Codecs and export settings

HandBrake settings for high quality.
What the docs recommend, and what still matters after upload.

Use Constant Quality, not a target bitrate. Pick an RF value from HandBrake's published range for your resolution, leave the encoder preset near the middle, keep the source frame rate, and switch to constant frame rate only when the file is going into an editor. When the file you make is the file that streams, with no second encode after it, lean toward the high-quality end of each range.

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By uncompressed.io · Updated September 2026

The short answer

Set the quality,
and let the file size follow.

HandBrake’s adjust-quality page puts it in one line: always use constant quality unless you have a specific reason not to. Its default settings and most official presets already work that way. You choose a quality level, the RF value, and HandBrake spends whatever bitrate each scene needs to reach it.

RF 20 to 24

1080p, x264 and x265

HandBrake's published range. Lower is higher quality.

RF 22 to 28

4K, x264 and x265

2160p. SVT-AV1 uses its own, higher scale.

Middle

Encoder preset

HandBrake's draft article: use a preset around the middle.

Source

Frame rate

Constant only for footage going into an editor.

HandBrake’s draft article comparing the two methods explains the trade. With Constant Quality, you specify a quality level and HandBrake adjusts the bitrate, which is the size, to meet it. With Average Bitrate, you control the file size and give up control over quality. The same article lists what Constant Quality saves you: no need for a second pass, and no bits wasted on simple frames.

RF, by resolution

The number depends on the resolution,
and on some encoders it runs backwards.

These are HandBrake’s published starting ranges. On x264, x265 and SVT-AV1 a lower RF produces higher quality and a larger file. On encoders such as Apple VideoToolbox, a higher number produces higher quality, and HandBrake’s advice there is to start in the middle of the scale and adjust in small steps.

x264 and x265 (H.264, H.265)

SVT-AV1 (AV1)

480p / 576pSD

RF 18 to 22

RF 22 to 32

720pHD

RF 19 to 23

RF 25 to 35

1080pFull HD

RF 20 to 24

RF 25 to 35

2160p4K

RF 22 to 28

RF 25 to 40

Ranges from HandBrake's Adjusting quality page, fetched 18 September 2026. They do not apply to hardware encoders with a reversed scale, such as Apple VideoToolbox. For reference, the x265 encoder's own documentation sets its default rate factor at 28.0 on a 0 to 51 scale.

Where in the range to land

HandBrake’s page notes that raising quality makes the file larger and lowering it makes the file smaller. If the file is going somewhere that will re-encode it, such as a social platform, the difference between the ends of the range is partly spent before anyone sees it. If the file is the last encode your picture goes through, the low RF end of the range is where the extra storage buys something you can see. Test on your hardest shots: grain, water, foliage and slow gradients.

Setting by setting

The four settings that decide the picture,
in the order you set them.

Start from an HQ preset

HandBrake's official General presets come in three tiers. Fast is Standard quality, Fast speed, Average size. HQ is High quality, Slow speed, Large size. Super HQ is Super High quality, Very slow speed, Very large size. The resolution and frame rate are part of each preset's name, as in 1080p30, so pick the one that matches your source.

Choose the encoder

HandBrake's draft codec article describes x264 as widely supported by media players, including mobile devices, and x265 as offering higher quality encodes and smaller files but significantly slower, with more limited device compatibility. For a file a client must open without questions, x264. For 10-bit, pick an encoder labelled 10-bit or 12-bit in the Video Encoder menu; HandBrake says that is the only way to get it.

Constant Quality and an RF from the table

Leave the quality mode on Constant Quality and set RF inside the range for your resolution. Encode a demanding 30 seconds at two values and compare them before you commit to the whole film.

Encoder preset near the middle, tune on None

HandBrake's draft presets article says presets trade encoding speed for quality and file size, and that best practice is a preset around the middle. For x265 the middle is also the default: medium. Going slower trades encode time for quality or a smaller file. Leave Tune on None unless your content clearly fits one of the tunes.

Two settings sit outside the picture tabs but still matter. Container: choose MP4 in the Format menu for a file that will play in a browser. Audio: HandBrake’s official General presets encode AAC stereo, which is also the audio this site’s upload screen recommends, alongside H.264 video, for the broadest browser compatibility.

Frame rate

Keep the source rate,
unless an editor is next.

HandBrake’s frame rate article, which it marks as a draft, describes three modes. The choice depends on where the file goes next.

