How to Encode HEVC Video with Hardware Acceleration on Windows?

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How to Encode HEVC Video with Hardware Acceleration?

1. Hardware Compatibility & Install Necessary Drivers

2. Enable Hardware Acceleration

3. Add Video Files

4. Select HEVC Format

5. Start HEVC Hardware Accelerated Encoding

With the release of the new High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) standard, also known as H.265, a new generation of hardware encoders has emerged that promises to deliver significant improvements in video quality at lower bitrates. HEVC is now the preferred codec for many applications, including 4K/Ultra HD broadcasting and streaming.

However, encoding HEVC video is computationally intensive, and requires significantly more processing power than H.264. As a result, many video encoders struggle to encode HEVC video in real-time, especially at high resolutions.

This is where hardware acceleration comes in, offering several advantages:

✨ Enhanced Speed: Offloading encoding tasks to specialized hardware significantly reduces processing time, enabling real-time or faster-than-real-time encoding.
✨ Reduced CPU Load: By leveraging the GPU or dedicated hardware encoders, the CPU is freed up for other tasks, improving overall system performance.
✨ Energy Efficiency: Dedicated hardware encoders are optimized for video processing tasks, often consuming less power than general-purpose CPUs performing the same tasks.

Sounds great? Next, let's jump in how to encode HEVC/H.265 video at a fully hardware-accelerated speed.

Best Easy-to-Use HEVC/H.265 Hardware Encoder

If your graphics card or integrated graphics is powerful enough for HEVC/H.265 hardware accelerated encoding, then all you need is an H265 hardware encoder. WonderFox HD Video Converter Factory Pro is such a dedicated video processor that engages GPU in video encoding, increasing the speed significantly and unburdening the CPU.

💡 It's powered by technologies like the NVIDIA NVENC encoder and the Intel QSV encoder. There are also plans to expand support for the AMD VCE/VCN encoder in the near future.

Step 1: Hardware Compatibility & Install Necessary Drivers

👉 First, verify that your system's hardware supports HEVC encoding. Generally, modern GPUs from NVIDIA and integrated graphics from Intel offer such capabilities. You can look up your processor or graphics card online:

For Nvidia: check your graphics card model on THIS PAGE.
For Intel: check your processor model on THIS PAGE.

👉 Next, keep your GPU or CPU drivers fresh for bug fixes, performance improvements, and compatibility with the H.265 hardware encoders.

Go to the manufacturer's driver download page (NVIDIA or Intel) and download the latest driver compatible with your graphics card.

Step 2: Enable the Hardware Acceleration Option

DownloadDownload and install WonderFox HD Video Converter Factory Pro on your PC.
Launch it and open the "Converter" module from the main interface.
For the first time use, it will automatically scan your hardware to check if it supports HEVC/H.265 hardware accelerated encoding.
If not, click on the "NVIDIA" or "Intel" logo in the lower right corner to check it out.
A dialog box will appear and tell you which profiles support H.264 and H.265/HEVC hardware encoding.

💡 If you're sure your hardware supports HEVC accelerated encoding, but the software says it doesn't, make sure your software and drivers are up to date.
💡 Currently, it doesn't allow AMD VCE/VCN hardware encoding, but the support will be added in the near future.

Enable Hardware Acceleration of the HEVC/H.265 Hardware Encoder

Step 3: Add Video Files

Click "Add Files" and import the video files you want to convert to HEVC.
To make it easier, you can also drag and drop them directly into the window.

💡 Owing to its rich built-in codecs, it supports importing nearly all common and unpopular video file types.

Add Video Files for H.265 Hardware Accelerated Encoding

Step 4: Select an Export Format

Click the Format image on the right side to expand the full output format list.
All the 600+ presets are grouped in different categories.
Go to the "Video" category and select "H.265 for MP4" or "H.265 for MKV" directly.
They have been configured for H.265/HEVC hardware accelerated encoding.

Choose an Export format in HEVC/H.265 Hardware Encoder

Step 5: Start HEVC Hardware Accelerated Encoding

Click the "inverted triangle" icon at the bottom and choose an output folder.
Finally, hit "Run" button to encode HEVC Video with hardware acceleration.
The more powerful the GPU/CPU performance, the more obvious the hardware acceleration, and the higher the conversion efficiency.

Also Read: AVC/H.264 Encoder | VP9 Encoder | Video Encoder Software

Start H.265 Hardware Accelerated Encoding