Maximum bitrate for the x264 profiles and levels

[wotdefcuk]

I am trying to find out what are the maximum bitrates allowed for the x264 profiles and levels.
For example according to wiki the Main@L3.1 has maximum bitrate of 14000kbps but I was able to encode a video at 16000kbps

General
Complete name : D:\assets\videos\Telerent HD 1 - Mpeg4.mp4
Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : Base Media
Codec ID : isom
File size : 1.95 GiB
Duration : 17mn 28s
Overall bit rate : 16.0 Mbps
Writing application : Lavf54.61.101

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : Main@L3.1
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 4 frames
Codec ID : avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration : 17mn 27s
Bit rate : 16.0 Mbps
Width : 1 280 pixels
Height : 720 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 29.970 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.579
Stream size : 1.94 GiB (99%)
Writing library : x264 core 129 r2245 bc13772
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=3 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x1:0x111 / me=umh / subme=8 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=1 / 8x8dct=0 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=6 / lookahead_threads=1 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=2 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=40 / keyint_min=4 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=40 / rc=abr / mbtree=1 / bitrate=16000 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Language : English

Audio
ID : 2
Format : AAC
Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec
Format profile : LC
Codec ID : 40
Duration : 17mn 28s
Duration_LastFrame : -10ms
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 128 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel positions : Front: L R
Sampling rate : 44.1 KHz
Compression mode : Lossy
Delay relative to video : 67ms
Stream size : 16.0 MiB (1%)
Language : English


I used ffmpeg for the encoding. Can someone tell me how is this possible or the information in wiki is incorrect?

[poisondeathray]

wiki info is copy pasted from this source , which is the official. The chart is on page 283
http://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-H.264-201201-I/en

For libx264,

1) setting profile and level doesn't currently enforce anything (it's just a "label", but this might change in the future. Some beta builds of handbrake , and modified x264 builds do enforce the setting)

2) if you do not set profile/level and do not specify the vbv maxrate, and bufsize, the autodetection of profile/level isn't necessarily accurate, and the error is on the side of underestimation

So for vanilla builds, currently the proper way to "force" level and profile compliance is to use --profile, --level, --vbv-maxrate and --vbv-bufsize