Best Free H.264 Encoder to Create H.264/AVC Full HD Videos

H.264 encoder is software that can decompress a source video and compress it to H.264/AVC. The incredible HD quality and efficiency of the H.264/AVC codec really bring videos to life. Through H.264 transcoding method, you can create a Full HD H.264/AVC movie by yourself and enjoy it on many devices. So, this guide will help you find the best and fastest H.264/AVC encoder to encode videos with H.264/AVC codec.

Part 1. Why Do We Need H.264 Encoder?

H.264 encoder is software library and app for encoding video streams into the H.264/MPEG-4 AVC compression format. By using the H.264 video encoding, you can decompress a source video and then compress it to H.264/AVC, which can be used for HD DVDs, HDTV, YouTube videos, and so on.

The H.264 codec used to encode videos can reach approximately 3 times fewer bits than comparable MPEG-2, but give a higher quality and smaller file size.

Part 2. Best 4 H.264 Encoders Download Free

As a matter of fact, in the market, there are a few H.264 encoder software available for people to encode videos to H.264/AVC. To save time, we have gathered the best 4 free H.264/AVC encoders for your reference.

No.1: Winxvideo AI

Winxvideo AI is an all-in-one H.264/ AVC encoder, decoder, and converter. With over 320 built-in video codecs and 50 audio codecs, not only can it allow people to encode videos to H.264/AVC, but also convert H.264 to other video formats. That is to say, you can use this free H.264 video encoder software to convert nearly any file format, including SD/HD/4K videos (AVCHD, M2TS, MTS, MKV, H.264, MP4, AVI, TS, MOD, TOD, WMV, MOV, MPEG, etc.)

Besides an H.264/AVC encoder, Winxvideo AI is also a fast video/audio/DVD converter, a video editor, a video compressor, a video recorder, and a YouTube video downloader. BTW, it helps cut, crop, merge, adjust, and process (4K H.264/HEVC) videos with Full Hardware Acceleration support.

No.2: x264

x264 is a free software library and application for encoding video streams into the H.264/MPEG-4 AVC compression format. Many software use this x264 encoder to encode videos, such as Avidemux, ffdshow, ffmpeg, HandBrake, VLC media player. This H.264/AVC encoder software can encode 4 or more 1080p streams in real-time on a single consumer-level computer. It gives the best quality and supports features necessary for many different applications, such as television broadcast, Blu-ray low-latency video applications, and web video. The x264 encoded videos can be applied to many web video services, such as YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo, and Hulu.

No.3: H.264 Encoder

H.264 Encoder can encode other video files to H.264/AVC encoded video files for special purposes like playback, uploading, sharing or editing. You can use this tool to encode a video in Full High Definition (1920 x 1080), Commonly Used High Definition (1280 x 720), Standard Definition (640 x 480), Internet-size Content (320 x 240), 3G Content (176 x 144, the default), High Quality (Same Size with Source), Normal Quality (Same Size with Source), or Fast Speed (Same Size with Source).

No.4: HandBrake

HandBrake is also one of the easiest ways to encode H.264 videos. It used to do other videos formats, but recently its developers paid more attention to H.264 video. HandBrake has two types of H.264 encoder. The software-based x264 encoder can provides excellent quality, performance, and file size, so the videos can be played by various media players, including mobile devices. The H.264 (Intel QSV) encoder is a hardware based encoder available on Intel processors with Intel HD Graphics which has much faster speed with significantly lower CPU usage than software H.264 encoders such as x264.

Part 3. How to Encode Videos to H.264?

Encoding videos to H.264/AVC format is easy as long as you have a right H.264 encoder software or hardware. Here, we will take Winxvideo AI to show you how to encoder H.264 videos.

Step 1. Free download Winxvideo AI, install and launch it.

Step 2. Click the +Video button to add a video.

Step 3. Once the Output Profile window pops up, navigate to General Profiles and choose any format as output format. Please remember to choose the format encoded with h264 codec. Then, click OK.

Step 4. Optionally, you can click Edit and Settings icons to change some video parameters, if needed.

Step 5. Hit RUN button to start H.264 video encoding with Winxvideo AI.

With Winxvideo AI, which is engineered with Hyper Threading Technology and fully compatible with Multi-core CPU (up to i7 12-Core CPU), employs time-saving single-pass encoding for creating draft encodes. So that there is no more waiting for creating HD H.254/AVC videos.

Part 4. How to Choose the Best H.264 Encoder?

What are the standards of best H.264 encoder? Is there any criterion? The following ones can be good references.

1. Accept all video sources you have.

Regular Video: AVI, MPEG, WMV, MP4, FLV, DivX, Xvid, MOV, RM, RMVB, VOB, 3GP, 3G2, Google TV, WebM, VPX 8.

Website Video: Youtube, HD Youtube, Dailymotion, Yahoo! Video, Metacafe, Myspace, etc.

HD-Camcorder Video: JVC HD camcorder Video, Sony HD camcorder Video, Panasonic & Canon HD camcorder Video.

High Definition Video: AVCHD Video, Blu-ray Video, HDTV Video, Matroska Video.

2. It’s fast in encoding speed.

Because H.264 encoding and decoding requires significant computing power, software implementations that run on a general-purpose CPU are typically slow, especially when dealing with HD/4K video content. With the best H.264 encoder, which is engineered with Hardware Accelerator, Hyper Threading Technology and fully compatible with Multi-core CPU, employs time-saving single-pass encoding for creating draft encodes. So that there is no more waiting for creating HD H.264 videos.

3. Scalable from 3G to 4K and beyond

H.264 achieves the best-ever compression efficiency for a broad range of applications, such as broadcast, DVD, video conferencing, video-on-demand. And true to its advanced design, H.264 delivers excellent quality across a wide operating range, from 3G mobile to 2160p 4K UHD and everything in between. So, the H.264/AVC encoder should be compatible with videos up to 4K or higher.

Part 5. Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is H.264 video encoding?

The H.264 video compression standard , also known as MPEG-4 Part 10, Advanced Video Coding, MPEG-4 AVC or AVC video, is an industry standard for video compression that is one of the most frequently used video formats nowadays.

2. What is h264 encoder?

H.264 encoder is software library and app for encoding video streams into the H.264/MPEG-4 AVC compression format.

3. Is H.264 good for streaming?

Yes. H.264 is the optimal codec for live video streaming. H.264 is highly recommended for compressing and distributing video files to various streaming devices, as H.264 video encoding method can compress files to small size for easier uploads, downloads, and playback.