Other codecs quake in their boots.
I’d be lying if I said that I knew anything about the finer points of video codecs. Or the less fine points of video codecs. Or really anything at all. But there’s some good news on the horizon regarding them. Because the AV1 codec is on the way.
Your current codec options are H.264 (AVC) and H.265 (HEVC). But Av1 is an upgrade. Developed by the Alliance for Open Media (AOM) a consortium comprised of a number of well-known tech companies. And support for the eminent codec is gaining steam. Why, you ask?
Well, by and large, due to the fact that it’s more efficient than its predecessors. It can offer comparable quality compared to HEVC while being at a much smaller file size. Naturally, this means bandwidth savings at every level of quality up to 4K and 8K when it comes to streaming video. Not to mention the savings on internet infrastructure. It’s also open source and royalty free. No wonder all of these companies are involved. I mean, really, it’s being backed by everyone from content providers to hardware manufacturers.
So really, it’s no surprise that Google has already made moves to support it, and so have Nvidia and Intel. It’s really just a matter of time before it becomes the standard. Hell, if you have a device capable of decoding AV1, you can use it on YouTube right now. Just go to your settings, hit up the playback and support section, and chooses “Always prefer AV1”.
So, yeah, prepare for the reign of AV1.
Source: PC Gamer
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