# Encode Wiki

> Practical, community-maintained knowledge about codecs and encoding tools.

Content version: ca42e61ede0a24f789d7287a0001244ad22f4abf

The canonical human-readable site is https://encode.wiki/. Migrated content is available under CC BY-SA 4.0 with source and modification metadata on every API document. Content marked `needs-review` may be outdated or incomplete.

## Start here and guides

- [Audio and subtitles](https://encode.wiki/api/v1/markdown/docs/guides/audio-and-subtitles.md): Keep, re-encode, label and synchronize audio and subtitle tracks with FFmpeg, convert subtitles for MP4, and burn subtitles into the picture. [current]
- [AV1 with SVT-AV1](https://encode.wiki/api/v1/markdown/docs/guides/av1-with-svt-av1.md): Encode AV1 with mainline SVT-AV1 through FFmpeg or SvtAv1EncApp, with sensible presets, CRF values, 10-bit output, film-grain synthesis and keyframe settings. [current]
- [Choose a codec and encoder](https://encode.wiki/api/v1/markdown/docs/guides/choose-a-codec.md): Practical codec, encoder and container recommendations for delivery, compatibility, editing and archival, with the compatibility limits that matter. [current]
- [Compare encoding quality with metrics and visual checks](https://encode.wiki/api/v1/markdown/docs/guides/compare-encoding-quality.md): How to compare encoders or settings fairly, with one reference, several quality levels, perceptual metrics summarised by their worst frames, and a careful look at those frames. [current]
- [Your first FFmpeg encode](https://encode.wiki/api/v1/markdown/docs/guides/first-ffmpeg-encode.md): Make a good general-purpose H.264 encode with FFmpeg, then learn what CRF and presets do, how to pick streams, and how to test settings on a short clip. [current]
- [Preserve color and HDR](https://encode.wiki/api/v1/markdown/docs/guides/preserve-color-and-hdr.md): How to keep, fix or convert color tags and HDR metadata with FFmpeg, VapourSynth, x264, x265, SVT-AV1 and aomenc. [current]
- [Quality controls: CRF, bitrate and presets](https://encode.wiki/api/v1/markdown/docs/guides/quality-controls.md): How CRF, constant QP, average-bitrate, constant-bitrate, VBV-capped and two-pass encoding work, and when to use each. [current]
- [Machine-readable access](https://encode.wiki/api/v1/markdown/docs/reference/machine-access.md): Stable Markdown, JSON, OpenAPI, and downloadable corpus interfaces for agents and independent clients. [current]
- [Encoding basics](https://encode.wiki/api/v1/markdown/docs/start-here/encoding-basics.md): What codecs, encoders, decoders and containers are, and how they fit together in a media file. [current]
- [High dynamic range](https://encode.wiki/api/v1/markdown/docs/start-here/high-dynamic-range.md): What HDR video is, how the PQ and HLG transfer functions differ, and what HDR10, HDR10+, Dolby Vision and HLG each add. [current]
- [Lossless compression](https://encode.wiki/api/v1/markdown/docs/start-here/lossless.md): How lossless compression works, from redundancy and entropy to run-length, Huffman, arithmetic and predictive coding, and how it is used in media codecs. [current]
- [Lossy compression](https://encode.wiki/api/v1/markdown/docs/start-here/lossy.md): How lossy image, video and audio codecs discard information through quantization, subsampling and perceptual models, and what that means in practice. [current]
- [Psychovisual encoding](https://encode.wiki/api/v1/markdown/docs/start-here/psychovisual.md): What psychovisual quality is, why encoders need psychovisual optimizations such as psy-rd and adaptive quantization, and why metrics often penalize them. [current]
- [Terminology](https://encode.wiki/api/v1/markdown/docs/start-here/terminology.md): Definitions of the encoding terms used throughout the wiki, from bitstreams and containers to CRF, GOPs and chroma subsampling. [current]
- [Video artifacts](https://encode.wiki/api/v1/markdown/docs/start-here/video-artifacts.md): How to recognize common video artifacts such as blocking, banding, ringing, mosquito noise and blur, what causes them, and what helps. [current]

## Complete machine interfaces

- [Corpus index](https://encode.wiki/api/v1/index.json): metadata and retrieval URLs for every public page.
- [Author index](https://encode.wiki/api/v1/authors.json): typed public author profiles referenced by articles.
- [Relationship catalog](https://encode.wiki/api/v1/catalog.json): typed codecs, tools, containers, HDR/audio systems, versioned claims, and primary evidence.
- [OpenAPI 3.1](https://encode.wiki/api/v1/openapi.json): static API contract.
- [Section schema](https://encode.wiki/api/v1/section-schema.json): contract for heading-scoped JSON and Markdown retrieval.
- [Release metadata](https://encode.wiki/api/v1/release.json): content version and checksums.
- [Compressed knowledge bundle](https://encode.wiki/api/v1/knowledge.ndjson.gz): complete corpus as NDJSON.
- [All documentation](https://encode.wiki/llms-docs.txt): full cleaned documentation text.
- [All articles](https://encode.wiki/llms-articles.txt): full cleaned article text.

## Optional

- [Article RSS feed](https://encode.wiki/rss.xml)
- [Sitemap](https://encode.wiki/sitemap-index.xml)