max bitrate, 2 pass?

[mencius]

From a site I download stuff from, the uploader said he used mencoder to encode, with max bitrate and 2 pass? I don't understand if you use max bitrate why do you need 2 pass? I thought the only purpose of 2 pass is to achieve a specific filesize?

[Teegedeck]

Yes, maximum bitrate/filesize is what you get when you encode at quantizer=2. Bitrate is just a consequence of quantizers (think of them as 'compression factor'). There's been incredibly many threads about maximum filesize. Just use the search function for 'saturation'.

It sounds as if you might be talking about pirated material (http://forum.doom9.org/announcement.php?f=6) - just in case:

Closed.