# Tools

Canonical URL: https://encode.wiki/tools/
Content version: ca42e61ede0a24f789d7287a0001244ad22f4abf
Status: current
License: CC BY-SA 4.0
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This section covers the software you actually run: encoders, the frameworks that drive them,
filtering, muxing and inspection tools, and players.

## Where to start

- [FFmpeg](/tools/utilities/ffmpeg/) decodes, filters, encodes and muxes almost anything, and most
  other tools rely on it.
- [Av1an](/tools/utilities/av1an/) runs encoders in parallel on scene-based chunks; it is the usual
  way to use slow, high-quality AV1 settings on a many-core CPU.
- [MKVToolNix](/tools/utilities/mkvtoolnix/) assembles the finished Matroska file from video,
  audio, subtitles and fonts. [MP4Box](/tools/utilities/mp4box/) does the same job for MP4 and
  streaming packages.
- [VapourSynth](/tools/filtering/vapoursynth/) is the filtering framework behind denoising,
  debanding and other source cleanup.
- [Video players](/tools/video-players/) covers checking your encodes, frame by frame if needed.

## Sections

- **Software encoders**: the encoders themselves, such as [SVT-AV1](/tools/software-encoders/svt-av1/),
  [aomenc](/tools/software-encoders/aomenc/), [x264](/tools/software-encoders/x264/) and
  [x265](/tools/software-encoders/x265/), plus community forks.
- **Hardware encoders**: GPU and SoC encoders such as [NVENC](/tools/hardware-encoders/nvenc/),
  [Quick Sync](/tools/hardware-encoders/qsv/) and [VideoToolbox](/tools/hardware-encoders/videotoolbox/).
- **Filtering**: VapourSynth and the common filtering tasks.
- **Utilities**: muxers, analysers, metric tools and encoding front ends.

Each encoder page ends with a full option table for the release it covers; see
[Reading option tables](/reference/encoder-parameters/) for how to read them.