DNxHR LB vs SQ vs HQ vs HQX: Tiers Explained

What are the DNxHR tiers?#

DNxHR is Avid’s resolution-independent intraframe editing codec, and its tiers are quality levels with rising data rates: LB, SQ, HQ, HQX and 444. As encoders such as ffmpeg write them, LB, SQ and HQ are 8-bit 4:2:2, HQX is 10-bit 4:2:2 at the same data rate as HQ, and 444 is the 10-bit 4:4:4 finishing tier at twice that rate.

Every DNxHR tier stores each frame as a complete picture, so the timeline decodes one frame to show one frame. Scrubbing, reverse play and trimming stay light, which is the whole point of converting a long-GOP web file before you cut. The tier decides how much data each frame gets and how many bits each sample carries, never the resolution or frame rate.

The names spell out the job. LB is Low Bandwidth (Low Bitrate in Avid’s newer naming), for offline cuts and light laptops. SQ is Standard Quality, the everyday tier for most online SDR work. HQ is High Quality, for demanding 8-bit masters. HQX is High Quality Extended, the 10-bit tier. 444 carries full chroma for VFX, keying and 4:4:4 masters.

What bandwidth does each DNxHR tier use?#

DNxHR bandwidth at 1920 x 1080 and 29.97 fps runs from 5.39 MB/s for LB to 52.10 MB/s for 444, according to Avid’s DNxHR codec bandwidth specifications. HQ and HQX share the same figure, 25.99 MB/s, because HQX spends the same bits on deeper samples.

The DNxHR family table lists each tier with Avid’s published rate at 1080p 29.97 and the same rate in megabits per second (MB/s x 8).

The bit depth column follows ffmpeg’s dnxhd encoder, which B-ROLL uses: ffmpeg -h encoder=dnxhd lists only yuv422p, yuv422p10le, yuv444p10le and gbrp10le, so LB, SQ and HQ come out 8-bit and HQX and 444 come out 10-bit. Avid’s own definition is wider: every DNx quality level accepts 8 to 16 bits, so another encoder can write HQX or 444 at a higher bit depth.

DNxHR data rate scales with pixels and frames. At 3840 x 2160 and 29.97 fps, four times the pixels of 1080p, the same Avid page lists 21.42 MB/s for LB, 68.84 for SQ, 104.08 for HQ and HQX, and 208.27 for 444. In megabits that is 171.4, 550.7, 832.6 and 1,666.2 Mbps (each value x 8). Double the frame rate and the rate roughly doubles again.

When is DNxHR HQX worth it?#

DNxHR HQX is worth it only when the source is genuinely 10-bit, such as HDR video, 10-bit camera log or a 10-bit render. HQX costs exactly the data rate of HQ, 25.99 MB/s at 1080p 29.97 in Avid’s table, but stores 10-bit samples instead of 8-bit ones.

An 8-bit source has 256 levels per channel, and a 10-bit container cannot invent the missing steps between them. Converting an 8-bit stream to HQX gives you a 10-bit file holding 8-bit picture information, at the same size as HQ. The extra headroom helps later, while you grade and render again, but the banding that the source already carries stays.

For a true 10-bit source the trade reverses. HQ would throw away two bits per sample at the moment of conversion, and heavy grades on skies or gradients show that loss first. That is the case HQX exists for.

The same logic decides whether a 10-bit intermediate helps a web download at all, as 8-bit vs 10-bit YouTube footage for editing explains in detail.

Which DNxHR tier fits a YouTube source?#

For a YouTube source, an 8-bit tier usually preserves the stream: LB or SQ for most videos, HQ for high-bitrate 4K or high frame rate uploads. As of September 2026, YouTube streams are 8-bit unless the video is HDR, so HQX pays off only with HDR uploads.

The gap between the stream and the tier is large. Take a 1080p 30 fps stream that ffmpeg measures at 8 Mbps: DNxHR LB at 1080p 29.97 is 43.1 Mbps (5.39 MB/s x 8, from Avid’s bandwidth table), more than five times the source, and SQ at 137.7 Mbps is more than seventeen times it. The intermediate adds no detail; it removes the decoding cost of VP9 or AV1.

B-ROLL uses DNxHR HQX only for 10-bit sources; 8-bit YouTube streams get LB, SQ or HQ. When you choose DNx as the format, B-ROLL measures the downloaded stream, picks the lightest tier that still preserves it and keeps the resolution and frame rate. For that 8 Mbps 1080p 30 fps stream it picks SQ. The rule and its thresholds are in how B-ROLL picks a ProRes or DNxHR tier automatically, and the whole conversion is on download YouTube videos in ProRes or DNxHR.

For DaVinci Resolve, the tier choice follows the same rule: Resolve decodes every DNxHR tier, so the source decides. SQ is a sound default for 8-bit web footage you plan to grade; LB is enough for a rough cut. The Resolve setup, from download to media pool, is in download YouTube videos for DaVinci Resolve.

Higher tiers cost disk space fast. What each tier weighs per minute at 1080p and 4K is in ProRes and DNxHR file size per minute.

How does DNxHR compare with DNxHD?#

DNxHR extends DNxHD to frame sizes larger than HD. DNxHD is Avid’s older family, built for HD frame sizes with bitrate-named flavors, while DNxHR uses named tiers (LB to 444) that work at any resolution, including UHD and 4K DCI.

In practice the tier names travel better than the bitrates. A DNxHD flavor names a fixed data rate for one frame size and frame rate, so the name changes when the project changes. A DNxHR tier keeps its name from 720p to 4K, and the data rate scales with the frame, as Avid’s UHD figures show.

Avid’s DNx naming scheme, built on the 2025 revision of the SMPTE ST 2019-1 standard, goes one step further. It folds DNxHD, DNxHR and DNxGX into a single name, Avid DNx, with the same five quality levels: LB, SQ, HQ, HQX and 444. Export menus may show either naming depending on the editor and its version.

B-ROLL writes DNxHR profiles only, never DNxHD, through ffmpeg’s dnxhd encoder. Choosing between DNxHR and Apple’s family is a separate decision, covered in ProRes vs DNxHR for editing. The other intermediate and delivery codecs are collected in codecs and formats for editing YouTube footage.