What is HEVC Video? Why Choose HEVC as the Default iPhone Video Format
Last Updated on March 27, 2023 by Peter Wood
If you have already taken some videos with iPhone, you should find the videos with HEVC codec. HEVC, or High-Efficiency Video Coding, has been making headlines recently. The technology compresses a video file into a smaller package, making it easier to store or transmit. It is widely used for 4K and Blu-ray videos. Now Apple has included this next-generation codec for recording. Just learn more about what HEVC is, the advanced features of HEVC, and the best HEVC player for videos from iPhone from the article.
Part 1: What is HEVC Video
HEVC is also known as H.265. The transition from AVC to HEVC is currently a major subject in the video ecosystem. Technology has been gradually shifting towards the H.265, or HEVC format (High Efficiency Video Compression format). To decode the compressed bit stream into a sequence of video frames, a video decoder should be used. When compared to the prior H.264/AVC and MPEG-2 versions, the new High Efficiency Video Coding offers considerable improvements.
When it comes to video compression, it's all about delivering the same level of quality as AVC, but with less data to deal with. If you want to use 4K/Ultra HD broadcasts, 4K Blu-ray, and more, HEVC video is essential.
While the standard isn't new by any means (it was first ratified in the year 2013), the past year has seen a more significant shift towards HEVC-compliant playback and wider market adoption of HEVC-compliant devices and services.
Technical Aspect of HEVC
HEVC video is the successor of H.264 codec. Moreover, it was built primarily to offer UHD HDR deliverables with larger color gamuts than H.264's HD SDR Rec.709 deliverables.
The decision to employ a particular codec is always influenced in part by the available hardware. With CPUs becoming increasingly powerful, affordable, and plentiful over the last decade or so, there has been an industry-wide trend toward exchanging storage space on hard drives for computation via CPUs.
HEVC is the latest iteration of a trend toward exchanging storage for computing. Historically, digital intermediates like ProRes or DNxHR were converted to H.264 for web or broadcast use. On the other side, HEVC video consumes even less storage space than H.264 but consumes significantly more CPU power.
Coding tree units in HEVC video format are different from macroblocks in H.264 (CTUs). CTUs, as opposed to macroblocks, may handle up to 64x64 blocks at a time, allowing for greater data compression.
Part 2: Why Choose HEVC as iPhone Video Format
Why Apple supports for HEVC encoding and decoding in all compatible devices since iOS 11 and High Sierra? Moreover, there are more Android smartphone manufactories, and even 4K standard applies HEVC codec. Just learn more about the reasons as below.
- Your iOS device and iCloud Photos consume less storage space using HEVC as iPhone default video format than with H.264, while maintaining the same visual quality. The next-generation compression standard HEVC video promises either higher-quality video at current file sizes or the same quality video at half the existing file sizes, with consumers already seeing 40-50 percent efficiency gains.
- With HEVC, the streaming live video from iOS 11 devices will cost significantly reduced bitrates compared to current bandwidth requirements. It means a higher quality video can be achieved without having to consume more bandwidth in the process.
Why use HEVC for 4K-video?
Without modifying the bit rate, HEVC enables superior data compression and increased video quality. More and more people are turning to 4K televisions and other displays for their entertainment needs, such as watching Olympics games online. But because they take up so much space, these media are difficult to download and watch. You can use the H.265 or High-Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) to solve this problem.
Why HEVC matter?
HEVC is an important standard in today's market, and implementing it will provide you with numerous benefits and advantages. Using HEVC video in iPhone, you can stream HD videos using less data in situations where Wi-Fi is slow. It's possible to run 720p content at the same speed as 480p using H.265. Video compression will benefit greatly from the new file format, which is expected to be widely adopted in the near future.
How HEVC Works?
High-Efficiency Video Coding in iPhone is fundamentally similar to the previous standards in that it involves a source video with a sequence of frames and a destination video with a sequence of frames.
When a video is encoded, it is converted into a compressed bitstream, which may then be stored or transmitted. The decoder then constructs a sequence of frames by decompressing the bitstream that was provided by the encoder.
Part 3: How to View HEVC on Windows and Mac
Just as mentioned above, HEVC has lots of benefits, which is widely used on iOS and Android devices. But when you transfer HEVC and HEIC files from iPhone to PC, you cannot open the media files directly. WidsMob Viewer Pro is the all-in-one HEVC and HEIC player to browse most of the media formats on Windows and Mac. It provides the different modes to view videos with the original quality. Moreover, you can also resize the videos and organize them with the media gallery.
- Support HEVC, HEIC, MP4, JPEG, RAW photo and most of the media formats.
- Preview the HEVC files from iPhone and Samsung in different viewing modes.
- Adjust the audio volume, playback speed, and other parameters for HEVC.
- Transfer the HEVC videos to another folder in library or delete them directly.
Step 1: Download and install WidsMob Viewer Pro on Windows or Mac, you can launch the program and select the desired HEVC. Moreover, you can also double-click the HEVC video to open the program directly. It will open all the files in the same folder, including HEVC, HEIC, PDF, RAW, WebP, and more.
Step 2: Go to the Library mode to view your HEVC video in thumbnails, where you can find all the HEVC files within the same folder. When you need to transfer it to another folder, you only need to select the file and press the Ctrl + C keys to copy the video. After that, you can paste it to another folder or the desktop.
Step 3: When you need to playback the videos, double-click the HEVC file to check the details of the original quality. Moreover, you can also check the video information with the I icon in the bottom right corner, delete the HEVC video from the folder with the Trash icon, or switch to another HEVC video with your mouse.
Part 4: FAQs about HEVC File Format
HEVC is a next-generation compression standard that improves upon AVC in a number of ways. HEVC compression is 50% more effective than AVC, which means that the same video quality may be maintained at half the bitrate or doubled at the same bitrate.
High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), alternatively referred to as H. 265, promises twice the compression available with Blu-ray's video compression methods. The goal of HEVC is to provide the same degree of image quality as AVC while compressing the data more efficiently.
Despite the fact that YouTube supports a variety of file types, it occasionally prohibits users from uploading H.265 (HEVC) videos. If you failed to upload H.265 video to YouTube, you can convert HEVC to MP4 H.264 format with some professional video converter beforehand.
Conclusion
The digital world is gradually transitioning to HEVC video because of its numerous advantages over previous formats. Compression becomes more efficient and cost-effective, so you should choose HEVC as the iPhone’s default video format. But when you transfer HEIC and HEVC from iPhone to PC/Mac, WidsMob Viewer Pro is the ultimate method you should consider.