This article dissects the exact settings RARBG used, explains why they worked, and then shows you how to those settings for modern hardware to produce "RARBG-style" files that look better at the same size. Part 1: The RARBG Philosophy (Why they chose x265) Before touching settings, you must understand their workflow.
They almost never used --no-sao (Sample Adaptive Offset). SAO smooths out artifacts but also destroys fine film grain, making faces look waxy. Part 3: Why "Better" Than RARBG is Easy (2025+) To get better settings than RARBG, you need to fix what they broke while keeping their file size philosophy.
-x265-params "pass=1:stats=stats.log:bitrate=2500:no-sao=1:aq-mode=3" rarbg x265 encoding settings better
./rarbg_better.sh movie.mkv Part 10: The Verdict – When to use these settings These "Better than RARBG" settings are not for archivists (use Remux) and not for mobile phones (use AV1).
#!/bin/bash # Better than RARBG x265 Encoder v2 INPUT="$1" OUTPUT="$INPUT%.*_rarbgPlus.mkv" This article dissects the exact settings RARBG used,
RIP RARBG. You taught us that smaller doesn't have to mean worse. Now we know how to do it better.
You want a perfect 2.0GB file for a 90-minute movie. SAO smooths out artifacts but also destroys fine
| Parameter | RARBG Value | Why they chose it | | :--- | :--- | :--- | | | x265 2.4+ | Stable; not the newest bleeding edge. | | Preset | Medium or Slow | Speed vs. efficiency sweet spot. | | Tune | None (or Grain rarely) | They didn't use film because it blurred grain. | | Profile | main10 | 10-bit depth prevents color banding in skies/fog. | | Constant Rate Factor | CRF 22 to 24 | The magic number. 23 was their default. | | Audio | AAC 5.1 @ 224kbps | Keeps surround sound; small size. | | Resolution | Cropped to mod 2 | Removed black bars cleanly. |
