1.11.0: Encoding with H.265 (Media Foundation) on Qualcomm CPU no longer works

[craigktreasure]

Problem Description

I've used the H.265 (Media Foundation) video encoder previously with 1.10.2 and it worked just fine. After upgrading to 1.11.0, it no longer works and results in:

D3D11: Unsupported filter Comb Detect (id: 4)
...
[hevc_mf @ 000001b5c62fb8e0] MFT name: 'QCOM Hardware Encoder - HEVC'
muxavformat: avformat_write_header failed!
...
[aac @ 000001b5c62fbc60] Ignoring attempt to flush encoder that doesn't support it
[aac @ 000001b5c62fbc60] Qavg: nan
[ac3 @ 000001b5c62fb560] Ignoring attempt to flush encoder that doesn't support it
[hevc_mf @ 000001b5c62fb8e0] Ignoring attempt to flush encoder that doesn't support it
...
 # Job Failed to Initialise. Check log and input settings (3)

Reinstalling 1.10.2 results in everything working as it did before.

Activity Log, Crash Log or any other details

HandBrake 1.11.0 (2026030800)
OS: Microsoft Windows NT 10.0.26200.0
CPU: Snapdragon(R) X 12-core X1E80100 @ 3.40 GHz
Ram: 32327 MB, 
GPU Information:
  Arm Chipset -
Screen: 3440x1440
Temp Dir: C:\Users\me\AppData\Local\Temp\
Install Dir: C:\Program Files\HandBrake\
Data Dir: C:\Users\me\AppData\Roaming\HandBrake

-------------------------------------------

 # Starting Encode ...

[18:36:30] base preset: BluRay MF x265: Constant 85 (8-bit)
[18:36:30] Remote Process started with Process ID: 22332 using port: 8037. Max Allowed Instances: 1
[18:36:30] Worker: Starting HandBrake Engine ...
[18:36:30] Worker: Parent Process Id 19788
[18:36:30] Worker: Starting Web Server on port 8037 ...
[18:36:30] Worker: Starting Listener: 1
[18:36:30] Worker: Server Started
[18:36:30] Worker: Disconnected worker monitoring enabled!
[18:36:30] Compile-time hardening features are enabled
[18:36:30] directx: is available
[18:36:30] hb_init: starting libhb thread

