Replay Mod Forums

The -preset option in ffmpeg and x264 (basically) decides on how much work the encoder will spend on the video.
If using a fixed bitrate, the slower the preset, the higher the quality, and when using fixed quality, the slower the preset the smaller the video files.
The presets available in libx264 in ffmpeg and x264 are: ultrafast, superfast, veryfast, faster, fast, medium, slow, slower, veryslow and placebo. (Reference on the options they change)

Currently, all "Encoding Presets" from the main video page use the ultrafast preset. This makes very little use of CPU. On a 5 year old machine, I can run the fast preset using 7-9% of my CPU (increasing an example render of a path 1 minute and 15 seconds long by 5 seconds, from 2mins10secs at ultrafast to 2mins15secs at fast, the 'fast' video was 20% smaller than the 'fast' one. I used fixed quality (the -cbr option). )

I think it would be a nice addition to add either a dropdown or a slider bar on the video settings page to change the preset. (I really don't recommend placebo, the mod should warn the user when they select that option, but it should still be available)