How to enable saving videos in HEVC in Android to reduce file size

What is HEVC video

HEVC H.265 the new video format, which allows you to compress video files much stronger (almost 2 times compared to the old formats) without losing quality. It is important for 4K movies and high-definition video streaming.

Some mobile phones (for example, iPhone) already save videos in this format by default (although you can switch to the old format in the phone settings).

You can get the HEVC codecs for free through the Microsoft Store on Windows 11 and on Windows 10. You won't be able to find them in the Microsoft Store using the search feature. To get the free package, copy and paste the following code into your web browser's address bar, then press Enter:

ms-windows-store://pdp/?ProductId=9n4wgh0z6vhq

This is not so important, because many video media players work fine with the HEVC H.265 format. And in order for this format to be able to play even the built-in Windows media player, it is enough to install the codec mentioned above.

That is, the HEVC format is well supported by operating systems and mobile phones.

Anyway, should I use HEVC?

HEVC video examples

So that you can evaluate the file sizes and the quality of the HEVC picture, I made a few very short videos for you.

They are of the same duration.

When switching to the HEVC format, the video size is almost halved (about 1.6-1.8 times less).

I deliberately did not upload videos to YouTube so that you can evaluate the original quality before processing and converting files.

You can download video files to your computer to test how well your operating system works with HEVC files.

This video uses the H264 - MPEG-4 AVC (part 10) (avc1) codec:

Download file: https://zawindows.ru/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Pattaya-H264.mp4

Video specifications:

Format                                   : AVC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                           : High@L5.2
Format settings                          : CABAC / 1 Ref Frames
Format settings, CABAC                   : Yes
Format settings, Reference frames        : 1 frame
Format settings, GOP                     : M=1, N=60
Codec ID                                 : avc1
Codec ID/Info                            : Advanced Video Coding
Duration                                 : 10 s 163 ms
Bit rate                                 : 73.0 Mb/s
Width                                    : 3 840 pixels
Height                                   : 2 160 pixels

And this video uses the MPEG-H Part2/HEVC (H.265) (hvc1) codec:

Download file: https://zawindows.ru/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Pattaya-hevc.mp4

Video specifications:

Format                                   : HEVC
Format/Info                              : High Efficiency Video Coding
Format profile                           : Main@L5.2@Main
Codec ID                                 : hvc1
Codec ID/Info                            : High Efficiency Video Coding
Duration                                 : 10 s 496 ms
Bit rate                                 : 41.5 Mb/s
Width                                    : 3 840 pixels
Height                                   : 2 160 pixels

And the first surprise that you might encounter is that the video does not play at all, or the web browser offers to play it as an audio file.

You can download the file to your computer and make sure that it is still a video file.

If you have already read the article “How to enable saving photos in HEIC (HEIF) format in Android and whether it should be done”, then this problem should have been expected for you. New formats are good for everyone, except that web browsers have poor support for them.

Another video in H264:

Download file: https://zawindows.ru/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Pattaya-beach-H264.mp4

Does YouTube support HEVC format

Yes, I checked, when uploading a video in HEVC format, YouTube video hosting works fine with it, there are no restrictions or difficulties.

How to save video in HEVC in Android

If you still came to the conclusion that the HEVC format is interesting for you and you want to use it to significantly reduce the size of video files without changing the video quality, then the following shows how to enable saving captured videos on Android in the HEVC format (H.265 ) on the example of the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra phone.

Open the camera and switch to video recording.

Click the gear icon to go to the camera settings.

Go to the “Advanced recording options” section.

Find the “Reduce file size” option.

Turn on the slider.

The description of the option says that the Reduce file size option is designed to save space without sacrificing video quality. The results will be saved in HEVC format, which some apps and websites don’t support.