How to convert H.265 MP4 to H.264 MP4 on Mac and PC

"Recently, I have tried several times to upload a stunning H.265 video in MP4 format to YouTube but in vain with responding message saying that I'm using a non-supported format. Any thoughts on why H.265 didn't work? And how can I fix that? "

The emergence of HEVC/H.265 video encoding technology is hitting the market that brings users alive the cherished 4K Ultra HD experience. You're now able to stream stunning 4K TV shows & movies online through Amazon, Netflix, VUDU, YouTube, Comcast and subscribe to 4K content TV programs from pay TV service providers.

While UHD 4K videos gets a lot of buzz nowadays, they are still far away from distributing and using widely around the world. One of the large issue is royalties and licensing for H.265 which make it expensive to support from major technology players (Google, Apple, Microsoft, Adobe, etc.) in their operating systems, browsers and players. And there is far fewer hardware devices (TV's, DVRs, PC, Mac) that can handle h.265 video files smoothly due to the limitation of CPU and graphic cards. Also, bandwidth (between 20 and 30 Mbps) is another major concern when streaming 4K online.

If you already have a H.265 video in MP4 format on your old computer, you'll probably want to get a way to convert it to a more commonly recognized h.264 MP4 video to be playable without stuttering. Fortunately, changing the MP4 files from H.265 to H.264 for Mac or PC is possible and easy. You simply need to download a program named Video Converter for Mac (or for Windows), which converts video files among formats with adjustable settings and is relatively easy to use.

Read ahead for step-by-step instructions on how to transcode H.265 in .mp4 to H.264 MP4 file or any other file format on your computer. Here we're using the program in an iMac for example.

Step 1: Import H.265 MP4 video to the converter

To get it started, you should click the "Add File" to import your Ultra HD H.265 file(s) to the program or simply drag and drop it onto the middle of program interface.

If necessary, you can click on the "Edit" or specific "Clip", "Video Enhance" options on the top menu bar to perform editing on the imported file one by one.

Step 2: Select a format profile from "Profile" and set H.264 as output

After you've imported H.265 videos, you should hit the "Profile" pull-down menu in the lower left side of the screen to open the format-selecting list, as screenshot demonstrated below.

Moving mouse to any of category in left pane will expand its format profiles in the right area. In our case, you can choose to select "H.264/MPEG-4 AVC Video (*.mp4)" from "General Video" category, or "4K H.264/MPEG-4 AVC Video (*.mp4)" from "4K Video" as output format.

You're allowed to select any other file format profile from the list if you like.

For advanced users, the program offers options to fine-tune the output parameters through "Settings" (next to "Profile) button. When you click the button, a window should come up. You then can tweak any setting of output result such as encoder (H.264 selecting is there), resolution, bitrate and sampling rate, etc. as desired.

Since the converter already made you the most appropriate settings, if you are more technically-savvy, just leave them alone.

Another advantage this H.265 to H.264 video converter have is that it has a lot of device presets you can choose from, saving you time in selecting a specific format and tweaking the necessary settings.

Assuming you want to play a H.265 MP4 on iPhone 7 Plus smoothly, for example, you just move to "Apple iPhone" category and select "iPhone 7 Plus/7 H.264 HD Video (*.mp4)". iPad, iPod, Samsung, Hawei, Xiaomi, HTC, Motorola, LG, Sony and other mainstream devices are all supported.

Step 3: Ready to convert your H.265 MP4 to H.264 MP4 on Mac or Windows computer

When all settings looks fine, let's jump to the main interface and start the conversion. Simply press the big "Convert" button on the lower right corner of the interface to start converting MP4 from H.265 to H.264 video. Wait for a while to let it finish.

The conversion time varies differently, depending on the amount of H.265 videos you imported, the output settings you configured and the performance of your Mac machine as well.

That's all there to it! Happy H.265 to H.264 MP4 converting!

See also: Where can I get 4K Ultra HD TV shows and movies today?

More Related to H.265

HEVC/H.265, a potential successor to the highly popular AVC/H.264 standard, is the latest compression standard available for the compression and distribution of video content. Both H.265 and H.264 are compressed formats but, H.265 extends far greater video quality performance compared to H.264 encoded sequence at same bitrate. Generally, H.265 is twice the coding efficiency and has rather smaller file size as that of H.264/AVC.

H.265 is generating buzz for manufacturers and content providers, and it is coming soon to mainstream TV broadcast.