Video to HEVC Converter

How to Convert Video to HEVC Online

1. Upload Your Video File: Drag and drop or click "Add Files" to load any source video. The tool accepts 35+ input formats including MP4, MOV, MKV, AVI, WMV, FLV, WebM, MPEG, MTS/M2TS (AVCHD), 3GP, OGV, RMVB, DivX/Xvid, MXF, TS, VOB, and WTV. Batch is supported.
2. Confirm the Output Codec: Output is HEVC (H.265) by default. Audio is re-encoded to AAC, which keeps the resulting MP4 container playable on iPhone, iPad, Apple TV 4K, and the Photos app.
3. Pick Compression Mode (Optional): Under File Compression, the default Quality Preset is "Very High (Recommended)." Switch to Constant Quality (CRF) for fine-grained control — lower values mean higher quality (CRF 18-22 is visually lossless for most content, 23-28 is the typical streaming range). Or pick Specific File Size (MB/KB) when targeting an attachment cap, Constant Bitrate for predictable streaming, or Variable Bitrate for size-efficient playback.
4. Resize, Trim, and Convert: Use Video Resolution to keep original, scale by percentage, or pick a Preset Resolution (4K/2160p, 1440p, 1080p, 720p, 480p). Use Trim → Time Range to extract a Start Time + Duration. Click Convert and download — files process on our servers, no sign-up, no watermark.

Why Convert Video to HEVC?

HEVC (High Efficiency Video Coding), standardized as ISO/IEC 23008-2 and also known as H.265, is the successor to H.264/AVC. Apple states HEIF/HEVC "offer better compression than JPEG and H.264, so they use less storage space on your devices and iCloud Photos, while preserving the same visual quality." Independent measurements typically place the savings at roughly 40-50% at equivalent perceptual quality.

• Cut iCloud and NAS storage in half — A 1-minute 4K30 H.264 clip is roughly 350 MB; the same scene re-encoded to HEVC drops to about 170 MB. For someone shooting 30 minutes of 4K weekly, that's tens of GB saved per year.
• Future-proof 4K and 8K archives — HEVC was designed for resolutions beyond 1080p; H.264 High Profile tops out efficiency around 1080p, so 4K H.264 files are bloated relative to HEVC at the same quality.
• Apple ecosystem native — iPhone 7+, iPad (6th gen)+, iPad Pro 10.5"+, Apple Vision Pro, and Macs running macOS High Sierra (10.13) or later capture and play HEVC with hardware acceleration. Battery cost during playback is comparable to or slightly better than H.264 thanks to dedicated HEVC decoders in A10 Fusion and later silicon.
• Bandwidth-constrained streaming — Halving bitrate at the same visual quality matters for users on cellular, hotel Wi-Fi, or satellite. HEVC is the dominant codec for 4K streaming on Apple TV, Netflix's "high quality" tier, and most 4K Blu-ray.
• Smaller bodycam, drone, and security-camera files — H.265 is now standard in IP cameras and drones (DJI, GoPro HERO from 10 onwards) precisely because storage costs drop nearly 2x at unchanged resolution.

HEVC (H.265) vs H.264 vs AV1

CRF Quality Guide for HEVC (x265)

The Constant Quality slider in xconvert maps to x265's CRF. Lower CRF = bigger file, higher quality.

For comparison, the H.264 (x264) default is CRF 23; HEVC (x265) default is CRF 28 because it preserves quality at higher CRF values. To reverse the conversion, see HEVC to MP4; for a direct path from a specific source format, MP4 to HEVC skips the generic intake.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much smaller will my HEVC file actually be?

At equivalent perceptual quality, expect 40-50% reduction vs H.264. A 4 GB 1080p movie typically becomes 2-2.4 GB; a 1-minute 4K30 iPhone clip drops from ~350 MB (H.264) to ~170 MB (HEVC). Savings are largest on high-motion or high-detail content where H.264 has to spend more bits.

Will my iPhone, iPad, or Apple TV play the converted HEVC file?

Yes. iPhone 7 and later, iPad (6th gen)/iPad Air (3rd gen)/iPad mini (5th gen)/iPad Pro 10.5" and later, Apple TV 4K, and any Mac on macOS High Sierra (10.13) or later have hardware HEVC decoders. The output uses an MP4 container with HEVC video + AAC audio, which the Photos app and AirPlay accept directly.

Why is HEVC encoding so much slower than H.264?

HEVC partitions frames into Coding Tree Units up to 64x64 pixels (vs H.264's fixed 16x16 macroblocks) and tries far more prediction modes per block, so the encoder does substantially more work per frame. Expect 2-5x slower encoding on CPU; hardware encoders (Apple VideoToolbox, NVIDIA NVENC, Intel Quick Sync) close that gap but trade some compression efficiency for speed.

Should I pick HEVC or AV1?

Pick HEVC if your audience plays back on Apple devices, modern TVs, or you need broad hardware-decode support today. Pick AV1 if you're targeting the open web (YouTube, Vimeo, browser playback in Chrome/Firefox) and want royalty-free distribution. AV1 is roughly 30% more efficient than HEVC, but encoding is markedly slower and hardware decode only became common in late-2022+ phones, GPUs, and TVs. See Video to AV1 for the AV1 path.

Will Windows play the HEVC file by default?

Windows 10 and 11 include the HEVC decoder via the "HEVC Video Extensions" package (US$0.99 on the Microsoft Store) or the free "HEVC Video Extensions from Device Manufacturer" preinstalled on many OEM PCs with hardware decoders. VLC, MPC-HC, and PotPlayer decode HEVC without extensions on any Windows version. Browsers on Windows are mixed: Edge plays HEVC when extensions are installed, Chrome/Firefox have only partial support.

Why do most browsers still not play HEVC natively?

Licensing. HEVC's patent pool spans MPEG-LA, HEVC Advance, Velos, and unaffiliated patent holders, so per-browser royalty exposure is unclear. Chrome and Firefox marked native HEVC software decode "WONTFIX" for years and only enable it now on systems with hardware decoders (Chrome 107+, Firefox 137+). Safari is the outlier with full support since 11/13. For pure web delivery, H.264 remains the safe bet and AV1 is the modern open alternative.

What CRF should I use to keep "no visible quality loss"?

For HEVC (x265), CRF 18-22 is generally indistinguishable from the source on consumer displays. CRF 20 is a common sweet spot for personal libraries: noticeable file shrink vs the source while preserving fine detail. The x265 default is CRF 28, which is fine for streaming but visibly softer on textured scenes.

Can I convert HEVC back to H.264 if a device won't play it?

Yes — pick HEVC to MP4 (which outputs H.264 by default) or run a generic Video to MP4 conversion. You'll lose roughly half the storage savings, but every device made since ~2010 plays H.264.

Is the conversion lossy? Can I avoid generation loss?

Re-encoding from H.264 (or any compressed source) to HEVC is always lossy in the strict sense — both codecs throw away data that the human eye is unlikely to notice. To minimize generation loss, encode from the highest-quality source you have (camera original, not a re-shared copy), use Constant Quality with CRF 18-20, and avoid re-encoding the same file repeatedly.