OBS cannot encode greater then 8-bit

TheBailzOnYT

TheBailzOnYT

Member
When trying to record using
  • P010 and I010 (10-bit)
  • P216 and P416 (16-bit)
OBS displays an error.
Screenshot 2024-03-19 200728.png
Screenshot 2024-03-19 200704.png



Specs:
32 GB DDR5
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050
Intel Core i9-13900H
1 TB NVMe SSD
1710839627731.png

​
 
O

oritxupolite

Member
Select H265 if your graphics card supports it (NVIDIA NVENC HEVC). I think that although it is possible to use 10bits with H264, it is not possible in OBS
 
Suslik V

Suslik V

Active Member
When Recording Quality set to "Same as stream", OBS re-uses already encoded data (that was encoded for the streaming) and saves it to the disk. And as was mentioned above, H.264 encoder for SDR streaming is OK, but for HDR recordings with OBS - it is not.

Also, for HDR it is recommended to set compatible Color Space (Rec. 2100).

For streaming OBS may force compatible settings (wish you or not). This happens "behind the scenes".
 
TheBailzOnYT

TheBailzOnYT

Member
oritxupolite said:
Select H265 if your graphics card supports it (NVIDIA NVENC HEVC). I think that although it is possible to use 10bits with H264, it is not possible in OBS
Click to expand...
Suslik V said:
When Recording Quality set to "Same as stream", OBS re-uses already encoded data (that was encoded for the streaming) and saves it to the disk. And as was mentioned above, H.264 encoder for SDR streaming is OK, but for HDR recordings with OBS - it is not.

Also, for HDR it is recommended to set compatible Color Space (Rec. 2100).

For streaming OBS may force compatible settings (wish you or not). This happens "behind the scenes".
Click to expand...
Like this?
1710886122312.png

I did a recording attempt with P010 and it was successful with these settings.










But when I tried P216 (16-bit) with the exact settings o
1710886335207.png
f NVENC, HEVC it passed the error of 16-bit again.
Both using Rec. 2100
 
O

oritxupolite

Member
Well, I only use 10 bits to record or broadcast with P010. I am curious to know how 12 or 16 bits are used because I also get that message with HEVC and AV1
 
TheBailzOnYT

TheBailzOnYT

Member
oritxupolite said:
Well, I only use 10 bits to record or broadcast with P010. I am curious to know how 12 or 16 bits are used because I also get that message with HEVC and AV1
Click to expand...
For 16-bit there are various errors.
Software (x264) isn't supported with high-precision colour formats.
While:
  • Hardware (QSV, H.264)
  • Hardware (NVENC, H.264)
  • Hardware (NVENC, HEVC)
Display "Cannot perform 16-bit encode on this encoder."

Using Hardware (NVENC, AV1) will display "AV1 encoding is not available with the current settings. Try disabling any re-scaling or GPU options that may be set. Check the for more details." and the log specifically states "[obs-nvenc] nv12/p010 not active, falling back to ffmpeg"
 
Suslik V

Suslik V

Active Member
Guide from the manufacturer:
www.nvidia.com

NVIDIA NVENC Obs Guide

Configure OBS to get the most quality out of your stream.
www.nvidia.com
NVENC Capabilities table:

NVENC - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

16-bit is myth for these video cards (code name AD107 or GN21-X2).

You can find same info for Intel's Quick Sync. Don't expect too much from your rig. It can do 10-bit with 4:2:0 - it is excellent result for today!
 
R

rockbottom

Active Member
lizardpeter said:
Is there really still no way to record HEVC 4:4:4 10 bit? NVENC shows it as supported on the website. Why isn’t it supported in OBS?
Click to expand...

What website? I think there may be some confusion between NVENC & NVDEC. According to Nvidia GPU support matrix, Touring & newer GPU's decode it but that's as far as it goes.
 
lizardpeter

lizardpeter

New Member
rockbottom said:
I see you're still in denial & don't believe the facts given. OBS is not the issue here.
Click to expand...

No facts have been given by you, just misinformation. NVENC has supported HEVC 4:4:4 10-bit for multiple generations now. It works on DaVinci Resolve and uses the GPU encoder. In fact, 4:2:2 was also recently enabled on Blackwell, in addition to 4:4:4 H264 10-bit. This is an OBS issue.

