Converting VFR to CFR with HandBrake

[R Neil Haugen]

I've been doing a lot of testing of this the last couple days. They changed the 'default' behaviors in a couple ways, and it seems "broken" to many for conversions ... they convert, but the media is still VFR when checked in MediaInfo's "Tree" view. Why?

On the video page of Handbrake, where you have the frame-rate drop-down selector and the CFR/VFR buttons, if you use the "suggested"  setting for frame-rate of "Same as source" ... what you get is the same as the source ... and if that source is VFR, you get VFR output files,  if you have the CFR box checked!

From testing, if I use a VFR source, and the frame-speed shows say 30fps, and I don't set it to something specific myself ... I still get VFR media exported.

So ... you need to both check the CFR box, AND manually set a frame-rate, to be sure of getting CFR media exported.

Also, if you're using the basic setup which defaults to the Encoder Profile set to Main, typically your Mbps tops out at 21.1 Mbps. Setting that to High jumps immediately to around 65Mbps with my Samsung S7 phone's 47.5Mbps 4k files. So I'm working with the other settings to figure out how to get around 48Mpbs out of it.

Neil

[Ann Bens]

[Horshack]

Good thread Neil. Here's a preset I created a few weeks ago for converting VFR footage into near-lossless 30fps H.264 CFR footage (RF=5). I use this to convert screencasts captures created by Microsoft's Expression Encoder. For more general usage I recommend an RF of 20-24 instead (it's the "VideoQualitySlider" value in the preset).

To use this preset, copy the contents and save it to a file with a .json extension, then import in Handbrake via Presets -> Import from file.

{
  "PresetList": [
    {
      "AudioCopyMask": [
        "copy:aac",
        "copy:ac3",
        "copy:dtshd",
        "copy:dts",
        "copy:mp3",
        "copy:truehd",
        "copy:flac",
        "copy:eac3"
      ],
      "AudioEncoderFallback": "ac3",
      "AudioLanguageList": [
        "und"
      ],
      "AudioList": [
        {
          "AudioBitrate": 512,
          "AudioCompressionLevel": 0.0,
          "AudioDitherMethod": null,
          "AudioEncoder": "av_aac",
          "AudioMixdown": "dpl2",
          "AudioNormalizeMixLevel": false,
          "AudioSamplerate": "auto",
          "AudioTrackQualityEnable": false,
          "AudioTrackQuality": -1.0,
          "AudioTrackGainSlider": 0.0,
          "AudioTrackDRCSlider": 0.0
        }
      ],
      "AudioSecondaryEncoderMode": true,
      "AudioTrackSelectionBehavior": "first",
      "ChapterMarkers": true,
      "ChildrenArray": [],
      "Default": true,
      "FileFormat": "av_mp4",
      "Folder": false,
      "FolderOpen": false,
      "Mp4HttpOptimize": false,
      "Mp4iPodCompatible": false,
      "PictureAutoCrop": true,
      "PictureBottomCrop": 0,
      "PictureLeftCrop": 0,
      "PictureRightCrop": 0,
      "PictureTopCrop": 0,
      "PictureDARWidth": 0,
      "PictureDeblock": 0,
      "PictureDeinterlaceFilter": "off",
      "PictureCombDetectPreset": "off",
      "PictureCombDetectCustom": "",
      "PictureDeinterlacePreset": "",
      "PictureDeinterlaceCustom": "",
      "PictureDenoiseCustom": "",
      "PictureDenoiseFilter": "off",
      "PictureDenoisePreset": "medium",
      "PictureDenoiseTune": "none",
      "PictureDetelecine": "off",
      "PictureDetelecineCustom": "",
      "PictureItuPAR": false,
      "PictureKeepRatio": true,
      "PictureLooseCrop": false,
      "PictureModulus": 2,
      "PicturePAR": "loose",
      "PicturePARWidth": 0,
      "PicturePARHeight": 0,
      "PictureRotate": "0:0",
      "PictureWidth": null,
      "PictureHeight": null,
      "PictureForceHeight": 0,
      "PictureForceWidth": 0,
      "PresetDescription": "Legacy HandBrake 0.10.x H.264 Main Profile preset.",
      "PresetName": "ScreenCapHandBrake_30fps_RF_5",
      "Type": 0,
      "UsesPictureFilters": false,
      "UsesPictureSettings": 1,
      "SubtitleAddCC": false,
      "SubtitleAddForeignAudioSearch": false,
      "SubtitleAddForeignAudioSubtitle": false,
      "SubtitleBurnBehavior": "none",
      "SubtitleBurnBDSub": false,
      "SubtitleBurnDVDSub": false,
      "SubtitleLanguageList": [],
      "SubtitleTrackSelectionBehavior": "none",
      "VideoAvgBitrate": 2500,
      "VideoColorMatrixC
      "VideoGrayScale": false,
      "VideoHWDecode": false,
      "VideoScaler": "swscale",
      "VideoPreset": "medium",
      "VideoTune": "",
      "VideoProfile": "main",
      "VideoLevel": "4.0",
      "VideoOptionExtra": "",
      "VideoQualityType": 2,
      "VideoQualitySlider": 5.0,
      "VideoQSVDecode": true,
      "VideoQSVAsyncDepth": 4,
      "VideoTwoPass": false,
      "VideoTurboTwoPass": false,
      "x264Option": "",
      "x264UseAdvancedOptions": false
    }
  ],
  "VersionMajor": "11",
  "VersionMicro": "0",
  "VersionMinor": "0"
}

[williams91349008]

Hi,

  I struggled 2 days with my footage from iPhone XS showing "Choppy Skipping Buggy Video Import from iPhone" which pointed me to the other thread Choppy Skipping Buggy Video Import from iPhone

  and I finally found the work-around using handbrake and I landed here.

2 Questions :

may Horshak​ rewrite the preset for the new version of handbrake? I tried to import the preset and it says it is outdated.

may someone tell me how to change the resolution of the output to fit the original footage? I shot with vertical iPhone 1080x1920 but the output is only 608 x 1080 (with Frame Width of 1080 and Frame Height of 1080)

Thank you in advance.

William

[R Neil Haugen]

Go into the Picture tab options in Handbrake, there are options to set a size and also to preserve original.

Then make your preset.

Neil

[williams91349008]

Hi,

there is no "Picture tab options" in handbrake. Maybe you are referring to an older version.

Nonetheless, the workaround for video shot in iPhone Portrait mode 1080x1920 is first choose "Apple 2160p60 4K HEVC Surround" Preset then modify the other settings to your liking. This will keep the dimension of 1080x1920.

Then for Video Codec I chose

H.264 Nvidia (NVEnc), Constant Quality 0QP (lossless), FPS29.97 (same as source), Constant Framerate.

Exported as .mp4 successfully (though the files size became 3 times the original)

Thanks

[Ann Bens]

I shot with vertical iPhone 1080x1920 but the output is only 608 x 1080 (with Frame Width of 1080 and Frame Height of 1080)

Post screenshot of clip in mediainfo in treeview here on the forum, preferably upload a short clip to test.

MediaInfo windows

[Stan Jones]

This is a test to understand what happens when a user responds to an old thread. This thread was started in 2017 and it's last post (before my new one) was December 2018. I am replying to the original post, so I think this should send an email notification (for those, like me, who track this forum via email) with the original topic ("converting vfr..."). And my fear is that it will not appear in the current list of PR topics, because that sorts by original post date. Let's see....

[Brozufil]

Stan Jones that was in 2019, it's 2020.

[Alex367466572b5i]

2025.