The best video encoders, according to hackers
6 video encoders were recommended on Hacker News between November 2025 and November 2026. We rank them by how many separate people recommend each one, and 4 earn the Hacker Approved badge.
Top picks
The three most recommended video encoders with the badge. Each figure is 5 people. RecommendsCriticizes One comment
Royalty-free and open standard
Open, royalty-free video codec with higher compression than H.264 and H.265 and growing hardware support. Caveat: patent claims by others and heavy encoding compute remain concerns.
Better than H.264 in quality
Royalty-free video codec that people use for uploads and calls, with wide hardware support. Critics say it trails H.265 and AV1 in quality.
Better quality at same bitrate
Free H.264 video encoder that people praise for better quality at the same bitrate and efficient compression. Its most common caveat is heavy CPU use, which costs time and power.
All 6 video encoders, ranked
Select a column heading to sort. Approval share is recommenders out of everyone who gave an opinion; the tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs. Months counts the months, out of 13, in which someone recommended it.
How we rank
Rank is the number of separate people who recommend a product in a Hacker News comment over the past year. Someone who praises the same video encoder in five threads counts once.
The badge goes to video encoders that at least 10 people recommend, with recommenders outnumbering critics at least 2 to 1, recommended in at least 4 of the 13 months.
Rankings are never for sale. We may earn a commission when you buy through our links. It never changes the order.