---
title: Software-based Transcoding Features
slug: zixi-broadcaster-v18/software-based-transcoding-features
docTags: 
createdAt: 2024-12-19T18:06:19.344Z
---

Software-based transcoding will operate on any hardware configuration supported by the Zixi Broadcaster, including on-premise hardware and cloud-based hardware and on X86-64 and ARM64 processors, but excluding currently excluding MacOS. Although software-based transcoding offers lower density than NVIDIA GPU based transcoding, it is the most flexible from a hardware compatibility perspective. 

:::hint{type="info"}
For a comparison of transcoders - codecs and color support - see [Comparison of Transcoders: Video Codec and Color Support](docId:0kUGUMogtknAKZY-UG6Qs).
:::

Software-based transcoding offers the following features:

| <br />             | ***Format*** | *Chroma Subsampling* | ***Color Depth*** |
| ------------------ | ------------ | -------------------- | ----------------- |
| ***Video Decode*** | MPEG-2       | 4:2:0                | 8-bit             |
|                    | H.264/AVC    | 4:2:0, 4:2:2, 4:4:4  | 8-bit, 10-bit     |
|                    | H.265/HEVC   | 4:2:0, 4:2:2, 4:4:4  | 8-bit, 10-bit     |
| ***Video Encode*** | MPEG-2       | 4:2:0                | 8-bit             |
|                    | H.264/AVC    | 4:2:0, 4:2:2, 4:4:4  | 8-bit, 10-bit\*   |

*\* Input stream must be 10-bit*

- **Video Decoding:**
  - Frame Size: SD, HD (720p), Full HD (1080p), 4K (2160p)
  - Frame Rate: 24fps, 25fps, 29.97fps, 30fps, 59.94fps, 60fps
- **Video Encoding:**
  - Frame Size: SD, HD (720p), Full HD (1080p)
  - Frame Rate: 24fps, 25fps, 29.97fps, 30fps, 59.94fps, 60fps