Is the placebo preset necessary for good quality?

[SomeoneNeutral]

This has nothing to do with a specific software or a any type of video. I'm just talking about the placebo preset. I normally use Veryslow as my preset, but if placebo really does make a crazy difference I might start using it, but is it worth the time? Does it make a big difference in picture quality in videos?

[KarMa]

Placebo is just as the name implies, a placebo. It should technically have a slightly better bitrate efficiency over Very Slow, but usually costs 2-3x or more encoding time for a tiny improvement. I personally only ever use it for benchmark purposes and nothing else.

[Selur]

just wondering: the 'placebo preset' of what ? If you are not speaking of 'a specific software' what does this preset refer to?

[SomeoneNeutral]

Placebo When encoding x264

[poisondeathray]

Not worth it.

Actually it sometimes produces lower quality

The one case where it might be beneficial is ultra low bitrate scenarios, but even then it's been shown to produce lower quality sometimes