H.265 vs H.264

H.265 is approximately twice as efficient — it achieves the same visual quality as H.264 in about half the file size. The compression ratio improvement is dramatic, especially for high-resolution 4K and HDR content.

H.265/HEVC is covered by complex, expensive patent licensing from multiple patent pools. Google and Mozilla have resisted implementing HEVC due to these licensing costs and have instead backed royalty-free alternatives like VP9 and AV1.

Recent iPhones (iPhone 7 and newer) can record in H.265 (HEVC), which is the default for higher resolution modes. You can change this in Settings > Camera > Formats. Older iPhones record in H.264.

If you're sharing video that needs to play in web browsers or on older devices, converting H.265 to H.264 MP4 ensures compatibility. The quality reduction from this conversion is typically minor at reasonable bitrates.

AV1 is the open-source royalty-free successor with even better compression than H.265. H.266/VVC is the next HEVC-family standard with ~50% better efficiency than H.265. AV1 has gained significant adoption in streaming (YouTube, Netflix), while H.266 is still maturing.