This article gives a brief introduction to HEVC/H.265 and points out the requirements for devices that support playing videos coded with HEVC.

Applies to: All Reolink cameras and NVRs.

HEVC (High-Efficiency Video Coding), also known as H.265, is the latest international standard for video compression. H.265 is the successor to H.264, also known as AVC. With H.265, the video data takes up less space or needs less transmission capacity than with H.264, but the image quality is the same or even better. With H.265, you can stream in 4K or UHD, and the highest resolution could reach 8K (8192×4320).

If you want to playback HEVC/H.265 videos on your device, the below requirements must be met.

1. The OS of your device has to be:

  • Windows: Windows 8 or later
  • macOS Big Sur 11.0 or later
  • IOS 11.1 or later
  • Android 9.0 or later

Note: For Windows, Android, and MacOS, It's suggested to use Chrome and Edge (the version of them shall be 110.0.5481.178 or later). If you plan to use other browsers to playback HEVC videos, check out whether the browser is compatible with HEVC encoding: the compatibility of HEVC encoding

2. HEVC/H.265 is supported on the following devices:

  • iPhone 7 or newer
  • iPad Pro or newer
  • Samsung Galaxy S8/S8+ or newer
  • Samsung Galaxy Note 8 or newer
  • Google Pixel 2 or newer
  • OnePlus 6T or newer
  • Moto G9 or newer
  • Redmi Note 8 or newer
  • Huawei Mate 9 or newer
  • Huawei P9 or newer
  • Vivo V20 or newer

Note: If your device is not on the above list, or if you still can't play HEVC videos, please check whether the GPU of your device meets the demand below:

If your device has met all the requirements above but still fails to play HEVC videos, here are feasible solutions:

  • If such HEVC videos are cloud recordings, go to the Reolink App to playback cloud recordings.
  • Instead of playing back online, download the videos to the PC and watch the video with a proper video player.