Quick Tip – Better Compression With X264

on Feb 25th 2010 with 38 comments

H.264 is certainly the most popular codec out there and Quicktime Pro is mostly used by many users. Videos that are encoded in H.264 using QT Pro sometimes look faded out and experience heavy banding. In this QuickTip we see the possible remedies for this problem using the x264 encoder for Mac/Win platforms.

Requirements

Overview

  • Core Training Value: Fix various Gamma/Color issues when encoding in H.264.
  • Difficulty: Intermediate

QuickTip

Download QuickTip .flv

File size 31.2MB

 
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I am an aspiring Motion Designer influenced by Generative Art. I am always willing to work with interesting people and you can follow me on twitter @gutsblow.  

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  • http://philstrahl.com Phil Strahl

    What happens with the H-264 encoding is that there is a forced gamma of 1.8 applied which results in the washed out effect. If the plug-in doesn’t work for you, you just need to lower the gamma prior encoding with Curves a bit.

    • http://www.gutsblow.com/ Satya Meka
      Author

      It didn’t quite work for me. That’s why I had to move to x264.

  • jink

    Andrew kramer had a fix for this, but i’m not sure if its only client side.

    • Julio Mesa

      Andrew renders with PhotoJPEG compression

  • http://www.caganyuksel.com Cagan Yuksel

    Does everyone else also needs this Plug-in to be able to view any video encoded with x264… If, yes then we all need to teach our clients how to install and some even do not know what QT is!!

    • http://www.gutsblow.com/ Satya Meka
      Author

      No. No plugin required to view x264. x264 is not a codec. It’s just another encoder to encode your videos in H.264.

  • Marvin

    How do I install x264 on quicktime for windows? Is there any possibility to convert x264 in quicktime pro on my pc?

    sorry about the horrible english

    • http://www.gutsblow.com/ Satya Meka
      Author

      Unfortunately, QT components are not supported on windows . I couldn’t find a QT alternative on windows, but on windows there are numerous encoders that does the job perfectly.

  • Jordan Cain

    I was recently looking for this fix on a project last week. Unfortunately, the Andrew Kramer fix did absolutely nothing, so I’ll check this one out. Thanks.

    • http://www.visualfxtuts.com Topher Welsh

      you know whats funny… i find that the Camtasia compressor for mov’s and mp4′s is actually pretty good at getting the file size super low, and keeping a lot of the quality… as well as no washing out the image.

  • http://www.visuary.co.uk mirach

    Got the same problem. Fixed it by using other program to do the final encoding. Rendering png sequence from AE, and encoding into h.264 mov with ProCoder 3.

  • Fab

    excuse the absurd question, but already there are, I ask you: I make
    AE video with approximately 3 minutes each, then put them in a DVD and finally
    throw everything in the theater, I’ll definitely have them in AVI format,
    What is the best world to do the rendering? else besides AVI
    What do you recommend?

    THANKS A LOT!

  • david

    Thanks….works Great!

  • http://bit.ly/biPgfM dumm

    thanks for the tip. looking for some time that.

  • http://www.firmabuurman.com Jos

    Cool I’m using X264 codec on my linux server with ffmpeg :-)

    • http://www.gutsblow.com/ Satya Meka
      Author

      Way to go. ffmpeg is the one the best libs around..its like the swiss army knife of video encoders..

      • http://www.blackbluebrown.com geoff brown

        totally agree here. started using MMPEGX a while back for DVDs, now i use it for nearly all my video conversions. super versatile shareware!

  • http://www.alpha-dsgn.com Osvaldo_Tampico

    I had this problem! When I encoded a 3Gb Video or so into a 50Mb one the video looked washed out! Like Very white! I’ll try this codec to see if this solves the problem! Thanks!

    • http://www.gutsblow.com/ Satya Meka
      Author

      Just to remind you, it is not a codec. It is an encoder that encodes your videos in H.264 but way superior in quality.

      • http://www.alpha-dsgn.com Osvaldo_Tampico

        Thanks! Sorry for that! I already installed the encoder but I can’t figure how to make it work! Could you or someone help me?! I’ll really apreciate it! I have a PC with Windows Vista. I open the program but don’t know how to use it! Thanks!!!

