VP9 vs H.264: Which Video Codec Should You Use?

VP9 makes smaller files. H.264 plays everywhere. That trade is the whole decision - and for most people it lands on H.264.

VP9 vs H.264 video codec comparison

A video codec squeezes video down for storage and streaming, then unpacks it again for playback.

VP9 and H.264 both do that job well, but they were built for different priorities and the gap between them is not really about quality.

The short version

Sharing a file with someone? Use H.264 - it plays on everything made in the last fifteen years.
Publishing to the web yourself? VP9 cuts your bandwidth bill by roughly a third at the same quality.
Starting a new project in 2026? Look at AV1 instead - it beats both, and VP9 is the option it replaces.
Just trying to play a file? You do not need to choose - install the extension for whatever you have.

What each one actually is

H.264, also called AVC, arrived in 2003 and became the default for almost everything.

Your phone records it, your camera outputs it, and every browser and TV made this century plays it.

VP9 is Google's answer, released in 2013 and given away royalty-free. It powers most of YouTube above 1080p, and it usually turns up inside a .webm file rather than an .mp4.

Side by side

Feature	VP9	H.264
Compression	Roughly 30-50% smaller at the same quality	The baseline everything else is measured against
Encoding speed	Slow, often several times slower	Fast
Playback support	Modern browsers, phones and PCs	Essentially universal
Hardware decoding	Common on 2016-or-newer chips	On virtually every device ever made
Hardware encoding	Rare	Everywhere, including phones
Licensing	Royalty-free	Patent pool, paid by device makers
Usual container	`.webm`	`.mp4`
4K and above	Comfortable	Works, but files get large

The part most comparisons skip: hardware

Compression ratios are the headline, but hardware support is what you actually feel. Decoding in hardware means a dedicated chip does the work, so playback is smooth and the battery lasts.

H.264 has hardware decoding on effectively everything, and hardware encoding too, which is why your phone can record 4K without melting.

VP9 decoding is common on chips from about 2016 onward, so playback is usually fine. VP9 encoding in hardware is rare, which is exactly why exporting VP9 feels so slow - your CPU is doing all of it.

About those licensing fees

You will read that H.264 costs money and VP9 is free. That is true, but it almost never means what people think it means.

H.264 royalties are paid by the companies that build phones, graphics chips, operating systems and encoders. If you are editing a holiday video or uploading to YouTube, you are not paying a licence fee and never were.

The fees matter if you are shipping a product that includes an encoder, or streaming at serious commercial scale. For everyone else, treat licensing as a tiebreaker rather than a deciding factor.

How to encode each one

The friendly route is HandBrake, which offers both under Video Encoder - pick H.264 for an MP4 or VP9 for a WebM, then leave the quality slider alone.

If you would rather type it, these two commands are the sensible defaults. H.264 first:

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -c:v libx264 -crf 23 -preset medium -c:a aac out.mp4

And VP9, which needs -b:v 0 or it quietly ignores your quality setting:

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -c:v libvpx-vp9 -crf 32 -b:v 0 -c:a libopus out.webm

Lower CRF means better quality and bigger files. The two scales are not the same, so do not copy 23 across to VP9 and expect a match.

Where AV1 fits in

AV1 is VP9's successor, backed by Google, Netflix, Amazon and Microsoft, and also royalty-free. It beats VP9 by roughly another 30% and is now standard on YouTube and Netflix.

This is why VP9 is a shrinking middle option. If you are choosing a codec for something new rather than working with files you already have, the real comparison is H.264 versus AV1.

When neither is the right answer

Skip both if you are archiving footage you plan to edit later. These are delivery codecs, and every re-encode throws away detail that never comes back.

Skip VP9 specifically if anything downstream is old or unknown - a client's laptop, a TV, a conference projector. The tell is easy to spot: if you cannot name the device that will play it, use H.264.

Be wary of any site selling a "VP9 codec pack" or a paid unlocker. VP9 support on Windows comes from a free Microsoft extension, and H.264 is already built in, so nobody needs to sell you either one.

How to check what your own machine can do

Compatibility claims age badly, so check rather than trust. Open any file in MediaInfo and read the Video format line to see what you are actually dealing with.

For playback support, open a VP9 clip and watch your CPU usage in Task Manager. A few percent means hardware decoding is working; thirty or forty percent means your machine is doing it the hard way.

That test stays accurate no matter how many chip generations pass, which is more than can be said for any compatibility list.

Quick questions

Is VP9 better quality than H.264?

At the same file size, yes, noticeably so. At the same bitrate you are giving VP9 more room to work, which is where the roughly 30-50% saving comes from. Given unlimited file size, both can look excellent.

Why is my VP9 export taking so long?

Because your CPU is doing all the work. Hardware VP9 encoding barely exists, while H.264 encoding is accelerated on almost every chip, so the same clip can take several times longer in VP9.

Do I need to install anything to play VP9 on Windows?

On Windows 10 and 11 you need the free VP9 Video Extension for Windows apps such as Movies & TV. Browsers and players like VLC carry their own decoders and do not need it.

Can I put VP9 inside an MP4 file?

Technically yes, but support for that combination is patchy and you will hit players that refuse it. VP9 belongs in a .webm file, and H.264 belongs in an .mp4.

Does converting H.264 to VP9 improve the quality?

No, and it makes things slightly worse. Re-encoding always loses a little detail, so converting only makes sense when you need the smaller file or the different format.

Which one does YouTube use?

All of them, depending on your device. YouTube serves H.264 to older hardware, VP9 to most modern browsers, and AV1 increasingly at higher resolutions.