After a recent data loss, I'm reconsidering various CODECs before re-encoding my re-pirated "loot". I'm looking to maintain a good balance between quality and file size as my previous files were HUGE. I've read about x264, h264, h265 & vp9 for video and it's between AAC or AC-3 for audio. I'm looking for long-term and broad device compatibility. Also, I'll be using FFBatch front-end for ffmpeg for re-encoding. So, fellow pirates, what are your libraries coded in? Any helpful input would be greatly appreciated.
Av1 is pretty well supported now on a lot of devices thanks to dav1d, and it's the video codec with the best quality:compression ratio. "broad device compatibility" will be up to you and your devices, I would seriously look into it. It's what I personally encode all my stuff to.
as for audio Opus or AAC, AC-3 is bad
Why is AC-3 bad? It's pretty much compatible with everything, holds Dolby Digital and atmos. Especially if the source is already encoded in AC-3, would it be wise to re-encode it?
if you already have AC-3 content you can leave it as is, however as a codec itself, it is worse then aac and opus in terms of fidelity:size
I agree that if it is already AAC, it should not be changed as it has the highest fidelity and best compression.
While AC-3 is not the best, it and AC-4 are the only formats i know that can encode TrueHD and Atmos metadata, so that should be kept it it is there.
Any transcode will lose fidelity unless the target codec is lossless, and I don't think AAC has a lossless mode.
yeah but OP is wondering about transcoding their stuff. there is no reason to encode to AC3. I would just use traditional surround if you plan kn transcoding it.