# Different H.264 Profile Levels Between Plex and ffprobe **URL:** \ **Category:** General Discussions\ **Created:** [March 21, 2016, 2:47pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/different-h-264-profile-levels-between-plex-and-ffprobe/139614 "2016-03-21T14:47:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![scotplex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@scotplex](https://forums.plex.tv/u/scotplex)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2016, 2:47pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/different-h-264-profile-levels-between-plex-and-ffprobe/139614/1 "2016-03-21T14:47:14Z")
Hello. I have several mp4 files for which Plex lists as H.264 High Level 5.0, but ffprobe (both 3.0 and 2.7.2) lists as H.264 High Level 4.1. Any idea why this might be happening and how to fix? This is happening on both my Windows and NAS servers. I am running PMS 0.9.16.2. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![OttoKerner](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/ottokerner/32/10079_2.png) [@OttoKerner](https://forums.plex.tv/u/OttoKerner)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2016, 3:50pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/different-h-264-profile-levels-between-plex-and-ffprobe/139614/2 "2016-03-21T15:50:33Z")
ffprobe probably only reads the headers of the video stream. Which may be wrong, if the person who did the encode did not know what he was doing. Plex looks more carefully. It checks whether the codec parameters are actually valid for the claimed level. If they don’t, it determines the correct compatibility level instead. To get a definitve answer, please post the [mediainfo XML](https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/201998867-Investigate-Media-Information-and-Formats "mediainfo XML") of your files and I can probably tell you which encoding parameter is the culprit. See also [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.264/MPEG-4\_AVC#Levels](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.264/MPEG-4_AVC#Levels) ---
**Author:** ![scotplex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@scotplex](https://forums.plex.tv/u/scotplex)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2016, 7:32pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/different-h-264-profile-levels-between-plex-and-ffprobe/139614/3 "2016-03-21T19:32:03Z")
Ah. Did not realize that. Thank you so much! Here is the output from the MediaInfo app: General Complete name : /Volumes/Test/test1.mp4 Format : MPEG-4 Format profile : Base Media Codec ID : isom (isom/iso2/avc1/mp41) File size : 423 MiB Duration : 9mn 5s Overall bit rate mode : Variable Overall bit rate : 6 516 Kbps Encoded date : UTC 1904-01-01 00:00:00 Tagged date : UTC 2016-03-21 19:18:44 Rating : None Video ID : 1 Format : AVC Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec Format profile : High@L4.1 Format settings, CABAC : Yes Format settings, ReFrames : 5 frames Codec ID : avc1 Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding Duration : 9mn 5s Bit rate : 6 000 Kbps Width : 1 920 pixels Height : 1 080 pixels Display aspect ratio : 16:9 Frame rate mode : Constant Frame rate : 29.970 (30000/1001) fps Color space : YUV Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0 Bit depth : 8 bits Scan type : Progressive Bits/(Pixel\*Frame) : 0.097 Stream size : 393 MiB (93%) Writing library : x264 core 120 r2146 bcd41db Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=5 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=umh / subme=8 / psy=1 / psy\_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed\_ref=1 / me\_range=16 / chroma\_me=1 / trellis=1 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast\_pskip=1 / chroma\_qp\_offset=-2 / threads=36 / 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=60 / keyint\_min=6 / scenecut=40 / intra\_refresh=0 / rc\_lookahead=50 / rc=abr / mbtree=1 / bitrate=6000 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / ip\_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00 Encoded date : UTC 1904-01-01 00:00:00 Tagged date : UTC 2012-05-09 17:22:40 Audio ID : 2 Format : AAC Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec Format profile : LC Codec ID : 40 Duration : 9mn 5s Bit rate mode : Variable Bit rate : 192 Kbps Maximum bit rate : 195 Kbps Channel(s) : 2 channels Channel positions : Front: L R Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz Frame rate : 46.875 fps (1024 spf) Compression mode : Lossy Stream size : 12.5 MiB (3%) Default : Yes Alternate group : 1 Encoded date : UTC 1904-01-01 00:00:00 Tagged date : UTC 2012-05-09 17:22:40 Other #1 ID : 65536 Type : Hint Format : RTP Codec ID : rtp Duration : 9mn 5s Encoded date : UTC 2012-05-09 17:22:39 Tagged date : UTC 2012-05-09 17:22:40 Other #2 ID : 65537 Type : Hint Format : RTP Codec ID : rtp Duration : 9mn 5s Encoded date : UTC 2012-05-09 17:22:40 Tagged date : UTC 2012-05-09 17:22:40 Bit rate mode : VBR ---
**Author:** ![OttoKerner](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/ottokerner/32/10079_2.png) [@OttoKerner](https://forums.plex.tv/u/OttoKerner)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2016, 7:36pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/different-h-264-profile-levels-between-plex-and-ffprobe/139614/4 "2016-03-21T19:36:41Z")
> @scotplex said: > Format profile : High@L4.1 > Format settings, ReFrames : 5 frames > Bit rate : 6 000 Kbps > Width : 1 920 pixels > Height : 1 080 pixels > Bit depth : 8 bits The file has 1 Reference Frame too much. If you have a fullHD 1920x1080 px video, the number of ReFrames in Level 4.1 must be 4 or lower. See the Wikipedia link above. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/3X/2/a/2acb9765406f63293d357b4ec509ec39aa28f2ad.png) [@system](https://forums.plex.tv/u/system)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2020, 9:12pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/different-h-264-profile-levels-between-plex-and-ffprobe/139614/5 "2020-01-07T21:12:46Z")