SVT-HEVC H.265 encoding setup in Nimble Streamer Transcoder

Nimble Streamer Live Transcoder has support for various codecs using a number of encoding libraries. H.265 (HEVC) encoding has been supported only via NVENC and QuickSync hardware acceleration so we were looking for the best ways to provide software alternative to that.

Now Live Transcoder can use SVT-HEVC for software encoding. The Scalable Video Technology for HEVC Encoder by Intel® is an HEVC-compliant encoder library core highly optimized for Intel Xeon™ Scalable Processor and Xeon™ D processors. However it can also be used on other hardware supported by Live Transcoder.


The output can be delivered by Nimble Streamer via any protocol which supports HEVC delivery.

The library is delivered with Nimble Live Transcoder and can be used like any other software encoder. The setup process is described below.

Install Live Transcoder

Live Transcoder is a premium add-on for Nimble Streamer freeware media server. You'll need to subscribe for its license in order to start using it.

You need to follow these installation instructions in order to set it up for further usage.

Create transcoding scenario

Live streams transcoding is set up using transcoding scenarios. Each scenario is a graphical representation of content transformation for video and audio ingredients. It has decoding elements to specify how the stream is decoded, filter elements to define the content transformation and encoder elements to put the content into the right codec.

You can refer to Documentation reference for setup details, including video tutorials.

The next section explains how to use encoder element to setup HEVC encoding with SVT-HEVC.

SVT-HEVC encoder settings

Once you've set up the designated transcoding scenario, add encoder element for your output and choose libsvthevc from the list of Encoder field values.

You'll be able to specify Key frame alignment from the list of supported values similar to those used in libx264 setup. The profile values can vary between "main" and "main10". In addition to that you can define other parameters specific to SVT-HEVC.

Live Transcoder supports a subset of SVT-HEVC encoder parameters, you can read their respective description on project page:

• asm
• base-layer-switch-mode
• brr
• constrd-intra
• deblock
• encMode
• fps-denom
• fps-num
• hierarchical-levels
• hme
• hrd
• interlaced-video
• intra-period
• irefresh-type
• lad
• level
• lp
• max-qp
• min-qp
• pred-struct
• profile
• q
• rc
• rt
• sao
• scd
• search-h
• search-w
• sharp
• speed-ctrl
• ss
• tbr
• threads
• tier
• tile_col_cnt
• tile_row_cnt
• tile_slice_mode
• umv
• use-default-me-hme
• vbv-bufsize
• vbv-init
• vbv-maxrate

Also notice the SVT-HEVC is running in out-of-process mode by default, you can read about it in this article.


If you have any questions related to transcoding, feel free to contact us.

Related documentation

Live Transcoder, Transcoder documentation reference,
.