Encode video with H.265/HEVC

View Markdown

“Vault” (a video backup app like Backblaze) wants to compress archived footage. H.265 (HEVC) produces files ~30% smaller than H.264 and plays natively on Apple devices and modern Android.

API

ittybit video \
  -i https://vault-app.com/archives/family-video.mov \
  --codec h265 \
  --format mp4 \
  --quality high

const task = {
  input: 'https://vault-app.com/archives/family-video.mov',
  kind: 'video',
  options: {
    codec: 'h265',
    format: 'mp4',
    quality: 'high',
  },
};

const res = await fetch('https://api.ittybit.com/jobs', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {
    Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.ITTYBIT_API_KEY}`,
    'Content-Type': 'application/json',
  },
  body: JSON.stringify(task),
});
const data = await res.json();

import requests

task = {
    "input": "https://vault-app.com/archives/family-video.mov",
    "kind": "video",
    "options": {
        "codec": "h265",
        "format": "mp4",
        "quality": "high",
    },
}

res = requests.post(
    "https://api.ittybit.com/jobs",
    headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {api_key}"},
    json=task,
)
data = res.json()

TASK='{
  "input": "https://vault-app.com/archives/family-video.mov",
  "kind": "video",
  "options": {
    "codec": "h265",
    "format": "mp4",
    "quality": "high"
  }
}'

curl -X POST https://api.ittybit.com/jobs \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $ITTYBIT_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d "$TASK"

CLI

ittybit video \
  -i family-video.mov \
  -o family-video-h265.mp4 \
  --codec h265 \
  --quality high

When to use H.265 vs H.264

	H.264	H.265
File size	Baseline	~30% smaller
Browser support	Universal	Safari, Edge, Chrome (partial)
Mobile support	Everything	iOS, modern Android
Encode speed	Fast	Slower
Best for	Web playback	Apps, Apple ecosystem, archives

H.265 for mobile apps

If your app plays video in a native player (not a browser), H.265 is the sweet spot — smaller than H.264, better supported than AV1 on mobile:

ittybit video \
  -i upload.mov \
  -o mobile.mp4 \
  --codec h265 \
  --width 1080 \
  --quality high

Dual encode for web + mobile

ittybit video \
  -i upload.mov \
  -o web.mp4 \
  --codec h264 \
  --quality high

ittybit video \
  -i upload.mov \
  -o mobile.mp4 \
  --codec h265 \
  --quality high