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NVENC, QSV, AMF or x264: which encoder for live streaming?

Start with the hardware encoder you have: NVENC on NVIDIA, QSV on Intel or AMF on AMD. Use x264 when there is no compatible hardware or when the CPU has proven headroom.

Published
Reading time
2 min read
Corneta version
0.11.0
Tested with
Corneta 0.6.0 (Windows 11), OBS Studio 32.x (Windows 11)

Choose by the hardware you have

EncoderWhere it runsWhen to start with it
NVENCdedicated block on NVIDIA GPUsmachine with a compatible NVIDIA card
QSVIntel integrated videoIntel with Quick Sync exposed to the system
AMFencoder on AMD GPUsmachine with a compatible AMD card
x264CPUno hardware available, or a CPU with measured headroom

OBS recommends a hardware encoder on modern machines because it takes work off the CPU and uses a block built for video. Older generations can deliver a worse picture at the same bitrate; test your actual card, not just the name of its family.

Enlarge image

Fit
Quality screen listing NVIDIA NVENC and Software x264 as available and QSV and AMF as unavailable.

Corneta detects which encoders exist on this machine before estimating the transcodes.

Corneta detects which encoders exist on this machine before estimating the transcodes.Source: CornetaCorneta version: 0.11.0

Multistream changes the math

Straight up copies the signal from your streaming software and doesn't open a new encoder session per platform. Smart only transcodes what doesn't fit the destination. All out can open a session for every output.

Cards and drivers set different limits on simultaneous sessions. Corneta shows the detected estimate, but it doesn't promise that your game, OBS and several transcodes will all fit together. The confirmation is a test stream with your heaviest scene.

Test order

  1. Pick the hardware you have.
  2. Run your real scene with the game's FPS capped.
  3. Watch rendering and encoding lag in OBS.
  4. Add transcodes one at a time.
  5. If you start dropping frames, go back to the last stable profile.

If the picture already fits all three platforms, copying instead of transcoding saves more resources than switching encoders.