The popular video conversion tool HandBrake has been updated this week with some major improvements. This includes support for encoding videos using the 10-bit AV1 and VP9 codecs, plus many other new features and optimizations. Read on for all that’s new in HandBrake 1.6.
What’s New in HandBrake 1.6
Originally created for ripping DVDs, HandBrake is the tool of choice for those who want to convert existing video material into space-efficient formats for viewing on iOS devices, with presets for everything from iPhone to Apple TV. It’s free, cross-platform -it works on Mac, Windows and Linux- and open source.
With version 1.6.0, HandBrake has received several improvements. For example, now supports AV1, VP9 10-bit, NVENC HEVC 10-bit, and VCN HEVC 10-bit video encoding. The update also adds high bit depth and high color depth support to various encoders and filters, as well as new 4K AV1 and 4K HEVC presets.
Mac owners with Apple Silicon processors can now use a 4:2:2 H.265 profile for the VideoToolbox encoder. The new version of the application also supports Intel Deep Link Hyper Encode to increase performance when working with various QSV media engines on Intel-based PCs. But there is more. HandBrake now works with OpenBSD, while the Mac version has gained Quick Look support and translations into more languages, including Japanese.
It is worth mentioning that in 2017, a mirror website that provided a download link for HandBrake was infected with a Trojan that gave root access to the application. With that being said, we highly recommend downloading the app directly from its original source.
You may download HandBrake 1.6 directly from GitHub. There you can also find the full update notes.
