Sonarr - X265 Updated

| Benefit | Impact | | :--- | :--- | | | A 45-minute 1080p x264 WEB-DL (~3.5 GB) can be reduced to a transparent x265 encode (~1.5 GB), doubling effective library capacity. | | Bandwidth Savings | Lower file sizes reduce download time and monthly data caps, particularly advantageous for metered or slow connections. | | Future-Proofing | Hardware decoding for x265 is now standard in all modern clients (Intel 7th-gen+, NVIDIA GTX 1050+, Apple TV 4K, etc.). | | 4K Viability | 4K content is impractical with x264; x265 is mandatory for UHD Blu-ray and 4K streaming releases. |

Sonarr v3+ supports Custom Formats with regular expressions. Create two formats: sonarr x265

Under , you can define a custom format for x265. | Benefit | Impact | | :--- |

For 1080p libraries:

A common Sonarr workflow upgrades: HDTV-720p x264 → WEB-DL-1080p x264 → Bluray-1080p x264 . If an early x265 release enters the system at Bluray quality, Sonarr may mark the series as "fully upgraded" and never fetch a higher-bitrate x264 or 4K version. | | 4K Viability | 4K content is