What Is B-Frames (Bidirectional Frames)?
Video frames that reference both previous and future frames for better compression. Setting 2 B-frames is standard for streaming.
B-frames (Bidirectional predicted frames) are a compression technique where a frame is encoded using references to both the frame before and after it. This provides better compression than P-frames (which only reference the previous frame) but adds a small amount of encoding latency. For streaming, 2 B-frames is the standard setting — it provides good compression without noticeable latency. Setting B-frames to 0 slightly reduces latency but increases file size.
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Related Terms
Keyframe (I-Frame)
A complete video frame that doesn't reference other frames. Streaming platforms require keyframes every 2 seconds.
Encoding
The process of compressing raw video data into a smaller format using a codec like H.264, HEVC, or AV1.
Codec
Software or hardware that compresses and decompresses video data. Common codecs include H.264, HEVC, VP9, and AV1.