What is Hevc H.265? High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), also known as H.265 is a video compression standard. The GoPro Hero6 is the first action camera to use HEVC codec. Here is a little on why it’s used and how you can take advantage of it without the headaches. HEVC H.265 is one of several possible successors to the much more widely used AVC (Advanced Video Coding H.264 or MPEG-4).  In comparison to H.264 HEVC offers about double the data compression ratio at the same level of video quality. H.264 has been the standard video coding across all of our modern devices since 2014.  Here you can find a super in-depth detail of the HEVC codec.

Another great site all about HEVC H.265 is X265.org

GoPro Hero6 HEVC H.265

The simple answer to this question is HEVC uses half the storage space (your device GoPro or phones GB’s). Why did GoPro start using it on Hero6 Black cameras? They aren’t using it for all of the videos you can record using a GoPro Hero6. For the time being it is just used on formats that are resource or storage space heavy.

Hero6 HEVC:

• 4K 60 fps
• 4K (4:3) 24,30 fps
• 2.7K 120 fps
• 2.7K (4:3) 60 fps
• 1080P 240 fps

all resolution/frame rate combinations not listed above use the familiar H.264 MPEG-4 codec. Tip: If you are wanting to make quick video edits using GoPro’s Quik app use lower resolutions 2.7K 30,60 fps. This resolution makes great videos for sharing on Instagram.

How can I edit HEVC footage?

Besides having a computer that has native support, you need a editing software that is capable of handling the footage.

Confirmed (as of 3/2018) to handle HEVC:

• GoPro Quik
• Adobe Premiere Pro (CC only)
• Final Cut Pro 10.4 (Mac only)
• DaVinci Resolve (Mac only – PC version does not currently support it)

Just be aware that not all editing software may be able to take advantage a computers given GPU.

I can’t playback the footage, let alone edit it. What do I do?

If you shot HEVC footage with your GoPro Hero6 but your machine is not able to handle it natively, here’s a good solution that you can do: A program/App called HandBrake. It takes the HEVC video or footage and converts it to H.264 codec. I think the HEVC format and Hero6 together with Karma drone would have been a perfect winning combination.This should have been the camera launched with GoPro Karma. Oh well.

•  Here is GoPro’s official Handbrake guide to convert your HEVC footage to H264.