What HandBrake does

Use it when

Same as Source+ Variable

Copies the source frame rate exactly.No frame rate conversion.

The file will be watched,not edited

Constant

One frame rate throughout. HandBrakeconforms the whole video to it.

The file is going into anediting application (NLE)

Peak

Leaves sections at or below therate you pick unchanged and limitsanything higher to it.

You want a ceiling on highframe rate sections, not a conform

From HandBrake's Frame rates article (marked draft), fetched 18 September 2026. It lists common rates as 23.976/24 for film, 25/50 for European broadcast and 29.97/59.94 or 30/60 for North American broadcast. The Production presets are the constant frame rate option built for editing, and HandBrake says their files are much larger than most compressed sources and not suitable for general use.

One consequence for a file you upload here: nothing on our side reads, converts or conforms frame rate. The file plays at the frame rate it was exported at. If a phone clip needs to be constant frame rate for the edit, convert it before the edit, not after upload.

What changes when nothing re-encodes

The encode you choose in HandBrake
is the one the client sees.

Browser playback uses your uploaded export without another platform re-encode. Codec, device and connection requirements still apply. So the HandBrake file is the last encode the picture goes through, and a few settings carry more weight than they would on a platform that makes its own copy.

RF is the final quality

There is no platform rendition to rescue or ruin the image. What you see in the HandBrake output on your own screen is what streams, on a viewer whose device decodes the codec.

Constant Quality means a varying bitrate

A busy scene gets more bits than a static one, and the stream follows the file. The upload screen shows the file's average bitrate for information. A client on a slow connection may need to let a high-bitrate file load before playing.

The codec is a compatibility choice

Browser playback here is H.264, HEVC or AV1 in MP4 or MOV, and it depends on codec, profile and the viewer's device. x264 is the safe default. x265 and SVT-AV1 save space where the client's hardware decodes them.

Frame rate stays as encoded

No conform happens on upload. Whatever the Framerate setting produced is what plays.

When HandBrake is the wrong tool

If your editor can export it,
skip the second encode.

HandBrake re-encodes its source, and a finished file is already compressed, so this adds one more lossy encode. If the film came out of Resolve, Premiere or Final Cut, exporting the delivery file directly from the editor avoids that extra step. See export settings for client review for what to choose there. HandBrake earns its place when you only have a finished file: a phone clip that has to become constant frame rate for the edit, or a file that is simply too large to send.

If you are uploading to a platform that re-encodes everything anyway, HandBrake’s defaults are fine, and the settings above matter less. If you need an exact file size, use average bitrate with multi-pass, as HandBrake’s draft article suggests, and accept that quality will vary with the content. For the codec decision itself, see H.265 vs H.264 for client delivery.

Questions

Frequently asked

What is the best RF value in HandBrake for 1080p?

HandBrake's adjust-quality page gives RF 20 to 24 for 1080p with x264 and x265, and RF 25 to 35 with SVT-AV1. Lower numbers mean higher quality and larger files on those encoders. There is no single best number: encode a short, demanding section at the low end of the range and at one step higher, and compare them on the screen your client will use.

What RF should I use for 4K in HandBrake?

RF 22 to 28 for 2160p with x264 and x265, and RF 25 to 40 with SVT-AV1, according to HandBrake's adjust-quality page. The range is wider than at 1080p, so a test encode matters more at 4K.

Why does a higher number mean better quality on my Mac's hardware encoder?

Because the scale is reversed. HandBrake's documentation says that on encoders such as Apple VideoToolbox a higher number produces higher quality, the opposite of x264, x265 and SVT-AV1. Its advice for those encoders is to start in the middle of the scale and adjust in small increments. The RF ranges on this page do not apply to them.

Should I use constant or variable frame rate in HandBrake?

Keep Same as Source with Variable Frame Rate for a file people will watch, and choose Constant Frame Rate when the file is going into an editing application. HandBrake's frame rate article, which it marks as a draft, calls constant frame rate not recommended except in special circumstances, such as encoding for import into an NLE.

When should I use average bitrate instead of Constant Quality?

When the file has to fit a fixed size, such as an attachment limit. HandBrake's draft article on the two methods recommends against aiming for a file size, but says that if you do, use multi-pass encoding for better quality and bit-rate distribution, at up to twice the encode time.

Upload the HandBrake file and send it as it is

The file you encode is the file your client streams, with no re-encode on our side. Codec, device and connection still decide how it plays. Start free with 5 GB and pick a plan when you need room for more films.