# Install x265 with Homebrew, apk, apt, MacPorts, Nix, pacman, scoop H.265/HEVC encoder. Version 4.2 via Homebrew; verified 2026-04-20. ## Install ```sh sudo av install brew:x265 ``` Additional install commands: ### macOS - Homebrew (100%): ```sh brew install x265 ``` Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata - MacPorts (94%): ```sh sudo port install x265 ``` Evidence: MacPorts ports tree: multimedia/x265/Portfile from https://api.github.com/repos/macports/macports-ports/git/trees/master?recursive=1 ### Linux - apk (92%): ```sh sudo apk add x265 ``` Evidence: Alpine Linux edge package indexes: x265 from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/main/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz - Debian apt (92%): ```sh sudo apt install libx265-215 ``` Evidence: Debian stable package indexes: libx265-215 from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz - Nix (92%): ```sh nix profile install nixpkgs#x265 ``` Evidence: nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/x2/x265/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1 - pacman (92%): ```sh sudo pacman -S x265 ``` Evidence: Arch Linux sync databases: x265 from https://geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com/extra/os/x86_64/extra.db.tar.gz - Ubuntu apt (92%): ```sh sudo apt install libx265-199 ``` Evidence: Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: libx265-199 from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz ### Windows - Scoop (92%): ```sh scoop install main/x265 ``` Evidence: Scoop official bucket manifest trees: bucket/x265.json from https://api.github.com/repos/ScoopInstaller/Main/git/trees/master?recursive=1 ## Package facts - **Package key:** brew:x265 - **Package manager:** Homebrew - **Package manager page:** - **Version:** 4.2 - **Source summary:** H.265/HEVC encoder - **Homepage:** - **Repository:** - **Upstream docs:** - **License:** GPL-2.0-or-later - **Source archive:** - **Last updated:** 2026-04-20T07:21:00Z - **Generated:** 2026-07-08T07:18:31+00:00 ## Executables - x265 (cli) - x265 (alias) ## Build dependencies - cmake ## Install behavior - Post-install hook: not defined - Bottle: available on arm64_linux, arm64_sequoia, arm64_sonoma, arm64_tahoe, sonoma, x86_64_linux ## Freshness - Page generated: 2026-07-08 - Package-manager version: 4.2 - Package-manager updated: 2026-04-20 - Local data: ok - Upstream repository: https://bitbucket.org/multicoreware/x265_git - info: Release/tag comparison is only available for GitHub repositories. ## Project history and usage x265 is an H.265/HEVC encoder library and command-line application developed by MulticoreWare. It occupies the HEVC role that x264 filled for AVC: an aggressively optimized software encoder with GPL source availability and commercial licensing for proprietary deployments. The project was launched in 2013, the same period in which HEVC was emerging as the successor to H.264 for higher-resolution and lower-bitrate video. Its documentation frames HEVC as a response to growing HD, UHD, video-on-demand, bandwidth, and storage demands. ### Project history MulticoreWare launched x265 in 2013 to build a high-efficiency, high-performance HEVC encoder. The official documentation says x265 was backed by video technology providers including Telestream and Doremi Labs, with additional unnamed companies and open-source contributors. x265's ancestry is explicit: the project leverages many video-encoding features and optimizations from x264. Historically that made x265 less a greenfield command-line tool and more a transfer of hard-won encoder engineering practices into the newer HEVC standard, whose block structure, prediction tools, and UHD goals demanded much more computation. ### Adoption history Adoption followed the rise of HEVC in distribution workflows that needed better compression than H.264, especially for UHD and bitrate-sensitive delivery. x265 was integrated into FFmpeg through `libx265`, giving it the same practical route into scripts, transcoders, and GUI frontends that helped x264 become ubiquitous. The project has continued active release engineering. The Read the Docs release notes show x265 3.5 in 2021, 3.6 in 2024, 4.0 in 2024, 4.1 in 2024, and 4.2 on 2026-04-19, with ongoing work on rate control, scene-cut handling, Dolby Vision-related signaling, ARM and RISC-V SIMD, film grain signaling, and multiview/alpha/screen-content features. ### How it is used Users invoke `x265` directly for HEVC elementary streams or use it through applications such as FFmpeg. As with x264, common workflows revolve around presets, CRF or bitrate control, pixel format and bit-depth choices, and tuning for speed versus compression efficiency. x265 is especially relevant in package collections because HEVC encoding is compute-heavy and licensing-sensitive. A packaged `x265` gives users a repeatable CLI and library target for archival transcodes, streaming ladders, UHD delivery, and codec experiments, while the GPL/commercial licensing model shapes how downstream binaries are distributed. ### Why package nerds care x265 matters to package people because it is the open software implementation most associated with practical HEVC encoding. It is not merely a reference encoder: it is meant to be fast enough for real workflows and optimized across CPU families. Its release history also tracks where software video encoding pressure moved after H.264: HDR, UHD, ABR ladder generation, ARM servers and desktops, RISC-V optimizations, and interoperability features such as Dolby Vision metadata and film-grain signaling. ### Timeline - 2013: MulticoreWare launches the x265 HEVC encoder project. - 2014-02: x265 is integrated into FFmpeg/Libav-era multimedia tooling, making it widely reachable from transcoding workflows. - 2020-05-29: x265 3.4 is released with ABR ladder and ARM64 work among its notes. - 2021-03-16: x265 3.5 is released. - 2024-09-13: x265 4.0 is released with alpha channel, screen-content coding, and MV-HEVC features. - 2026-04-19: x265 4.2 is released with threaded motion-estimation experiments, updated HEVC level support, and ARM/RISC-V optimization work. ### Related projects - x264 is the AVC encoder whose ideas and optimizations x265 explicitly builds on. - FFmpeg integrates x265 through `libx265` for HEVC encoding. - SVT-HEVC is another HEVC encoder family documented near x265's own HEVC ecosystem. - VVenC and Kvazaar are related open HEVC/VVC-era encoder projects often compared in codec tooling discussions. ### Sources - - - - - - ## Security Notes narrow executable package without higher-risk signals. - **Geiger risk:** green / low - narrow executable package without higher-risk signals ## Source Database Details - **Source Database:** Homebrew formula API - **Tap:** homebrew/core - **Full Name:** x265 - **Version Scheme:** 0 - **Revision:** 0 - **Head Version:** HEAD - **Bottle Stable Root URL:** - **Deprecated:** no - **Disabled:** no - **Keg Only:** no - **URL