WebM to HEVC Converter

How to Convert WebM to HEVC Online

1. Upload Your WebM File: Drag and drop or click "Add Files" to select WebM videos. Browser screen recordings, OBS exports, YouTube/Twitter WebM downloads, and Chrome tab captures all work. Batch is supported — drop in a folder.
2. Pick Quality and Compression Mode: Output codec is H.265 / HEVC. Set a quality preset (Highest → Lowest), target a percentage of the original size or an exact file size in MB, or fine-tune with CRF (18 = visually lossless, 23 = default, 28 = noticeably smaller). Audio defaults to AAC — switch to AC3, MP3, or Opus if your target player needs it.
3. Resize or Trim (Optional): Pick a resolution preset (4K / 1440p / 1080p / 720p / 480p / 360p), enter custom width × height, scale by percentage, or trim a section using start time + duration in HH:MM:SS.sss format.
4. Convert and Download: Click Convert. Files are uploaded over an encrypted connection, processed on our servers, and deleted automatically after a few hours — no sign-up, no watermark, never shared.

Why Convert WebM to HEVC?

WebM (VP8 / VP9 / AV1) is the web's native video format — efficient and royalty-free, used heavily by YouTube, Twitter, Reddit, and most browser-based screen recorders. The drawback: WebM is a browser-first container, and most hardware decoders skip it entirely. HEVC (H.265) is the codec Apple, Samsung, and Sony devices use for 4K and HDR playback, and it's wired directly into the silicon on iPhones (since iPhone 6s, A9, 2015), Apple Silicon Macs, Snapdragon 820+, and Intel 7th-gen+. Common reasons people convert WebM → HEVC:

• Hardware decoding on iPhones, iPads, and Apple TV — HEVC plays through the dedicated decoder chip on iPhone 6s and later (A9, 2015+) and every iPad since 2017. WebM falls back to software decode on iOS, draining battery and dropping frames on long videos.
• 4K and HDR playback on smart TVs — HEVC is the codec smart TVs (LG, Samsung, Sony 2018+) expect for 4K/HDR over USB or DLNA. WebM 4K usually stutters or refuses to play on living-room hardware.
• Smaller files than VP8 / VP9 source — A WebM/VP8 export from OBS or older browsers re-encodes to HEVC at roughly 40-50% smaller for the same visual quality. Useful before AirDropping or uploading to cloud storage.
• iOS Photos library compatibility — iPhone Photos imports HEVC into its native HEIF/HEVC pipeline. WebM has to live in Files and won't show up alongside camera roll videos.
• Editing in Final Cut Pro, iMovie, and DaVinci Resolve on macOS — Apple's editors decode HEVC natively without plugins. WebM imports either fail or require a transcode step in Handbrake first.
• Long-term archive on Apple ecosystem — Storing originals in HEVC inside an MP4 or MOV container ages well on Mac and iOS. WebM playback support has been stagnant on Apple platforms for a decade.

WebM vs HEVC — Format Comparison

CRF Quick Guide for HEVC Output

Frequently Asked Questions

Will the HEVC file actually be smaller than the WebM source?

It depends on the WebM codec. A VP8 WebM (older OBS, Chrome screen recorder before 2018, most YouTube downloads with format=webm) re-encodes to HEVC at roughly 40-50% smaller. A VP9 WebM is already efficient — expect HEVC output to be similar size or marginally smaller (5-15%). An AV1 WebM is the most efficient codec available; HEVC output will usually be slightly larger than the AV1 source. If size is the goal and your source is already VP9 or AV1, the savings come from lowering CRF or resolution rather than the codec switch alone.

Why convert WebM to HEVC instead of MP4?

Plain .hevc is a raw elementary stream — useful when a downstream tool specifically wants the bitstream without container overhead, or when you're feeding the output into a muxer manually. Most users picking HEVC actually want HEVC inside an MP4 or MOV container — see WebM to MP4 for that path, where you can choose H.265 as the codec and get an .mp4 you can play on iOS and AirDrop directly.

Will WebM audio (Opus / Vorbis) survive the conversion?

The default output reencodes audio to AAC, which is what most HEVC-aware players (iOS, macOS QuickTime, smart TVs) expect. You can pick AC3 or MP3 from the Audio Codec dropdown if your target player requires it. Opus is also available but support inside an HEVC bitstream is limited — AAC is the safer default.

Should I lower the resolution before converting?

Only if your target device's screen is smaller than the source. A 1920×1080 WebM played back on an iPhone 14 (2532×1170) doesn't benefit from upscaling, but downscaling to 1080p is fine if the source is 4K and you only watch on phone. The resolution preset dropdown covers 360p / 480p / 720p / 1080p / 1440p / 4K / 8K, plus custom dimensions and percentage scaling.

Can I trim a long screen recording before encoding?

Yes. Use the trim section to set a start time and duration. Both accept seconds (12.5) or HH:MM:SS.sss format (00:01:30.500). Trimming first cuts the encode time proportionally — converting only the middle 2 minutes of a 30-minute Chrome recording is roughly 15× faster than encoding the whole thing.

Why is HEVC a better target than AV1 for my Apple devices?

Apple has hardware HEVC decoders on every iPhone since the 6, every iPad since the Pro 2017, every Apple TV since the 4K, and every Mac since 2015. Apple's AV1 decoder is hardware-accelerated only on iPhone 15 Pro / Pro Max, M3 Macs, and newer — older Apple gear falls back to software AV1 decode, which is slow and battery-hungry. For mixed Apple-ecosystem audiences, HEVC is the safer hardware target today.

What's the file size limit?

XConvert handles large WebM files including multi-GB screen recordings. Conversion happens on our servers, so the practical limit is upload size and connection speed and your patience for the upload. There's no 100 MB cap like Convertio and no quantity limit on batch jobs.

Can I convert a folder of WebM files in one go?

Yes — drop in as many WebM files as you want and they convert in parallel on our servers. Apply uniform codec/CRF/resolution settings, or override per-file. Output downloads individually or as a single ZIP. Useful for clearing out an OBS recording folder before importing into Final Cut.