does the conversion speed really affect the quality

[cns00]

in this tutorial https://youtu.be/DiDmUg8aRnE?t=193 about handbrake the guy is talking about the conversion speed and he said that the speed that you select affects the quality. i don't get that. the conversion speed is how fast the program does the conversion. how does that affect the quality of the video?

for example there is another converter program called movavi video converter premium. in that program the conversion speed is fast and you can just run the program as a background task to use less cpu power and i don't think that affects the quality of the video

how come the conversion speed doesn't affect the quality if movavi video converter premium is used but it affects the quality if handbrake is used?

[buzz1891]

That's because you interpreting the claim literally. What is meant here, is that technically speaking faster presets/settings will give you lower quality (means less like the original) output vs slower presets. It's not always easy to spot for naked eye though. In case of overkill bitrate settings the difference is virtually non-existent.

[cns00]

That's because you interpreting the claim literally. What is meant here, is that technically speaking faster presets/settings will give you lower quality (means less like the original) output vs slower presets. It's not always easy to spot for naked eye though. In case of overkill bitrate settings the difference is virtually non-existent.

thus you are saying it's ok to pick the speed ultra fast? do you use that speed?

[jagabo]

The slower presets use more, and more accurate but slower, methods to compress the video.

[buzz1891]

thus you are saying it's ok to pick the speed ultra fast? do you use that speed?

I use veryfast for any CRF below 20. But for crf 23 or higher I'd rather use medium preset.

[jagabo]

Never use ultrafast for anything other than a quick dirty test. Or for video capture at crf=0 (lossless).

Here are some example videos, both encoded at CRF=17 (as in the youtube video). One at ultrafast the other at slower. First, notice that ultrafast is much larger. It must be better quality right? Now watch them in a darkened room...

[jagabo]

If you want to experiment for yourself here's the source (lossless x264, 8 bit YUV 4:2:0) from which those two videos were encoded.