[18:36:30] Starting work at: Sun Mar 15 18:36:30 2026
[18:36:30] 1 job(s) to process
[18:36:30] json job:
{
  "Audio": {
    "AudioList": [
      {
        "Bitrate": 320,
        "DRC": 0,
        "Encoder": "av_aac",
        "Gain": 0,
        "Mixdown": 4,
        "NormalizeMixLevel": false,
        "Samplerate": 0,
        "Name": "Stereo",
        "Track": 0,
        "DitherMethod": 0
      },
      {
        "Bitrate": 640,
        "DRC": 0,
        "Encoder": "ac3",
        "Gain": 0,
        "Mixdown": 7,
        "NormalizeMixLevel": false,
        "Samplerate": 0,
        "Name": "Surround",
        "Track": 0,
        "DitherMethod": 0
      }
    ],
    "CopyMask": [
      "copy:aac",
      "copy:ac3"
    ],
    "FallbackEncoder": "av_aac"
  },
  "Destination": {
    "ChapterList": [
      {
        "Name": "Chapter 1"
      },
      {
        "Name": "Chapter 2"
      },
      {
        "Name": "Chapter 3"
      },
      {
        "Name": "Chapter 4"
      },
      {
        "Name": "Chapter 5"
      },
      {
        "Name": "Chapter 6"
      },
      {
        "Name": "Chapter 7"
      },
      {
        "Name": "Chapter 8"
      },
      {
        "Name": "Chapter 9"
      },
      {
        "Name": "Chapter 10"
      }
    ],
    "ChapterMarkers": true,
    "AlignAVStart": false,
    "File": "F:\\Movies\\MyVideo-1.mkv",
    "Options": {
      "IpodAtom": false,
      "Optimize": true
    },
    "Mux": "av_mkv"
  },
  "Filters": {
    "FilterList": [
      {
        "ID": 6,
        "Settings": {
          "mode": "7"
        }
      },
      {
        "ID": 4,
        "Settings": {
          "block-height": "16",
          "block-thresh": "40",
          "block-width": "16",
          "filter-mode": "2",
          "mode": "3",
          "motion-thresh": "1",
          "spatial-metric": "2",
          "spatial-thresh": "1"
        }
      },
      {
        "ID": 20,
        "Settings": {
          "crop-bottom": "22",
          "crop-left": "0",
          "crop-right": "0",
          "crop-top": "20",
          "height": "1038",
          "width": "1920"
        }
      },
      {
        "ID": 11,
        "Settings": {
          "mode": "0"
        }
      }
    ]
  },
  "PAR": {
    "Num": 1,
    "Den": 1
  },
  "Metadata": {},
  "CoverArts": [],
  "SequenceID": 0,
  "Source": {
    "Angle": 1,
    "Range": {
      "Type": "chapter",
      "Start": 1,
      "End": 10
    },
    "Title": 3,
    "Path": "F:\\Disks\\MyVideo",
    "HWDecode": 16,
    "KeepDuplicateTitles": false
  },
  "Subtitle": {
    "Search": {
      "Burn": false,
      "Default": false,
      "Enable": false,
      "Forced": false
    },
    "SubtitleList": []
  },
  "Video": {
    "Encoder": "mf_h265",
    "Level": "auto",
    "MultiPass": false,
    "Turbo": false,
    "ColorRange": 1,
    "ColorMatrixCode": 0,
    "Options": "",
    "Preset": "default",
    "Profile": "main",
    "Quality": 85,
    "HardwareDecode": 2147483664
  }
}
[18:36:30] OS: Windows 10.0 (26200)
[18:36:30] CPU: Unknown
[18:36:30]  - logical processor count: 12
[18:36:30] hb_scan: path=F:\Disks\MyVideo, title_index=3
[18:36:30] scan: BD has 5 title(s)
[18:36:30] bd: scanning title 3
[18:36:30] bd: playlist 00002.MPLS
[18:36:30] bd: duration is 01:36:33 (5793204 ms)
[18:36:30] bd: video id=0x1011, stream type=H.264, format 1080p
[18:36:30] bd: aspect = 16:9
[18:36:30] bd: audio id=0x711100, lang=English (DTS), 3cc=eng
[18:36:30] bd: audio id=0x1100, lang=English (DTS-HD MA), 3cc=eng
[18:36:30] bd: subtitle id=0x1200, lang=English (PGS), 3cc=eng
[18:36:30] bd: chap 1, 249332 ms
[18:36:31] bd: chap 2, 897855 ms
[18:36:31] bd: chap 3, 477435 ms
[18:36:31] bd: chap 4, 583416 ms
[18:36:31] bd: chap 5, 991407 ms
[18:36:31] bd: chap 6, 395728 ms
[18:36:31] bd: chap 7, 451409 ms
[18:36:31] bd: chap 8, 1204369 ms
[18:36:31] bd: chap 9, 182682 ms
[18:36:31] bd: chap 10, 359067 ms
[18:36:31] bd: chapter 11 too short 521343322, dropping
[18:36:31] bd: title 3 has 10 chapters
[18:36:31] scan: decoding previews for title 3
[18:36:31] scan: title angle(s) 1
[18:36:31] scan: audio 0x711100: dca, rate=48000Hz, bitrate=1536000 English (DTS, 5.1 ch, 1536 kbps)
[18:36:31] scan: audio 0x1100: dca, rate=48000Hz, bitrate=1 English (DTS-HD MA, 5.1 ch)
[18:36:31] using container PAR 1:1
[18:36:31] scan: 10 previews, 1920x1080, 23.976 fps, autocrop = 20/22/0/0, aspect 16:9, PAR 1:1, color profile: 1-1-1, chroma location: left
[18:36:31] scan: supported video decoders: avcodec hwaccel
[18:36:31] stream: 5 good frames, 0 errors (0%)
[18:36:31] libhb: scan thread found 1 valid title(s)