Keys:** head, stable ## Other Package-Manager Records - Debian apt - libx265-215 - 4.1-2: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: libx265-215 from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | H.265/HEVC video stream encoder (shared library) | https://bitbucket.org/multicoreware/x265_git - Debian apt - libx265-dev - 4.1-2: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: libx265-dev from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | H.265/HEVC video stream encoder (development files) | https://bitbucket.org/multicoreware/x265_git - Debian apt - libx265-doc - 4.1-2: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: libx265-doc from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | H.265/HEVC video stream encoder (documentation) | https://bitbucket.org/multicoreware/x265_git - Debian apt - x265 - 4.1-2: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: x265 from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | H.265/HEVC video stream encoder | https://bitbucket.org/multicoreware/x265_git - Nix - x265: normalized package name match | nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/x2/x265/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1 - Ubuntu apt - libx265-199 - 3.5-2build1: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: libx265-199 from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | H.265/HEVC video stream encoder (shared library) | http://x265.org - Ubuntu apt - libx265-dev - 3.5-2build1: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: libx265-dev from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | H.265/HEVC video stream encoder (development files) | http://x265.org - Ubuntu apt - libx265-doc - 3.5-2build1: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: libx265-doc from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | H.265/HEVC video stream encoder (documentation) | http://x265.org - Ubuntu apt - x265 - 3.5-2build1: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: x265 from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | H.265/HEVC video stream encoder | http://x265.org - apk - x265 - 4.1-r0: normalized package name match | Alpine Linux edge package indexes: x265 from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/main/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz | Open Source H265/HEVC video encoder | https://www.videolan.org/developers/x265.html - apk - x265-dev - 4.1-r0: normalized package name match | Alpine Linux edge package indexes: x265-dev from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/main/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz | Open Source H265/HEVC video encoder (development files) | https://www.videolan.org/developers/x265.html - apk - x265-libs - 4.1-r0: normalized package name match | Alpine Linux edge package indexes: x265-libs from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/main/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz | Open Source H265/HEVC video encoder (libraries) | https://www.videolan.org/developers/x265.html - pacman - x265 - 4.1-1: normalized package name match | Arch Linux sync databases: x265 from https://geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com/extra/os/x86_64/extra.db.tar.gz | Open Source H265/HEVC video encoder | https://bitbucket.org/multicoreware/x265_git - MacPorts - x265: normalized package name match | MacPorts ports tree: multimedia/x265/Portfile from https://api.github.com/repos/macports/macports-ports/git/trees/master?recursive=1 - Scoop - main/x265: normalized package name match | Scoop official bucket manifest trees: bucket/x265.json from https://api.github.com/repos/ScoopInstaller/Main/git/trees/master?recursive=1 ## Related links - [Source-control packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/source-control-tools/) - Belongs to a source-control command family. - [Terminal utility packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/terminal-utilities/) - Matched terminal and command-line workflow metadata. - [Networking and protocol packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/networking-protocol-tools/) - Matched network, protocol, or remote-service metadata. - [Media and graphics packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/media-graphics-tools/) - Matched media, image, audio, video, or graphics metadata. - [cmake](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/cmake/) - Build dependency declared by Homebrew. - [fceux](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/fceux/) - Popular package that depends on this formula. - [ffmpeg](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/ffmpeg/) - Popular package that depends on this formula. - [ffmpeg-full](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/ffmpeg-full/) - Popular package that depends on this formula. - [ffmpeg@2.8](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/ffmpeg-2-8/) - Popular package that depends on this formula. - [ffmpeg@4](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/ffmpeg-4/) - Popular package that depends on this formula. - [x-cli](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/x-cli/) - Package name indicates the same formula family. - [x264](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/x264/) - Package name indicates the same formula family. - [x3270](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/x3270/) - Package name indicates the same formula family. - [hdr10plus_tool](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/hdr10plus-tool/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, hevc, media, video. - [kvazaar](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/kvazaar/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, codec, h265, hevc, media. - [rav1e](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/rav1e/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, media, video, video-encoder. - [svt-av1](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/svt-av1/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, codec, media, video, video-encoder. - [svt-vp9](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/svt-vp9/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, codec, media, video, video-encoder. - [animdl](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/animdl/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, media, video. - [bento4](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/bento4/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, media, video. ## Combined YAML source View the package source record on GitHub. [combined/x265.yml](https://github.com/automic-vault/db/blob/main/combined/x265.yml) ## Sources - Nucleus package database - Geiger risk classifier - package-page enrichment - curated package history - package version freshness - av.db category and tag curation - package relationship graph - external package-manager database matches - cross-ecosystem install command graph