# What ENCODER is used by plex? **URL:** \ **Category:** General Discussions\ **Created:** [November 28, 2016, 12:34am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/what-encoder-is-used-by-plex/168670 "2016-11-28T00:34:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Olivier.75](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/858c86/32.png) [@Olivier.75](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Olivier.75)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 12:34am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/what-encoder-is-used-by-plex/168670/1 "2016-11-28T00:34:55Z")
I was wondering if anyone could tell me what encoder is used by PLEX when it’s making optimized version or transcoding? Is it the x264 encoder (since it uses the same naming scheme for the presets)? Ty! ---
**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:** [November 28, 2016, 1:33am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/what-encoder-is-used-by-plex/168670/2 "2016-11-28T01:33:08Z")
Yes, it is the x.264 library in a highly customized version of ffmpeg. ---
**Author:** ![Olivier.75](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/858c86/32.png) [@Olivier.75](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Olivier.75)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 1:37am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/what-encoder-is-used-by-plex/168670/3 "2016-11-28T01:37:42Z")
Yeah i just checked the config menu again and it literally mentions the x264 encoder twice… Feel kinda stupid i missed that the previous time I checked, haha 😛 Anyway, I was asking this because I was wondering if by any chance there are any plans to incude the x265 encoder aswell? (the sooner the better :D) ---
**Author:** ![jjrjr1](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/jjrjr1/32/10993_2.png) [@jjrjr1](https://forums.plex.tv/u/jjrjr1)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 1:38am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/what-encoder-is-used-by-plex/168670/4 "2016-11-28T01:38:59Z")
Hmmm Just curious. Highly customized, in what respect?? ---
**Author:** ![Olivier.75](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/858c86/32.png) [@Olivier.75](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Olivier.75)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 1:40am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/what-encoder-is-used-by-plex/168670/5 "2016-11-28T01:40:56Z")
Yeah i just checked the config menu again and it literally mentions the x264 encoder twice… Feel kinda stupid i missed that the previous time I checked, haha 😛 Anyway, I was asking this because I was wondering if by any chance there are any plans to incude the x265 encoder aswell? (the sooner the better :D) ---
**Author:** ![Olivier.75](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/858c86/32.png) [@Olivier.75](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Olivier.75)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 1:41am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/what-encoder-is-used-by-plex/168670/6 "2016-11-28T01:41:09Z")
Also, is it possible to add custom presets? ---
**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:** [November 28, 2016, 1:42am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/what-encoder-is-used-by-plex/168670/7 "2016-11-28T01:42:38Z")
> @Olivier.75 said: > Anyway, I was asking this because I was wondering if by any chance there are any plans to incude the x265 encoder aswell? (the sooner the better :D) Not as long as PMS won’t be able to use some GPU support for encoding. **De** coding x.265 alone is demanding enough for a cpu, but **en** coding is super stressful. I think there are no cpu’s on the market which are able to do that in realtime even for 1 fullHD stream. And a Plex server often has to cope with several transcodes going on concurrently. The increased encoding efficiency of H.265 comes at a price. For now, you want to avoid HEVC/H.265 material in your Plex. ---
**Author:** ![Olivier.75](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/858c86/32.png) [@Olivier.75](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Olivier.75)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 2:26am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/what-encoder-is-used-by-plex/168670/8 "2016-11-28T02:26:05Z")
> **De** coding x.265 alone is demanding enough for a cpu, but **en** coding is super stressful. I think there are no cpu’s on the market which are able to do that in realtime even for 1 fullHD stream. > And a Plex server often has to cope with several transcodes going on concurrently. > > The increased encoding efficiency of H.265 comes at a price. > For now, you want to avoid HEVC/H.265 material in your Plex. Yes, I know. I’m re-encoding my entire collection using x265 (very slow preset) on my desktop now… 😃 It would just be handy to just let my nvidia shield do it so I got more power available on my desktop for work. I’m not asking for it being able to do it in realtime (it is possible though using the faster presets)… Just for the manual/background optimizing functionality. I only need my nvidia shield to watch movies (just give plex priority to decoding while it’s encoding in the background). For realtime transcoding just let it use x264 (for now) but offer the option to optimize using x265. I don’t really care if it takes a week. ---
**Author:** ![jjrjr1](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/jjrjr1/32/10993_2.png) [@jjrjr1](https://forums.plex.tv/u/jjrjr1)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 2:26pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/what-encoder-is-used-by-plex/168670/9 "2016-11-28T14:26:08Z")
Hi Still curious what has been Highly Customized in ffmpeg. What were the customizations for? Thanks ---
**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, 10:17pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/what-encoder-is-used-by-plex/168670/10 "2020-01-07T22:17:55Z")