It was actually added as far back as 2020 to DaVinci Resolve (so either Turing or Ampere generations, at least). See "Support for encoding H.265 4:4:4 10-bit on supported NVIDIA GPUs."

Release of DaVinci Resolve 16.2.1 Studio

We are pleased to announce the release of DaVinci Resolve 16.2.1 Studio which improves performance and addresses a few issues based on customer feedback. Thank you for your feedback and especially to those who have the preferences option to auto report issues and check for updates. This is a no...
www.liftgammagain.com
 
Last edited:
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rockbottom

Active Member
These articles are a bit more clear & contain info that is important. According to them, 4:4:4 10-bit was added with SDK 12.2 (2024) & 4:2:2 10-bit was added with SDK 13.0 (2025).

developer.nvidia.com

Improving Video Quality with the NVIDIA Video Codec SDK 12.2 for HEVC | NVIDIA Technical Blog

NVIDIA Video Codec SDK provides a comprehensive set of APIs for hardware-accelerated video encode and decode on Windows and Linux. The 12.2 release improves video quality for high-efficiency video…
developer.nvidia.com developer.nvidia.com

developer.nvidia.com

NVIDIA Video Codec SDK 13.0 Powered by NVIDIA Blackwell | NVIDIA Technical Blog

The release of NVIDIA Video Codec SDK 13.0 marks a significant upgrade, adding support for the latest-generation NVIDIA Blackwell GPUs. This version brings a wealth of improvements aimed at elevating…
developer.nvidia.com developer.nvidia.com

Higher bit-depth encoding enhancement​

NVIDIA Video Codec SDK 13.0 introduces 10-bit encoding support in H.264 on NVIDIA Blackwell GPUs. All the chroma subsampling formats—4:2:0, 4:2:2 and 4:4:4—support encoding 10-bit content.

In addition, NVIDIA Blackwell NVENC can encode 8-bit content as 10-bit for H.264 and HEVC, a feature already available for AV1 in ADA.

ADA and earlier GPUs continue to support this feature for HEVC, but unlike NVIDIA Blackwell, the input YUV is upscaled from 8- to 10-bit as a preprocessing step using CUDA.

This feature improves the coding efficiency due to higher precision in the encoding pipeline. This upgrade results in smoother gradations and more accurate color reproduction, ideal for high-quality video production. Many of the input-related calculations in the encoder are done in 10-bit instead of 8-bit. Applications can expect an improvement of around 3% in compression efficiency when using this feature without any significant impact on encoder performance.

Unlike AV1, 10-bit encoding is supported only on select profiles for H.264 and HEVC. Applications should only enable this feature if the decoder supports 10-bit profiles.
 
R

rockbottom

Active Member
Playing around in the Custom Output. I can get 444 10-bit but only when using P416 Color Format. I444 is 8-bit so no luck.

Recording looks fine but must use VLC or your NLE to open.

General​

Complete name :D:\2025-09-10_12-18-37.mov
Format :MPEG-4
Format profile :QuickTime
Codec ID :qt 0000.02 (qt )
File size :10.9 MiB
Duration :4 s 224 ms
Overall bit rate :21.6 Mb/s
Frame rate :60.000 FPS
Writing application :Lavf61.1.100


Video​

ID :1
Format :HEVC
Format/Info :High Efficiency Video Coding
Format profile :Format Range@L5@High
Codec ID :hev1
Codec ID/Info :High Efficiency Video Coding
Duration :4 s 217 ms
Bit rate :19.4 Mb/s
Width :1 920 pixels
Height :1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio :16:9
Frame rate mode :Constant
Frame rate :60.000 FPS
Color space :YUV
Chroma subsampling :4:4:4
Bit depth :10 bits
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) :0.156
Stream size :9.73 MiB (89%)
Color range :Limited
Color primaries :BT.709
Transfer characteristics :BT.709
Matrix coefficients :BT.709
Codec configuration box :hvcC


Audio​

ID :2
Format :PCM
Format settings :Little / Signed
Codec ID :in24
Duration :4 s 224 ms
Bit rate mode :Constant
Bit rate :2 304 kb/s
Channel(s) :2 channels
Channel layout :L R
Sampling rate :48.0 kHz
Bit depth :24 bits
Stream size :1.16 MiB (11%)
Default :Yes
Alternate group :1
 
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