Media Format Guide

Compatibility

Codec	Container	HW decode	Notes
H.264 (`yuv420p`, 8-bit)	MP4, MKV, MOV	Yes	Primary recommended format.
H.264 (`yuv444p` or 10-bit)	MP4, MKV	No	Re-encode to `yuv420p` 8-bit.
H.265 / HEVC (8-bit)	MP4, MKV, MOV	2015+ GPUs	Good for 4K.
H.265 (Main 10, HDR)	MP4, MKV	2016+ GPUs	Only when HDR is required.
AV1	MP4, MKV, WebM	2020+ GPUs	Hardware support still limited.

H.264: MP4 container, High Profile, yuv420p, AAC audio.

H.265: MP4 container, Main Profile, yuv420p, AAC audio.

ffmpeg -i input.mov -c:v libx264 -preset slow -crf 18 -profile:v high -pix_fmt yuv420p -c:a aac -movflags +faststart output.mp4

ffmpeg -i input.mov -c:v libx265 -preset slow -crf 20 -profile:v main -pix_fmt yuv420p -tag:v hvc1 -c:a aac -movflags +faststart output.mp4