v136 · webrtc

H265 (HEVC) codec support in WebRTC

This newer codec has increased compression efficiency (higher quality per bitrate) relative to older generation codecs like VP8 and H264 and very strong hardware support going back over a decade. This translates into increased battery life and reduced risk of performance issues, and, depending on the performance of the underlying hardware encoder, will often

concepts

  1. HEVC in WebRTC

    WebRTC peer connections can negotiate H.265/HEVC video — better quality per bit than VP9, hardware-accelerated on most modern devices.

  2. Codec negotiation

    Inspect RTCRtpSender.getCapabilities() and a freshly generated offer SDP — the new H265 codec lines are highlighted alongside hardware-accel hints.

  3. Profile Picker

    Sweep every HEVC profile/level/tier combination against both RTCRtpSender.getCapabilities() and WebCodecs VideoEncoder.isConfigSupported() and emit the fmtp lines you'd actually negotiate.

  4. Bandwidth Estimator

    Configure resolution (480p–4K), frame rate, quality tier, and content type. Compares estimated bitrate for HEVC, H.264, VP9, and VP8 using each codec's compression model — showing HEVC's ~50% savings over H.264 and generating the SDP codec preference code for Chrome 136.

why it shipped

This newer codec has increased compression efficiency (higher quality per bitrate) relative to older generation codecs like VP8 and H264 and very strong hardware support going back over a decade. This translates into increased battery life and reduced risk of performance issues, and, depending on the performance of the underlying hardware encoder, will often

references