Recording a no damage run of The Last of Us Part II on Grounded+ difficulty is already a test of patience and precision. When you add 4K resolution, chronological mode, and the goal of grabbing all collectibles, the file sizes become absurd. I learned this the hard way after my first attempt left me with a 400 GB folder of raw footage. That is where av1 encoding gameplay steps in as a practical solution for anyone serious about preserving quality without breaking their storage budget.
Video compression is not a glamorous topic, but it matters more than most players realize. The difference between a muddy stream and a crisp archive comes down to the codec. For years, H.265 and x264 were the standard choices. They still work, but they waste bits on textures and particle effects that modern codecs handle with ease. When you are pushing an RTX 4090 to capture every shadow and reflection in a game like The Last of Us Part II, you want every pixel to count.
How AV1 Changes the Recording Workflow
The first time I tested av1 encoding gameplay on a long session, I noticed two things immediately. The bitrate needed was roughly half of what H.265 required for the same visual quality. That meant smaller files with no visible loss in fine detail. Grass blades, water reflections, and the subtle grain in cutscenes all survived the compression. For a no damage run where every frame matters, that consistency is crucial.
Hardware encoding through NVENC is fast, but it does not always give you the best efficiency. Software encoding with a CPU takes longer but can squeeze more quality out of the same bitrate. AV1 sits in an interesting middle ground. It demands more from your hardware than H.265, but the payoff is real. On a PlayStation 5 capture setup, you might not notice the difference until you compare side by side. Once you see it, you cannot unsee it.
Bitrate and 4K Resolution
Running a 4K resolution walkthrough with all collectibles means long recordings. A single session can last three or four hours. At 50 Mbps with H.265, that is around 90 GB per session. With av1 encoding gameplay, you can drop the bitrate to 25 Mbps and still retain the same perceived sharpness. That is the difference between needing a 4 TB drive and a 2 TB drive for the same project.
Bitrate management becomes even more important when you record at higher frame rates. The Last of Us Part II runs at 60 fps on the PlayStation 5, and capturing that at 4K without compression artifacts requires careful planning. I have found that AV1 handles motion better than VP9 or H.265 in similar tests. The blocking around fast camera pans is noticeably reduced, which matters when you are watching a chronological mode run that cuts between different time periods.
Software Encoding vs Hardware Encoding
There is a trade-off between speed and efficiency. Hardware encoding via NVENC on an RTX 4090 is incredibly fast. You can record and stream simultaneously without dropping frames. But the compression efficiency is lower than what you get from a good software encoder. HandBrake, for example, offers software encoding options that let you tune the quality more precisely. The catch is time. A 30 minute clip might take an hour to encode in software AV1.
OBS Studio now supports AV1 encoding through hardware encoders on newer graphics cards. That is a huge step forward for live streaming. For local recordings, I still prefer to capture in a lossless or near-lossless format and then compress with HandBrake afterward. That workflow gives me the best of both worlds: no dropped frames during the run and smaller final files. The av1 encoding gameplay pipeline is simple: record in H.265 or NVENC, then transcode to AV1 for archiving.
Comparing Codecs for Gameplay Recording
- x264 is the old reliable. It works everywhere but needs high bitrates for 4K. Not ideal for long runs.
- H.265 is more efficient than x264 and widely supported. Good for most recording setups.
- VP9 is open and efficient, but encoding is slow. Used mainly by YouTube.
- AV1 offers the best compression efficiency today. Hardware support is growing fast.
Each codec has its place. For a no damage run where you cannot afford to re-record a single segment, reliability matters more than absolute efficiency. That is why many creators still stick with H.265 for live capture. But for the final archive, especially if you plan to upload to platforms that support AV1, the quality per bit is unmatched.
Practical Tips for AV1 Encoding in a Walkthrough
When I set up my recording for a Grounded+ difficulty run, I focus on three things. First, I lower the bitrate in OBS Studio to around 20 Mbps for the initial capture. Second, I use a lossless intermediate format if possible, or at least a high bitrate H.265. Third, I run the final file through HandBrake with the AV1 encoder and a constant quality setting of 22. That gives me a file that is about 60 percent smaller than the original, with no visible quality loss.
One thing to watch out for is the encoding time. A full all collectibles run of The Last of Us Part II can last over ten hours. Encoding that to AV1 might take a full day on a modern CPU. If you have access to an RTX 4090, you can use hardware AV1 encoding in HandBrake to cut that time down to a few hours. The trade-off is a slight increase in file size compared to software encoding, but it is still much better than H.265.
The Role of the AOM and Future Support
The Alliance for Open Media, or AOM, developed AV1 as a royalty-free alternative to H.265. That means no licensing fees, which is a big deal for streaming platforms and hardware manufacturers. Adoption has been steady. Most modern graphics cards, including the RTX 4090, include hardware encoders for AV1. The PlayStation 5 does not support AV1 encoding natively, so you still need a capture card or PC to take advantage of it. But for anyone recording on a gaming PC, the tools are already here.
Streaming latency is another factor. Hardware encoding keeps latency low, which is essential for live broadcasts. Software encoding adds delay, making it unsuitable for streaming. For local recording, latency does not matter. That is why I recommend using hardware encoding for streaming and software encoding for archives. The best av1 encoding gameplay setup I have found uses OBS Studio for live capture with NVENC, then HandBrake for the final compression.
Final Thoughts on Codec Choice for High Quality Runs
Recording a no damage run with all collectibles in chronological mode is a marathon. The last thing you want is to run out of disk space or end up with artifacts that ruin the viewing experience. AV1 gives you the best compression of any widely supported codec today. It is not perfect for every situation. The encoding time can be long, and hardware support is still catching up. But for archiving and uploading, it is hard to beat.
If you are still using x264 or H.265 for your 4K recordings, try a test encode with AV1. Compare a side by side at the same bitrate. The difference in fine detail and motion handling is obvious. For a game like The Last of Us Part II, where the environments are dense and the lighting changes constantly, that extra efficiency means your viewers see the game the way you did when you played it. That is the real goal of any walkthrough: to share the experience without losing anything in translation.