AV1 Codec Explained: What Is It and How It's Used in 2024

Before H.264 codec became the internet's video standard-bearer, the online video landscape was chaotic. Users often had to install various plugins just to watch media encoded with different codecs. However, H.264 comes with patent restrictions. Despite VP8 and VP9 being freely offered by Google, they struggled to gain popularity beyond YouTube, potentially because the open format is overseen by Google alone.

Now we have AV1, a new contender championed by a powerhouse lineup of software giants and hardware leaders, including Apple, Adobe, Google, Microsoft, Nvidia, Netflix, Vimeo, YouTube, Amazon, Intel, AMD, and Cisco. The consortium has since welcomed numerous other influential players like Google and Apple into its fold.

What Is AV1 Codec

AV1, formally known as AOMedia Video 1, stands as an open-source, royalty-free video codec specially crafted for internet-based video transmissions. It is deemed as the successor to VP9, and is developed by the Alliance for Open Media (AOMedia), a collaborative effort founded in 2015.

The free codec represents a significant leap forward in video compression efficiency. While VP9 enjoyed some adoption, it often fell short of the efficiency achieved by H.265 HEVC. AV1, however, demonstrates marked improvement in this regard, boasting up to 50% greater efficiency than the H.264 codec. This efficiency translates to a significant reduction in required internet bandwidth for transmitting equivalent video quality.

AV1 supports 10-bit encoding, enabling high dynamic range (HDR) video playback. This capability enhances the viewing experience by delivering richer colors and greater contrast.

The AV1 compression technology for image results in the AVIF format.

How Does AV1 Compare to Other Codecs

Compression Efficiency: AV1 has improved compression efficiency compared to HEVC. According to tests by Facebook, the AV1 reference encoder achieved 34%, 46.2%, and 50.3% higher data compression than libvpx-vp9, x264 High profile, and x264 Main profile, respectively.

Open Source and Royalty-Free: AV1 adopts a royalty-free licensing model, making it more accessible for broader applications. On the other hand, HEVC comes with patent licensing fees and implementation complexities. This has made HEVC less suitable for free and open-source projects due to its licensing issues.

Good for Streaming: AV1 offers significantly better compression than H.264. With up to 50% more efficiency, AV1 can reduce buffering time for a better user experience, and deliver the same quality video with half the bandwidth. The previous standard for lives treaming, H.264, usually maxed out with 1080p at 60 fps at the commonly used bitrates of 6-8 Mbps and often produced blocky, grainy images for 4K and higher resolutions.

Hardware Manufacturers that Support AV1

The three major hardware manufacturers readily support AV1 decoding. Intel Arc handles AV1 video decoding with ease; both 4K and 8K playback are quite smooth. NVIDIA RTX 4090/4080 is equipped with dual encoders, and performance is decent. For the AMD RX 6000 Series, the performance is subpar, possibly due to outdated architecture.

4K Decoding Performance

• Intel: Arc A770 consistently reaches the maximum 60 FPS for video playback.
• Nvidia: RTX 4090 and RTX 3090 also achieve around 59.9 FPS.
• AMD: RX 6800 XT lags behind a bit, averaging only 55.8 FPS.

8K Decoding Performance

• Intel: Arc A770 averages around 59.9 FPS with a minimum of approximately 45 FPS.
• Nvidia: RTX 4090 and RTX 3090 perform well on average but fall short in the 0.1% and 0.2% lowest FPS categories, hitting only about 17 FPS. This results in noticeable stuttering during playback.
• AMD: RX 6800 XT's performance is notably lagging behind, averaging only 22 FPS.

Intel for AV1 Encoding

Intel is the first hardware maker to offer full AV1 support for decoding and encoding. Their "Arc Alchemist" series of GPUs has been officially unveiled as the first hardware encoder for AV1.

According to Intel, hardware encoding of AV1 on an Arc GPU can be up to 50 times quicker than relying solely on software. Furthermore, Intel asserts that AV1 encoding offers a 20% improvement in efficiency compared to HEVC at equivalent bit rates and is 50% more efficient than H.264.

How to check whether my Intel hardware supports AV1 encoding and decoding?

Step 1. Indentify your Intel graphics following the official guide.

