HEVC/H.265 Codec - Video Encoder and Decoder SDKs: MainConcept

With 4K available on billions of devices and 8K hot on its heels, HEVC/H.265 has quickly become the next-generation video codec of choice. The MainConcept® HEVC SDK, used today by many top companies in the industry to power their software offerings, delivers on the promise of higher performance with up to 30% greater bitrate efficiency than open source and it continually ranks at the top for overall codec quality.

The latest version combines MainConcept’s industry-leading HEVC/H.265 software encoding and decoding technology with the high performance of today’s GPU hardware processing from AMD, Intel, NVIDIA and Qualcomm. MainConcept EVA (Easy Video API) enables complete NVIDIA GPU media processing pipelines for encoding, decoding and transcoding eliminating the need to repeatedly copy frames between CPU and GPU. Regardless of whether you target speed or quality, MainConcept EVA always enables the right processing for your workflow. Users get a one-stop solution for both software and hardware processing from MainConcept.

Widely deployed across streaming and broadcast use cases with plentiful features and powerful options, the MainConcept HEVC SDK offers unmatched reliability. Create better, faster and smarter videos with our patented SABET™ , get guaranteed stable frame rate and no dropped frames with AutoLive Encoding, and encode new video identical to your pre-recorded video library with AutoMatch Encoding.

Product Highlights

Seamless integration with AMD, Intel, NVIDIA and Qualcomm hardware via MainConcept EVA
Software and hardware-based encoding and decoding compatible with Intel CPUs, Intel ARC, NVIDIA, Qualcomm Adreno and AMD GPUs using MainConcept Easy Video API. The simplified API calls in the encoder and decoder reduce the number of frames copied and held in memory. When using NVIDIA GPUs, EVA eliminates the need to shift frames between CPU and GPU memory. Moreover, the fully GPU-enabled color conversion and scaling module is built into all encoders and decoders.

Coding profiles
MainConcept HEVC now offers extended HDR signaling support for DVB Video encoding. There is also support for multiple natively progressive or interlaced encoder and decoder profiles from Main profile to 4:2:0 and 4:2:2 up to 10-bit. The decoder even supports 4:4:4 up to 12-bit. Seamless hardware decoding support of H.265 video for improved CPU consumption with capable NVIDIA and Intel GPUs.
Integral part of MainConcept vScore
MainConcept vScore is a new video quality analysis suite built directly into the HEVC/H.265 video encoder. It features the popular quality metrices VMAF, VMAF-CUDA, PSNR and SSIM, plus VMAF-E, built by MainConcept, an AI-powered enhancement of the popular VMAF metric providing accurate perceptual video quality scores for both live and VOD content.

HDR processing & conversion
With the MainConcept HEVC/H.265 SDK, you can not only output in SDR or two HDR formats, but also convert between the formats in real-time. PQ/HDR-10 to HLG, HLG to PQ/HDR-10, PQ/HDR-10 to SDR conversion as well as full support for SMPTE-2086 metadata complete the decoder’s feature set.
MV-HEVC content creation for the Apple Vision Pro
The MainConcept MV-HEVC Encoder add-on allows Multiview HEVC content creation for stereoscopic playback on the Apple Vision Pro spatial computer. The ready-to-use MV-HEVC Main 10 encoding preset supports extended resolutions for immersive multi-view processing. In combination with MainConcept’s MP4/MPV multiplexing and HLS packaging including playlist generation, users can develop solutions or services featuring MV-HEVC processing for Apple’s immersive XR standard.

Related Products

SDKs: OTT Content Creation, Transcoding SDK, MV-HEVC Encoder
Technologies: ARM, GStreamer, Hybrid GPU Encoder, Hardware Encoding with IQSV, AutoLive Encoding , AutoMatch Encoding, SABET, MainConcept EVA
Applications: Blackmagic Design Plugin, FFmpeg Plugins, Live Encoder

Highest flexibility with MainConcept EVA – Easy Video API

Deploy our HEVC/H.265 software and AMD, NVIDIA and Intel GPU hardware encoders as well as decoder via MainConcept’s Easy Video API to save integration time and costs. Compliant with Qualcomm Adreno, AMD Radeon GPUs, Intel ARC GPUs and Intel Core Ultra processors as well as NVIDIA’s RTX 50xx series, freeing the CPU from heavy video tasks. The HEVC/H.265 video encoder and decoder can even output frames directly from a hardware surface when using hardware processing on NVIDIA devices. This covers both progressive and interlaced streams.

LEARN MORE

HEVC/H.265 Encoder SDK

HEVC Encoder SDK with support for Main/Main 10 4:2:0 profiles, including multiplexers and audio encoders for various formats. Direct access to AMD AMF, NVIDIA NVENC and Intel QSV (incl. Intel ARC GPUs) if present on the system (Windows & Linux x86 only).

Encoder Addons

4:2:2 support for HEVC Encoder	Enables 4:2:2 10-bit support in the HEVC/H.265 software encoder and for NVIDIA Blackwell hardware
Hybrid GPU accelerated Encoding	Enables GPU Accelerated Encoding on NVIDIA RTX boards
SABET for HEVC Encoder	Optionally enables our Smart Adaptive Bitrate Encoding Technology

MV-HEVC for HEVC Encoder

Optionally enables Multiview HEVC encoding, including AAC encoding and MP4 multiplexing for the Apple Vision Pro.

HEVC/H.265 Decoder SDK

HEVC Decoder SDK featuring Main/Main 10 4:2:0, 4:2:2 and 4:4:4 profiles, including hardware decoding support on Qualcomm Adreno, AMD Radeon, NVIDIA NVDEC, Intel ARC or Intel QSV capable GPUs (Windows & Linux x86 only). Comes with HDR conversion, supported demultiplexers and audio decoders.

Decoder Addons

WebASM HEVC Decoder SDK

Stand-alone HEVC/H.265 decoder for WASM, including ready-to-use JS sample for quick integration