The live shows are where the competition really gets fierce. The artists perform in front of a live audience, and the coaches offer their expert critiques. Samantha and Jake quickly become fan favorites, delivering powerful performances week after week.

A typical 45-minute episode of The Voice in H.264 can occupy 2.5–4 GB at high quality. Using HEVC at the same perceptual quality, that file shrinks to 1–1.5 GB. For collectors archiving all 18 episodes of Season 18 plus the "Road to Live Shows" specials, HEVC cuts storage requirements by nearly 50%.

HEVC supports Main 10 profile, allowing for better color representation of the iconic neon Voice set.

When The Voice Season 18 aired in the spring of 2020, it was unlike any other. Amidst global lockdowns, producers pivoted to a radical "At-Home Edition," with coaches Kelly Clarkson, Nick Jonas, John Legend, and Blake Shelton coaching remotely, and artists performing from home studios. While the content was historic, the format in which fans now preserve and share these episodes is increasingly defined by a technical acronym: , or High-Efficiency Video Coding (H.265).

Official streaming platforms (Peacock, Hulu, YouTube TV) typically use adaptive streaming with H.264 for maximum compatibility. However, private media servers (Plex, Jellyfin) and fan preservation communities often re-encode The Voice Season 18 into HEVC. Look for release groups tagging files with x265 or HEVC in the filename, often accompanied by 10bit color (which prevents banding in dark pre-performance interview shots).