Originally published at ffmpeg-micro.com
H.264 is still the default video codec on the internet. YouTube, Vimeo, Zoom, most browsers, every phone made since 2010. If you're encoding video with FFmpeg and need maximum compatibility, libx264 is the encoder you want.
The trick is picking the right CRF and preset values. Get them wrong and you'll either waste storage on an oversized file or ship a blocky mess your users will notice.
TL;DR
For most web video: -c:v libx264 -crf 23 -preset medium. That's the default for a reason. If you need smaller files, bump CRF to 26-28. If you need higher quality, drop it to 18-20. Slower presets produce smaller files at the same quality but take longer.
