/DPL2
• VP8 MKV 480p SD
  • Description: VP8 video (up to 480p30) and Vorbis stereo audio, in an MKV container.
  • Video: 480p30
  • Audio: Vorbis 160 kbps Stereo/DPL2
• VP9 MKV 1080p Full HD
  • Description: VP9 video (up to 1080p30) and Vorbis stereo audio, in an MKV container.
  • Video: 1080p30
  • Audio: Vorbis 160 kbps Stereo/DPL2
• VP9 MKV 720p HD
  • Description: VP9 video (up to 720p30) and Vorbis stereo audio, in an MKV container.
  • Video: 720p30
  • Audio: Vorbis 160 kbps Stereo/DPL2
• VP9 MKV 576p PAL SD
  • Description: VP9 video (up to 576p25) and Vorbis stereo audio, in an MKV container.
  • Video: 576p25
  • Audio: Vorbis 160 kbps Stereo/DPL2
• VP9 MKV 480p SD
  • Description: VP9 video (up to 480p30) and Vorbis stereo audio, in an MKV container.
  • Video: 480p30
  • Audio: Vorbis 160 kbps Stereo/DPL2

Legacy

All presets from 0.10.5 in flat hierarchy.

• Normal
  • Description: Legacy HandBrake 0.10.x H.264 Main Profile preset.
• High Profile
  • Description: Legacy HandBrake 0.10.x H.264 High Profile preset.
• Universal
  • Description: Legacy HandBrake 0.10.x preset including Dolby Digital (AC-3) surround sound and compatible with nearly all Apple devices.
• iPod
  • Description: Legacy HandBrake 0.10.x preset compatible with Apple iPod 5th Generation and later.
• iPhone & iPod touch
  • Description: Legacy HandBrake 0.10.x preset compatible with Apple iPhone 4, iPod touch 3rd Generation, and later devices.
• iPad
  • Description: Legacy HandBrake 0.10.x preset compatible with Apple iPad (all generations).
• AppleTV
  • Description: Legacy HandBrake 0.10.x preset including Dolby Digital (AC-3) surround sound, compatible with Apple TV 1st Generation and later.
• AppleTV 2
  • Description: Legacy HandBrake 0.10.x preset including Dolby Digital (AC-3) surround sound, compatible with Apple TV 2nd Generation and later.
• AppleTV 3
  • Description: Legacy HandBrake 0.10.x preset including Dolby Digital (AC-3) surround sound, compatible with Apple TV 3rd Generation and later.
• Android
  • Description: Legacy HandBrake 0.10.x preset compatible with Android 2.3 and later handheld devices.
• Android Tablet
  • Description: Legacy HandBrake 0.10.x preset compatible with Android 2.3 and later tablets.
• Windows Phone 8
  • Description: Legacy HandBrake 0.10.x preset compatible with most Windows Phone 8 devices.

Why no chapter markers on the fast presets?

Otherwise I mostly like

Initially I was probably thinking to preserve the .mp4 extension, but since we are talking about removing .m4v entirely as it should not be necessary anymore, can enable them again.

Same for some of the other presets such as Roku; .mp4 is preferred there and chapter markers are ignored. Can enable them in case they become supported at a later date. I'll revise.

Revised for clarity and to take comments into account. Added Legacy presets.

I Like 👍

Any x265 presets?

Working on some additions now, will have x265 and MKV.

Updates and clarifications:

• Burn in foreign subs from DVD-/BD-like sources
• Update Apple 1080p60 FHD Surround to automatically passthru E-AC-3 or AC-3
• Update Apple 240p QVGA to add Mod 16

Added presets:

• Super HQ * (for quality snobs like me)
• Matroska/MKV * (for freetards^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hopen advocates 😆)
• Amazon Fire TV 1080p FHD Surround
• Playstation Vita TV 720p HD
• Roku 2160p60 4k UHD-1 Surround
• Windows Phone *

Unable to add an Amazon Fire TV 4k preset at this time since there are no published specs for 4k; need to verify that 4k is not limited to Amazon Prime Video.

Will likely add some 576p presets.

Ditch Theora. No-one uses it. I'd rather enable vp9 and drop theora.

Theora, ditched.

Fixed a handful of typos, added missing x264 options to the Apple 540p qHD Surround preset, fixed vbv settings for Windows Phone presets, and added 576p PAL SD presets where applicable.

Add note about peak frame rate.

Should be pretty solid now. Calling for comments before I begin implementation.

cc @galad87@jstebbins@Rodeo314@sr55 Ovid metamorphoses charles martin pdf.

Looks like a good range.

If Theora's going, how about adding VP9?

Thanks for the suggestion. If and when VP9+Opus land, we can then add presets for this combo. Not currently slated for HandBrake 1.0.0.

After further discussion, we may in fact add VP9+Opus for HandBrake 1.0.0, in which case Theora will be deprecated in 1.0.0, and later removed in a subsequent release. @danielcotton

Comparable is a bit of a stretch. VP9 is 10 times slower, doesn't provide the same quality per bitrate (although it's close), lacks usability features like presets and tunes, and lacks many other advanced features x265 provides.

I get your point, but we would all be better served if these shortcomings were more widely recognized and pressure was placed upon the VP9 developers to narrow the gap.

There is also the Eve VP9 encoder that sounds promising, but it is not yet open source. The developer has a good reputation in OSS, so I expect that if he can meet his funding goals for the project, it will become OSS at some point.
https://blogs.gnome.org/rbultje/2016/05/02/the-worlds-best-vp9-encoder-eve-2/

Yep, comparable was a bad word choice.

I meant comparable as in 'vp9 is to h265 as vp8 is to h264'.

After further refinement, I've implemented the new presets as PR #201.

