---
title: Software-based Transcoding Features
slug: zixi-broadcaster-zec-current-version/software-based-transcoding-features
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, cloud-based hardware, and on X86-64 and ARM64 processors, but 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\:aOCBMb3wkMFjs7gjXVNP5).
:::

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