  • Catsolo

    Looking forward to trying this. The current files sizes that I’m
    generating are far too large and this may go some way to
    reducing them.

    Thanks for the posting

  • beargraffix

    Gotta give this a try! Thanks!

  • Bill

    Can this be used in in FCP for exporting H.264 files? If so, where does it need to be installed to?

  • Overburn

    Man, u save my life.

    Thanks a LOT!

  • raw-m

    Thanks for the tip but I’m now getting the opposite effect! Rather than washed out everything is a lot darker. Anyone else having this problem?

    Just as a note, if you are encoding for web, using the transparency/blending/composition trick in QT Pro breaks the Fast Start functionality (although appears to work OK in Safari).

  • http://www.capsz.com capsz

    this happens because it automaticly converts non-linear footage to game 2.2 (‘the gamma shift’) There is a entire article on AETuts about linear work flow and why it shifts and how to prevent it instead of fixing it.

  • Felipe Valladares

    So, guys, what do you consider is the best way to get good .movs or.mp4s in H.264 over PC? Of course getting the better compression and better color preservation.

    I need to know cause I have a project where I need export videos for web, some in standard quality, some in HD. Thanks a lot.

  • http://www.alpha-dsgn.com Osvaldo_Tampico

    I followed the tutorial by logichaos.com and I’m still getting Washed out video! Could someone help me?! I do exactly the same steps from the video, here is the link:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXQOZThlq_k&feature=related

  • http://www.alpha-dsgn.com Osvaldo_Tampico

    Hey! for those with the Washed out problem I found a nice and easy solution! (hasn’t sleep yet looking for solutions! x.x)

    Just adjust the gamma in QUICKTIME! Follow this tutorial:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPkXwM8Izww

    It worked for me!
    (I still have problems with MEGUI, I think for PC users the best solution is to compress with QUICKTIME PRO and then adjust the Gamma!)

  • oz

    i usually jst export as photo – jpeg then convert the h.264 – NO loss with anything. Works great!

  • rich n

    Been trying to figure this out for ages, thanks!

  • Tanya

    Thanks for the Tut this works a treat!!!

  • Ruchit

    When i try to open MeGUI ..everytime i got this error
    http://i410.photobucket.com/albums/pp186/ruchitinfushion/MError.jpg?t=1267633823
    So,plz help me

    • Ruchit

      Ok now it’s working fine after installing .NET framework 2.0 but still they need “AviSynth Script”..tell me wht is this ?????/
      i just want to export my video from quicktime(Animation) to quicktime(H264 wid X264)

  • http://www.sapphiredigital.net Antonio

    Heys guys, here telling some inside studio info for those who want to do this inside Quicktime.

    1. Open your h.264 video with Quicktime.
    2. In the tabs menu go to Window – Show Movie Properties.
    3. Then click the Video Track Channel.
    4. Then at the bottom Tab Menu go to the Visual Settings.
    5. Don’t change anything just click on the Transparency arrow and change it from Dither Copy
    to Straight Alpha.
    6. Then close that window and you will see the gamma correction.
    7. Open the File Menu and save (over the same video), save as (another copy from the original) or
    Export to your needs.

    Thanks to Satya Meka for the tutorial with the tip and other solution, Cheers fron Puerto Rico and sorry for posting this so late, I’m busy like hell.

  • Ruben

    I just downloaded that X264 thing you pointed me to and now m computer is laggging. why is this?

  • Orhan

    This didn’t help me one bit.

    Why should I have to download some arbitrary application like MeGUI?
    Once I use it, I suddenly have to download Avisynth and other useless stuff I really don’t want to fill my harddrive with.

    Not to mention that most of these applications have got convoluted interfaces and never really make it clear what exactly you’re doing.

    I’ve been going at this for hours.
    Why is it so hard to make an encoder by itself?
    That way it could be used with After Effects and other software worth occupying your harddrive.

  • http://hohoho.COM HOHOHO

    oh my god this is insane