Notable updates and clarifications:

• Added notes on chapters, web optimized, and iPod 5G support
• Added default settings for all encoders
• Added approximate 2-pass ABR bitrates for constant quality presets
• Added approximate CQ (hint: it's 4) for VP8 presets (ABR)
• Changed the Xbox Legacy (360) preset to use Main Profile video, instead of High Profile with 8x8dct=0
• Removed Dolby Digital Plus (E-AC-3) audio from MP4 presets since HandBrake is not yet fully compatible (sorry, Apple TV 4)
• Spent hours testing x265 and VP8 encoder options; I'll never get that time back, or my sanity
• Added a 2160p30 preset for Roku to complement the 2160p60 preset

Hopefully that covers everything.

If you want to try out the presets before they are merged to master, pull my branch, compile HandBrake as usual, and make sure to reset/update the built-in presets from the GUI.

Added VP9 with Vorbis in MKV. Will change to Opus if/when it lands.

Proposed for Chromecast v1/v2

Chromecast 1080p Full HD Surround
Description: H.264 video (up to 1080p30), AAC stereo audio, and Dolby Digital (AC-3) audio, in an MP4 container.
Video: 1080p30 Main Profile Level 4.1
Audio: AAC 160 kbps Stereo/DPL2, AC-3 Passthru

Thanks @Marabyte😸

Another round of updates:

• Renamed SHQ to Super HQ
• Renamed Amazon Fire TV to Fire TV
• Renamed Windows Phone to Windows Mobile
• Super HQ presets now use x264 preset veryslow (was slow, accidentally)
• Updated VP8/VP9 presets to use encoder preset medium (see 1db4f98)
• Added Chromecast 1080p high/4.0 preset (thanks @Marabyte)
• Squashed some commits

Merged. Should be available in the next nightly build. Please remember to update/reset the built-in presets in the GUI to see the changes.

Any further changes/additions, please open a new issue or pull request. Thanks all!

I found a bit strange h265 settings here. What is the background of the strong-intra-smoothing=0:rect=0?

According to http://x265.readthedocs.io/en/default/cli.htmlstrong-intra-smoothing should be enabled.

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strong-intra-smoothing doesn't look great at higher quality settings, and negatively affects quality enough (regardless of other setting) that it's worth disabling. Afaict, it's good for marketing compression gains and that's it. To be honest, I'm surprised it's enabled by default.

rect=0 is a rather noticeable performance improvement.

x265's default presets are a bit lacking IMHO. I'd rather use one of the built-ins as-is but wasn't pleased with them during my testing.

I guess I'm really late to the party, so here are some thoughts:

• the x264 film tune enables psy-trellis which does wonder for film grain, so maby it should be included in the H.264 HQ+ presets
• presets tuned for speed should use decomb fast, as the standard decomb algorithm, while very good, can often become a bottleneck
• we now have so many presets, it almost feels like QSV is under-represented; before we add QSV-based presets, I think some additional testing is required, as well as figuring out what to do when falling back to a non-QSV encoder, but I think presets for hardware-accelerated encoding (QSV and any other ones we may add in the future) should maybe be a nice goal for the major release coming after 1.0

Thanks for the ideas, @Rodeo314. Here are my initial thoughts:

• Should we assume most content is film/live action? (I considered this, but decided against. Discussion welcome.)
• I'm willing to make the Very Fast presets use decomb fast, immediately. Feel free to submit an issue. (IMHO the Fast presets should use the current default, which we modified to be more sensitive than the 0.10.x default that is now called 'less sensitive'. We did this specifically so that the default preset wouldn't leave behind small combing artifacts on certain sources; to go to fast would be to move in the other direction.)
• Agreed, we should discuss hardware accelerated presets for post-1.0.0.

Very Fast presets use fast combing detection as of 199d893.

Why do built-in presets only specify AAC in the audio copy mask?

The original idea was to enable all codecs, so that auto passthru would attempt to pass any muxer-supported coded through, to be adjusted by the user for his specific use-case as necessary.

I noticed you upgrade versionMajor in your commits (now at version 19); I though that field was meant to be the version of the preset FORMAT (to be used by libhb in case of format changes, to determine the correct upgrade path).

Do we have any reason to believe the interfaces use versionMajor for another purpose, and if so, isn't it incorrect?

The default MP4+AAC is supported everywhere in the MP4 container, so it seemed suitable for the general presets. Feel free to suggest changes/additions to the masks (in particular, we could probably do better for the MKV presets, I intended to revise post-Opus).

We agreed to drop major/minor/micro in the presets awhile back when these were being constructed (I wasn't for it in the first place, preferring a single revision number). So, incrementing major was aligned with the intent to drop the others eventually. It also ensures the GUIs automatically update where necessary.

Any progress since July 2016 towards some QSV presets being available?

@RobD68 no plans to add any at this time. If users want to change the encoder and save, they can.

IMO, if we add presets whose main purpose is to provide HW acceleration, then we also need to add a mechanism to hide or grey out those presets when the feature is not available on the users hardware or OS.

Exactly. It's probably more trouble than it's worth. There isn't much configuration for HW encoders, so to be honest, it's not worth it.

Apple 540p qHD Surround
Description: H.264 video (up to 540p30), AAC stereo audio, and Dolby Digital (AC-3) surround audio, in an MP4 container. Compatible with Apple iPhone 1st Generation, 3G, 3GS, and later; iPod touch 1st, 2nd, 3rd Generation and later; iPod Classic; Apple TV 1st Generation and later.

Not working! Checked it on my Iphone 3GS. I did try to make it 480 not 540 not working.

@Zooloos007 Please open a separate issue and provide an activity log so we can take a look.