Step 2. Note down the graphics, and refer to the Intel document on Media Capabilities Supported by Intel Hardware.

Here is a wiki list of codecs supported by Intel: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Quick_Sync_Video

Nvidia for AV1 Encoding

GeForce RTX 30 Series GPUs are capable of handling up to 8K HDR streams with a dedicated AV1 hardware decoder, but they don't support AV1 encoding with NVENC, which is Nvidia's hardware video encoder.

https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/news/gfecnt/202009/rtx-30-series-av1-decoding/

For real-time AV1 hardware encoding, all RTX 40 Series GPUs support it, including both desktop and laptop variants. This advancement allows for 40% more efficient encoding on average compared to H.264, making content creation and streaming more efficient and high-quality.

You can learn detailed information about the Nvidia GPU support for AV1 video encoding and decoding at its official page here.

AMD for AV1 Encoding

AMD added support for AV1 encoding on the Radeon RX 7000 series (built on RDNA architecture) and later. AMD's VCN AV1 encoder is the first AV1 hardware encoder that the company has ever put in a consumer GPU. For the AMD RX 6000 series and before, AV1 encoding is not supported, only AV1 encoding.

While AMD's AV1 encoder doesn't quite outshine its rivals, it's a significant improvement over AMD's H.264 encoders, which have lagged behind Nvidia and Intel's offerings.

Where Is AV1 Currently Used

AV1 has garnered extensive industry support, with major content providers like Netflix, YouTube, and Facebook gradually adopting the AV1 format.

It is used in streaming services, CDNs, video conferencing, broadcasting, and online video platforms to deliver higher-quality video transmission while reducing data usage. Video editing software, such as DaVinci Resolve, has also added support for AV1 encoding.

Platforms and Streaming Services that Support AV1

YouTube: Users can turn on AV1 for YouTube video playback in settings: YouTube account > Playback and Performance > AV1 settings. You can choose among "Auto", "Prefer AV1 for SD" or "Always prefer SD"

If you are curious about whether a YouTube video is streaming in AV1, you can check the Stats for Nerds info by right-clicking on the player.

YouTube also supports AV1 broadcasting with the OBS studio 29.1 update, a nice feature that PCworld sees it as the future of GPU streaming.

Twitch: Announced at CES in January 2024, Twitch and Nvidia is working together to bring AV1 to Twitch. Twitch Closed Beta is experimenting with AV1 streaming feature on NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 Series GPUs and powered by the OBS Studio features. AV1 will enable Twitch viewers to watch at up to 1440p 120 FPS at 8mbps.

Essential Software that Supports AV1

Handbrake: this free video transcoding software has added AV1 Encoding support for NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 40 series and AMD's RDNA Radeon RX 7000 GPUs. For version 1.6.0 and later, users can opt for CPU-based SVT-AV1 software encoding too. The output AV1 video will be wrapped by MP4,MKV, or WebM.

OBS: this free open-source video recording and live streaming software has added support for AV1 encoding for Intel, NVIDIA NVENC, and AMD hardware. Gamers with supported devices can now enjoy the realtime AV1 encoding for live streaming.

VLC: As one of the most popular open-source video player, VLC also catches on with AV1 decoding ability from version 3.0 and onward. For users having problems with AV1 not working in VLC, it is recommended to install libva-nvidia-driver and replace the libva-vdpau-driver.

FFmpeg: It supports NVIDIA NVENC AV1 and Intel QSV AV1 encoding.

What If Your Device Won't Support AV1

So far we've dived deep into the world of AV1, understanding its ins and outs, and comparing it to other codecs. But what if you've got videos in AV1 that won't playback?

AV1 is not as widely supported as H264 MP4 and other formats. If you are going to share the video to friends or clients, playback on social media, or locally on a computer or mobile phone, you can convert AV1 to a more compatible format currently. The tool we are going to use is VideoProc Converter AI, a one-stop video processing software with GPU acceleration.

If you're someone who's constantly working with videos, whether it's for YouTube, professional projects, or just personal use, VideoProc Converter AI is a game-changer. It's packed with features tailored to meet the needs of dealing with various video-related issues and make your digital life easier.