You probably have heard of the big news that the new released macOS system called macOS High Sierra will finally come with system-level support for GPU-accelerated fixed-function HEVC/H.265 10bit decoding and encoding. HEVC stands for High Efficiency Video Codec, which is the successor to H.264. HEVC roughly doubles the compression ratio of H.264, enabling it to deliver similar video quality at roughly half the file size (or higher quality and resolution at the same file size). You can see the HEVC benefits comparing to H.264 below in detail.
HEVC can save space and bandwidth, which will be more and more important as more 4K and HDR video becomes available to stream. Apple says the standard can compress 4K video files to 40% of the size without losing quality, which will let iOS 11 and High Sierra users store more of their own videos before running out of drive space. Alternatively, you can keep an HEVC video file about the same size while doubling the amount of data, which will decrease the bandwidth needed to move 4K and HDR video around.
In addition, all High Sierra supported Macs will support HEVC, however, only very recent models will support any hardware acceleration. Newer Macs, including the late 2015 27-inch 5K iMac, the 2017 21-inch iMac, and MacBooks and MacBook Pros from 2016 and 2017, will support hardware acceleration for coding and decoding HEVC video. The Kaby Lake chips in the 2017 laptops also support HEVC decoding. Hardware acceleration means faster encoding times in pro apps like Final Cut and Motion, and longer battery life when you're playing back HEVC video. Older Macs running High Sierra will still be able to play back HEVC video, but the process is a little hardware intensive.
If your Mac is too old, we don't suggest you to upgrade to macOS High Sierra or even you upgrade to macOS High Sierra, we don't suggest you to play HEVC on the old Mac with macOS High Sierra system. If you have HEVC files and want to play them on older Macs, you'd better transcode HEVC to H.264 files in .mp4 .mov and .m4v formats. Even your Mac supports HEVC hardware acceleration, when you play HEVC on macOS High Sierra, you'd better make sure it is HEVC/H.265 MP4 video or H.265 MOV video cause no matter Mac video player or NLE software on macOS High Sierra, they support HEVC MP4 and HEVC MOV better than other HEVC codec videos.
Best HEVC Tool for macOS High Sierra
No matter you want to transcode HEVC to H.265 on an older Mac with macOS High Sierra for playback or want to convert other HEVC video files to H.265 MP4 for new Macs with macOS High Sierra, Pavtube iMedia Converter for Mac can help you all. This HEVC/H.265 decoder and encoder can convert all H.265 video to H.264/MPEG-4 MP4/MOV for macOS High Sierra and also can convert HEVC XAVC, HEVC MOV and other HEVC video files to H.265/HEVC MP4 with 1080p and 4K resolution. With the profile settings windows, you can freely adjust the video resolution, video bitrate, video codec, audio bitrate, audio channel to make the output video more fit in your Mac display and video player.
Pavtube iMedia Converter for Mac is not only a HEVC converter but also a HEVC editor. For the detailed editing function, you can read its review to learn more about it. Now, you can download this HEVC converter for macOS High Sierra below.
Convert HEVC Videos on macOS High Sierra
Step 1. Import video files
Download this H.265 Converter for macOS Sierra. Click “Add Video” to import your H.265 video files or H.264 and other codec video files. You also can directly drag and drop the files into the software. Batch conversion will save you lots of time and make you process multiple video files by batch.
Step 2: Choose output format
If you need to convert HEVC to H.264, you can choose H.264 MP4 and H.264 MOV from "HD Video" category. If your Mac can process HEVC video after upgraded to macOS High Sierra, you can choose HEVC MP4 video as the output format.
Click "Settings" on the main interface to open "Profile Settings" window to tweak the output video codec, bit rate, sample rate, resolution, audio codec, bit rate, sample rate and channels to make them fit with your devices or programs.
Step 3: Convert HEVC on macOS High Sierra
After all setting is compelted, press the "Convert" button in the right-bottom to convert HEVC video on macOS High Sierra.
When the conversion is over, click "Open output folder" to pop out the HEVC files, you will then have no problem to play the videos on macOS High Sierra.
