Sonarr Prefer X265 Today

This is aggressive. Only do this if you have solid indexers that reliably tag x265 correctly.

Optimizing Sonarr for x265: How to Prefer High-Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC)

By mastering the system, you can create rules as simple or as complex as your workflow requires. You can set it to prefer, force, or fall back gracefully. Combine this with tools like Tdarr for legacy content, and you have a powerful, storage-optimized media server that you can set and forget. sonarr prefer x265

Release Profile: - Preferred: x265 hevc - Score: +100 - Optional “must not contain” if you want pure x265: x264

Scene groups and internal encoders usually upload x264 copies of a TV show within minutes of its airing. The x265 encodes require more computing time and might not appear until hours or days later. If you want x265 exclusively but do not want Sonarr to download an x264 copy first only to replace it a day later, use (found under Settings > Profiles ). Setting a 120-to-240-minute delay gives x265 encoders time to upload their files before Sonarr grabs the immediate x264 release. Avoiding Fake or Low-Quality Upconverts This is aggressive

Sonarr v3 and v4 have moved away from simple "must contain" strings toward a more nuanced system called . By creating a format that assigns a positive score to the "x265" or "HEVC" tags, users can instruct Sonarr to: Prioritise x265 releases during initial searches.

To protect yourself, you must combine x265 preference with limits. You can set it to prefer, force, or fall back gracefully

Let’s look at actual savings. A standard 1080p x264 episode of Game of Thrones runs approximately 4GB. The same episode in x265 (1080p) runs 1.5GB.

is the gold standard because it offers roughly 50% better compression efficiency, saving massive amounts of disk space without sacrificing visual quality.

Here is the final, battle-tested recommendation for 99% of users: