<p>Most phones and tablets do not support 4:4:4</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-07-27T13:44:24.533Z
2020-07-27T13:44:24.533Z
SlimSCSI
<p>I am recording and distributing relatively low motion screen content (not games). Using h264, fine text often appears very blurry due to the poor subsampling with 4:2:0 and 4:2:2 pixel formats. With 4:4:4, the video content (and text) remains very sharp, but all recommendations I've been had so far are to stay away from 4:4:4 at all costs.</p>
<p>I am wondering if there will be any real downsides to distributing 4:4:4 content? Aside from filesize - this is a nonissue. Does anyone have any anecdotal experience to say whether most modern devices (browsers, mobile phones) can decode and play 4:4:4 content? It seems to work on my own devices, but I have a pretty small sample size. Is there a published record of what software and hardware decoders support it, or what the common issues might be if distributing content in this format?</p>
<p>Note: I am not distributing using any online video platforms, so , for example, downsides such as YouTube automatically re-encoding it to 4:2:0 would not be an issue. The question is really more geared towards if devices will actually be able to play 4:4:4 content native / seamlessly or if many will run into compatibility issues.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-07-26T21:58:58.373Z
I just setup an ffmpeg server at on office and was streaming 15mb/s and that was too much for that internet connection. Once I reduced it to 2.5mb/s it started working. However, only one viewer at a time with such bit stream capability. I think that will be your main bottleneck. If you don't need realtime video, reduce the number of frames per second (i.e. 5 fps still gives you a taste of motion).
Alexis Wilke
<ffmpeg><encoding><h.264>
Do modern devices support decoding 4:4:4 pixel formats?
caesay
# Do modern devices support decoding 4:4:4 pixel formats?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-07-26)

I am recording and distributing relatively low motion screen content (not games). Using h264, fine text often appears very blurry due to the poor subsampling with 4:2:0 and 4:2:2 pixel formats. With 4:4:4, the video content (and text) remains very sharp, but all recommendations I've been had so far are to stay away from 4:4:4 at all costs.

I am wondering if there will be any real downsides to distributing 4:4:4 content? Aside from filesize - this is a nonissue. Does anyone have any anecdotal experience to say whether most modern devices (browsers, mobile phones) can decode and play 4:4:4 content? It seems to work on my own devices, but I have a pretty small sample size. Is there a published record of what software and hardware decoders support it, or what the common issues might be if distributing content in this format?

Note: I am not distributing using any online video platforms, so , for example, downsides such as YouTube automatically re-encoding it to 4:2:0 would not be an issue. The question is really more geared towards if devices will actually be able to play 4:4:4 content native / seamlessly or if many will run into compatibility issues.

**Tags:** ffmpeg, encoding, h.264

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: I just setup an ffmpeg server at on office and was streaming 15mb/s and that was too much for that internet connection. Once I reduced it to 2.5mb/s it started working. However, only one viewer at a time with such bit stream capability. I think that will be your main bottleneck. If you don't need realtime video, reduce the number of frames per second (i.e. 5 fps still gives you a taste of motion).  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2020-07-27. Score: 0

Most phones and tablets do not support 4:4:4


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