With the explosive growth of Internet video content, from video websites to internal corporate monitoring systems, the importance of video storage servers has become increasingly prominent. Whether it is high-definition video on demand or real-time live transcoding, choosing the right video encoding format is the key to ensuring efficient server operation and smooth user experience. What encoding formats does the video storage server support? What are the characteristics of various encodings?
1. Basic concepts of video storage servers
Before formally discussing the encoding format, let's first understand the role of video storage servers.
The so-called video storage server refers to a server device or system dedicated to receiving, saving, managing and distributing video files. Its main functions include: storing a large number of video files, providing video on demand, downloading, streaming media playback and other services, cooperating with transcoding services to handle the compatibility of different devices with videos, ensuring data security, disaster recovery, and data recovery
Therefore, a qualified video storage server, in addition to requiring powerful hardware configuration and sufficient bandwidth, must also be compatible with a variety of mainstream video encoding formats to meet diverse business needs.
2. Inventory of commonly supported video encoding formats
Currently, mainstream video storage servers basically support the following major video encoding formats:
1. H.264/AVC
Features:
Widely used in online video, mobile video, Blu-ray discs and other fields.
High compression efficiency, excellent balance between video quality and bit rate.
Decoders are generally built into various hardware terminals (such as mobile phones, TVs, browsers).
Application scenarios: most online video platforms such as YouTube and Bilibili; surveillance video storage (DVR/NVR system); standard format of mobile phone video.
Server support: Almost all commercial video servers and open source media servers natively support H.264.
2. H.265/HEVC
Features:
Under the same video quality, H.265 can save about 50% of the bit rate compared to H.264.
Support 4K and 8K ultra-high-definition resolution;
The encoding and decoding complexity is higher, and the hardware performance requirements are also higher.
Application scenarios: 4K video streaming; HD surveillance storage; emerging OTT platforms (such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video).
Server support: Most new-generation video servers already support H.265; special attention should be paid to whether the client supports the corresponding playback (poor compatibility of old devices).
3. VP8/VP9
Features:
Open and free, no patent fees required;
VP8 is used for HD video conferencing (such as early versions of Google Meet);
VP9 is used for YouTube 4K/8K streaming.
Application scenarios: Websites embed video players; online video platforms that need to reduce copyright costs.
Server support: Open source streaming servers such as Media Server and Nginx-RTMP modules usually support; commercial servers need to confirm whether additional configuration or plug-in installation is required.
4. AV1
Features:
Completely free and open source;
Higher compression efficiency than H.265 (about 30% increase);
Supports new-generation video standards such as HDR and wide color gamut.
Application scenarios: YouTube, Netflix, etc. gradually promote AV1 encoding streams; HD video transmission under low bandwidth conditions; future-oriented ultra-high-definition 4K/8K video distribution.
Server support: Some new servers support (such as the new version of FFmpeg, Media Server comes with support); need to update to the latest version of the software stack, and match the player end that supports AV1.
5. MPEG-2/MPEG-4 Part 2
Features:
MPEG-2 is the traditional DVD video encoding standard;
MPEG-4 Part 2 (such as DivX, Xvid) was widely used in the early distribution of Internet videos.
Application scenarios: old surveillance videos; early network video on demand (VOD) resources; legacy systems in specific industry fields.
Server support: general server support is good; new projects are usually not recommended, and the compression rate and efficiency are much lower than H.264 and above standards.
3. The impact of encoding format selection on the server
Different encoding formats not only affect the hardware requirements of the storage server, but also directly affect the back-end processing efficiency and front-end playback experience:
1. Storage capacity
H.265, VP9, AV1 and other new generation encodings have high compression ratios, which can greatly reduce the size of a single video file;
Storage server hard disk requirements are reduced, reducing storage costs in the long term.
2. Server CPU/GPU load
H.264 is relatively lightweight and can be handled by ordinary VPS;
H.265 and AV1 require the server to have a strong CPU or hardware acceleration.
3. Transcoding service pressure
Various terminal devices have different compatibility, and servers often need to perform real-time transcoding;
The CPU performance requirements during transcoding are extremely high, especially in high concurrent access scenarios.
4. Client playback compatibility
H.264 has the best compatibility and basically covers all terminals;
H.265 is gradually becoming popular, and some old devices (such as old iPhones and low-end Androids) have difficulty playing;
AV1 currently supports fewer devices and needs to be promoted and applied with caution.
An excellent video storage server needs to have a wide range of video encoding format support capabilities to adapt to complex and changing actual business needs. When choosing an encoding format, it is necessary to comprehensively consider multiple factors such as compression efficiency, storage cost, server resource consumption, and terminal playback compatibility. At present, H.264 is still the absolute mainstream, H.265 is rapidly becoming popular, and VP9 and AV1, as future trends, are also worthy of early layout by the technical team.