[18:36:31] Starting Task: Encoding Pass
[18:36:31] D3D11: Unsupported filter Comb Detect (id: 4)
[18:36:31] work: track 1, dithering not supported by codec
[18:36:31] work: track 2, dithering not supported by codec
[18:36:31] job configuration:
[18:36:31]  * source
[18:36:31]    + F:\Disks\MyVideo
[18:36:31]    + title 3, chapter(s) 1 to 10
[18:36:31]  * destination
[18:36:31]    + F:\Movies\MyVideo-1.mkv
[18:36:31]    + container: Matroska (libavformat)
[18:36:31]      + chapter markers
[18:36:31]  * video track
[18:36:31]    + decoder: mf hwaccel h264 8-bit (yuv420p, sw)
[18:36:31]      + bitrate 200 kbps
[18:36:31]    + filters
[18:36:31]      + Comb Detect (mode=3:spatial-metric=2:motion-thresh=1:spatial-thresh=1:filter-mode=2:block-thresh=40:block-width=16:block-height=16)
[18:36:31]      + Decomb (mode=39)
[18:36:31]      + Framerate Shaper (mode=0)
[18:36:31]        + frame rate: same as source (around 23.976 fps)
[18:36:31]      + Crop and Scale (width=1920:height=1038:crop-top=20:crop-bottom=22:crop-left=0:crop-right=0)
[18:36:31]        + source: 1920 * 1080, crop (20/22/0/0): 1920 * 1038, scale: 1920 * 1038
[18:36:31]      + Format (format=nv12)
[18:36:31]    + Output geometry
[18:36:31]      + storage dimensions: 1920 x 1038
[18:36:31]      + pixel aspect ratio: 1 : 1
[18:36:31]      + display dimensions: 1920 x 1038
[18:36:31]    + encoder: H.265 (MediaFoundation)
[18:36:31]      + preset:  default
[18:36:31]      + profile: main
[18:36:31]      + level:   auto
[18:36:31]      + quality: 85.00 (Quality)
[18:36:31]      + color profile: 1-1-1
[18:36:31]      + color range: tv
[18:36:31]      + chroma location: left
[18:36:31]  * audio track 1
[18:36:31]    + name: Stereo
[18:36:31]    + decoder: English (DTS, 5.1 ch, 1536 kbps) (track 1, id 0x711100)
[18:36:31]      + bitrate: 1536 kbps, samplerate: 48000 Hz
[18:36:31]    + mixdown: Stereo
[18:36:31]    + encoder: AAC (libavcodec)
[18:36:31]      + bitrate: 320 kbps, samplerate: 48000 Hz
[18:36:31]  * audio track 2
[18:36:31]    + name: Surround
[18:36:31]    + decoder: English (DTS, 5.1 ch, 1536 kbps) (track 1, id 0x711100)
[18:36:31]      + bitrate: 1536 kbps, samplerate: 48000 Hz
[18:36:31]    + mixdown: 5.1 Channels
[18:36:31]    + encoder: AC3 (libavcodec)
[18:36:31]      + bitrate: 640 kbps, samplerate: 48000 Hz
[18:36:31] sync: expecting 138897 video frames
[18:36:31] encavcodecInit: H.265 (MediaFoundation)
[18:36:31] encavcodec: encoding with stored aspect 1/1
[hevc_mf @ 000001b5c62fb8e0] MFT name: 'QCOM Hardware Encoder - HEVC'
muxavformat: avformat_write_header failed!
[18:36:31] work: average encoding speed for job is 0.000000 fps
[18:36:32] comb detect: heavy 0 | light 0 | uncombed 0 | total 0
[18:36:32] vfr: 0 frames output, 0 dropped
[18:36:32] vfr: lost time: 0 (0 frames)
[18:36:32] vfr: gained time: 0 (0 frames) (0 not accounted for)
[18:36:32] dca-decoder done: 0 frames, 0 decoder errors
[18:36:32] dca-decoder done: 0 frames, 0 decoder errors
[18:36:32] h264-decoder done: 0 frames, 0 decoder errors
[18:36:32] sync: got 0 frames, 138897 expected
[aac @ 000001b5c62fbc60] Ignoring attempt to flush encoder that doesn't support it
[aac @ 000001b5c62fbc60] Qavg: nan
[ac3 @ 000001b5c62fb560] Ignoring attempt to flush encoder that doesn't support it
[hevc_mf @ 000001b5c62fb8e0] Ignoring attempt to flush encoder that doesn't support it
[18:36:32] mux: track 0, 0 frames, 0 bytes, 0.00 kbps, fifo 8
[18:36:32] mux: track 1, 0 frames, 0 bytes, 0.00 kbps, fifo 8
[18:36:32] mux: track 2, 0 frames, 0 bytes, 0.00 kbps, fifo 8
[18:36:32] Finished work at: Sun Mar 15 18:36:32 2026
[18:36:32] libhb: work result = 3

 # Job Failed to Initialise. Check log and input settings (3)

What Operating System are you running?

Windows 11 25H2 (26200.8037) (ARM64)

What version of HandBrake are you running?

1.11.0

Where did you download HandBrake from?

No response

[galad87]

@dashsantosh-mcw

[dashsantosh-mcw]

Hi @craigktreasure, I tried different inputs and configurations, it seems to encode fine for me.
If possible, could you share a short clip that I can use to repro the issue?

[galad87]

Did you try setting the output to Matroska too? The Matroska muxer is pickier, so it might be the one causing the failure, it's just a guess but it's worth a try if you didn't already.

[dashsantosh-mcw]

Nice spot, it fails for MKV output.
muxavformat: avformat_write_header failed!

[galad87]

That usually means the encoder isn't setting the global extradata.

[craigktreasure]

I didn't respond initially because @galad87 seems to have hit it.

I've also attached my preset here if that's helpful.

hb_preset.json