H.265 (also known as HEVC or H265) is a modern and efficient video codec capable of high-efficiency video compression. Due to licensing requirements, its availability in browsers is limited, but there are ways to enable and use it.
H.265/HEVC Browser Support
H.265/HEVC support varies by browser:
- Safari-based browsers: Supported natively
- Thorium browser: Supported natively
- Chrome on PC: Can be enabled manually (see below)
- Other browsers: Generally not supported
Enabling H.265 in Chrome on Windows
Method 1: Using a Desktop Shortcut
- Right-click on your Chrome desktop shortcut (create one if you don't have it)
- Select "Properties"
- In the "Target" field, after the quotes containing the Chrome executable path, add a space and then paste:
--enable-features=PlatformHEVCEncoderSupport,WebRtcAllowH265Receive,WebRtcAllowH265Send --force-fieldtrials=WebRTC-Video-H26xPacketBuffer/Enabled
- The complete target should look similar to:
"C:\Program Files\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" --enable-features=PlatformHEVCEncoderSupport,WebRtcAllowH265Receive,WebRtcAllowH265Send --force-fieldtrials=WebRTC-Video-H26xPacketBuffer/Enabled
- Click "Apply" and "OK"
Note: You must launch Chrome using this modified shortcut to enable H.265 support.
Method 2: Using Command Prompt
- Close all running Chrome instances
- Press Win + R to open the Run dialog
- Type "cmd" and press Enter to open Command Prompt
- Navigate to Chrome's installation directory (typically):
cd "C:\Program Files\Google\Chrome\Application"
- Run Chrome with the parameters:
chrome.exe --enable-features=PlatformHEVCEncoderSupport,WebRtcAllowH265Receive,WebRtcAllowH265Send --force-fieldtrials=WebRTC-Video-H26xPacketBuffer/Enabled
Important: These settings need to be applied each time you launch Chrome. Using a modified shortcut (Method 1) is more convenient for regular use.
Important Compatibility Notice
While H.265/HEVC offers excellent compression efficiency, there are some important considerations:
- Not all WebRTC viewers support H.265, even if their browser technically can decode it
- Different H.265 implementations may not be compatible with each other
- Using H.265 in SFU (Selective Forwarding Unit) broadcasting applications is not recommended due to these compatibility issues
VDO.Ninja handles this gracefully by automatically falling back to other codecs if H.265 negotiation fails. You can specify a codec preference order using the codec parameter in your viewer link:
Example: &codec=h265,av1,h264,vp8
This tells VDO.Ninja to try codecs in order: first H.265, then AV1, then H.264, and finally VP8, ensuring the best available codec is used for each connection.