VP9

VP9 is Google’s royalty-free video codec, widely used for web delivery via WebM containers. It offers roughly 30% better compression than H.264 and is natively supported in Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Android. Transcodely uses the libvpx-vp9 encoder.

Quick Start

{
  "type": "webm",
  "video": [
    {
      "codec": "vp9",
      "resolution": "1080p",
      "quality": "standard"
    }
  ]
}

VP9Options Reference

Override defaults by passing the vp9 object on a video variant:

{
  "codec": "vp9",
  "resolution": "1080p",
  "quality": "standard",
  "vp9": {
    "speed": 4,
    "quality": "good",
    "crf": 35,
    "tile_columns": 2
  }
}

Key Differences from H.264/H.265

VP9 uses a fundamentally different parameter model than x264/x265:

Concept	H.264/H.265	VP9
Speed control	`preset` (string: ultrafast-placebo)	`speed` (integer: 0-8)
Quality mode	`tune` (string: film, grain…)	`quality` (string: good, best, realtime)
Profiles	Named strings (baseline, main, high)	Numeric (0, 1, 2, 3)
Levels	Defined (3.0, 4.1, 5.1…)	Not applicable
CRF range	15-35 (H.264) / 18-35 (H.265)	15-50
Max bitrate	240,000 kbps	150,000 kbps

Speed Setting

The speed parameter (0-8) controls the encoding speed-to-quality tradeoff. This is VP9’s equivalent of H.264 presets.

Speed	Encoding Speed	Quality	Recommended For
0	Extremely slow	Best	Archival (rarely used)
1	Very slow	Excellent	Premium mastering
2	Slow	Very good	High-quality streaming
3	Below average	Good	Premium tier
4	Average	Good	Premium tier (default)
5	Above average	Above average	Standard tier
6	Fast	Average	Standard tier (default)
7	Very fast	Below average	Economy tier
8	Fastest	Lowest	Economy tier (default)

Default by quality tier:

Quality Tier	Default Speed	Default CRF
`economy`	8	50
`standard`	6	40
`premium`	4	30

Quality Mode

The quality parameter selects the overall encoding strategy:

Mode	Description	Use Case
`good`	Balanced quality and speed (default)	Most production content
`best`	Maximum quality, slowest	Archival, mastering
`realtime`	Fastest, lower quality	Live streaming (not recommended for VOD)

For VOD transcoding, good is almost always the right choice. The best mode provides marginal quality improvement at significant encoding time cost.

Profiles

VP9 uses numeric profiles that determine color format and bit depth:

Profile	Color Format	Bit Depth	Use Case
0	4:2:0	8-bit	Maximum compatibility (default, recommended)
1	4:2:2 / 4:4:4	8-bit	Professional color workflows
2	4:2:0	10/12-bit	HDR content, wide color gamut
3	4:2:2 / 4:4:4	10/12-bit	Professional HDR workflows

Profile 0 is the default and offers the widest playback compatibility. Use Profile 2 for 10-bit content when targeting modern browsers.

CRF (Constant Rate Factor)

Allowed range: 15-50. VP9 uses a different scale than H.264.

CRF Range	Quality	Use Case
15-25	Very high	Archival, mastering
26-33	High	Premium streaming
34-40	Good	Standard streaming (default: 40)
41-45	Acceptable	Mobile, previews
46-50	Lower	Low-bandwidth delivery

Tile Configuration

Tiles divide each frame into independent regions that can be encoded in parallel. More tiles increase encoding speed but slightly reduce compression efficiency.

Parameter	Range	Default	Description
`tile_columns`	0-6	Auto	Number of tile columns (log2 scale)
`tile_rows`	0-2	Auto	Number of tile rows (log2 scale)

Tile values are specified in log2: a value of 2 means 2^2 = 4 tile columns.

Recommended tile_columns by resolution:

Resolution	tile_columns	Actual Columns
480p-720p	0 or 1	1
1080p	2	4
1440p-2160p	3	8
4320p	4	16

Other Parameters

Parameter	Range	Default	Description
`bitrate`	100-150,000 kbps	None (CRF mode)	Target bitrate
`min_bitrate`	100-150,000 kbps	None	Minimum bitrate for VBR
`max_bitrate`	100-150,000 kbps	None	Maximum bitrate for VBR
`keyint`	1-600 frames	250	Maximum keyframe interval

Example: High-Quality Web Delivery

{
  "codec": "vp9",
  "resolution": "1080p",
  "quality": "premium",
  "vp9": {
    "speed": 2,
    "quality": "good",
    "crf": 30,
    "tile_columns": 2
  }
}

Example: Fast Economy Encode

{
  "codec": "vp9",
  "resolution": "720p",
  "quality": "economy",
  "vp9": {
    "speed": 8,
    "crf": 45
  }
}

Container Compatibility

VP9 works with: WebM, MKV, HLS (fMP4 segments), DASH

VP9 does not work with: MP4, MOV, TS

#VP9

#Quick Start

#VP9Options Reference

#Key Differences from H.264/H.265

#Speed Setting

#Quality Mode

#Profiles

#CRF (Constant Rate Factor)

#Tile Configuration

#Other Parameters

#Example: High-Quality Web Delivery

#Example: Fast Economy Encode

#Container Compatibility

VP9