[dylan604]

ffmpeg only uses x264 if you tell it too. if you don't set -c:v libx264 when creating a .mp4 output, i'm pretty sure it uses the libav h264 encoder. if you use a binary of ffmpeg without --non-free/--non-gpl (forget which) enabled, do you even get x264?

[jraph]

Probably not --non-gpl, x264 is under the GNU GPL.

[astrange]

It doesn't have a builtin h264 encoder unless I'm very out of date (looks like I'm not). It has support for some hardware encoders, which can be good enough for livestreaming.