What is HEVC (H.265)?

HEVC is a video compression format: the recipe a file uses to store pictures in little space. It succeeds H.264 and compresses roughly twice as well.

Updated 11 October 2026 4 sources cited

Key points

HEVC, H.265 and MPEG-H Part 2 are three names for the same video codec, approved in 2013.
It needs roughly half the bitrate of H.264 for similar perceived quality.
It gets there with blocks up to 64×64 pixels, 35 prediction modes and finer filters, at the cost of more computation.
It is not a file format: it lives inside MP4, MKV, MOV or TS. iPhone HEIC photos use it too.

What a codec is, and what HEVC is

Uncompressed video is huge: one minute of 4K at 30 frames per second takes more than 40 GB. A codec (coder-decoder) is the method that shrinks it by discarding what the eye does not notice and exploiting the fact that each frame looks a lot like the previous one.

HEVC (High Efficiency Video Coding) is the standard published by the ITU as H.265 and by ISO/IEC as MPEG-H Part 2. It succeeds H.264/AVC, which still carries most video on the internet. The same experts designed it between 2010 and 2013 with one goal: the same quality with half the data. Read how it came about in its history.

How HEVC sees a frame

HEVC splits each frame into blocks of up to 64×64 pixels and subdivides them only where there is detail. H.264 always used 16×16.

How it compresses: the key ideas

HEVC follows the classic "hybrid" codec design (prediction + transform + entropy coding) but refines every piece:

Blocks up to 64×64Coding tree units are split as a quadtree down to 8×8. A blue sky takes a few large blocks; a face, many small ones. H.264 used fixed 16×16 macroblocks.
35 prediction modes33 directions plus planar and DC to guess a block from its neighbours (H.264 had 9). Better guesses mean less to store.
Better motion compensationQuarter-pixel motion vectors, 8-tap interpolation filters and merge mode, which reuses neighbouring blocks' motion.
4×4 to 32×32 transformsThey turn the prediction error into frequencies that are quantised and mostly become zero.
In-loop filtersDeblocking smooths block edges and the new SAO (sample adaptive offset) fixes banding and "mosquito noise".
Built for parallelismTiles and wavefront parallel processing spread the work across cores, essential for 4K.

The price of better compression

Encoding HEVC takes several times more computation than H.264, and decoding roughly twice as much. That is why devices use a dedicated circuit in the GPU or processor. Without it, 4K video stutters: see browsers and GPUs.

Profiles: Main, Main 10 and the rest

Profile	Supports	Used for
Main	8-bit, 4:2:0 colour	Phone video, SDR streaming, most files
Main 10	Up to 10-bit, 4:2:0	HDR10, Dolby Vision, HLG, 4K Blu-ray, UHD broadcasting
Main Still Picture	A single image	HEIC photos
Range Extensions (RExt)	12-16-bit, 4:2:2 and 4:4:4	Professional cameras and editing; little consumer support
SCC, MV-HEVC, SHVC	Screen content, 3D/multiview, scalable	Remote desktop, spatial video on iPhone 15 Pro and Vision Pro

Besides the profile, each video declares a level (for example 5.1 for 4K at 60 fps) that caps resolution and bitrate. The standard goes up to 8192×4320 (8K).

File extensions and containers

.mp4 and .movPhones, cameras and Macs. Apple requires the hvc1 tag; with hev1 QuickTime won't open it.
.mkvCommon for downloads and media servers. VLC, mpv, Kodi and TVs open it; QuickTime does not.
.ts / .m2tsDigital TV (DVB-T2, ATSC 3.0) and 4K Blu-ray.
.heic / .heifiPhone and some Android photos: still images compressed with HEVC.

To find out which codec a file uses, try MediaInfo: the video "Format" line will say "HEVC".

Pros and cons

For

Half the size of H.264 at equal quality.
HDR and 10-bit built in.
Hardware decoders in nearly every device since 2016.
Mature international standard.

Against

Expensive, fragmented patent licensing (explained here).
Windows charges for it on some PCs.
Slow to encode without a GPU.
AV1 compresses a bit more, royalty-free.

Can your device play it?

Answer six questions in our compatibility check or go straight to installing the codec.

Frequently asked questions

Are HEVC and H.265 the same?

Yes. HEVC (High Efficiency Video Coding) is the name of the standard and H.265 is the ITU recommendation number. ISO publishes it as MPEG-H Part 2. All three names refer to the same codec.

Is HEVC a file format?

No. It is a codec, the way the picture is compressed. HEVC video lives inside a container: MP4, MOV, MKV or TS. That is why an .mp4 can hold either H.264 or HEVC.

Does HEVC lose quality?

Like H.264, HEVC is lossy: it discards detail the eye barely notices. At the same bitrate it looks better than H.264; at the same quality it takes less space.

What is HEIC?

HEIC is the iPhone photo format: a HEIF image compressed with HEVC. That is why HEIC photos need the same codec on Windows.