Apple made waves across the video encoding and streaming communities when they announced the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max would have a dedicated AV1 hardware decoder, making them the first Apple devices with official AV1 codec support. We’ve compiled all the details from their announcement, the HLS interest group, and product release notes to bring you everything you need to know about Apple AV1 codec support. If you’re looking for more information about AV1 playback on Android, Smart TVs and set-top boxes, you can find more information at https://bitmovin.com/av1-playback-support/. Otherwise, keep reading to learn more!

• Hints that Apple AV1 support was coming
• iPhone 15 Pro announcement
• More details about HDR, DRM, HLS and Safari support for AV1
• Apple M3 processor announcement
• Apple M4 processor iPad announcement
• AV1 Software Decoding Support?
• Ready to take advantage of AV1 Encoding?
• Related links

Hints that Apple AV1 support was coming

Prior to the iPhone 15 announcement in September 2023, there were several indications that Apple would eventually support AV1. Back in 2018, Apple joined the Alliance for Open Media, the organization responsible for creating and promoting AV1 encoding and many took it as a sign that Apple would eventually support AV1. More recently, updates to Apple’s AVFoundation core media framework showed the addition of a new global variable “kCMVideoCodecType_AV1“, and earlier in 2023, the Safari 16.4 Beta release notes actually showed AV1 support was coming, but it was removed without comment shortly after and never added to Safari 16. AV1 WebCodecs support did eventually become available as an experimental  option in the Safari Technology Preview, but enabling it didn’t seem to have any effect.

Still with all of these hints being dropped, the announcements of Apple’s M series of processors and the most recent update to the HLS draft specification in May 2023 all came and went with no mention of AV1. Everyone who was paying close attention and anticipating Apple AV1 support was left disappointed, especially knowing how much weight their decision carried for the rest of the streaming ecosystem. Overall AV1 adoption has been slower than many had hoped and expected, and Apple’s lack of support was often cited as a reason to wait and avoid updating video encoding stacks. 

iPhone 15 Pro announcement

This all changed on September 12, 2023, when Apple announced their new A17 Pro mobile processor would include support for AV1 hardware decoding. You can watch the full replay here, with the section about the 15 Pro’s new processor beginning at 1:01:20. VP of the Apple Silicon Engineering Group, Sribalan Santhanam presented the new A-series processor and shared details about the industry’s first 3 nm chip, including a 6-core CPU and a new Pro-class, 6-core GPU. It also has a 16-core neural engine that can process up to 35 trillion operations per second and run machine learning models on the device, without sending personal data to the cloud. It also includes a dedicated engine for Apple’s own ProRes codec in addition to the big one for video streaming services, the AV1 hardware decoder. 

“We also included a dedicated AV1 decoder, enabling more efficient and high-quality video experiences for streaming services.”

Sribalan Santhanam – VP, Apple Silicon Engineering Group

More details about HDR, DRM, HLS and Safari support for AV1

After the presentation, co-author of the HLS specification Roger Pantos shared more details via the hls-interest mailing list. He confirmed that indeed, that both the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max would be the first Apple devices with hardware decoding support for AV1 video content. The dedicated hardware meant that in addition to Standard Dynamic Range (SDR) content, it would also support High Dynamic Range (HDR10) as well as content that was protected by FairPlay Streaming DRM, things that software decoders typically cannot handle well or securely. Playback would be supported in Apple’s native AVPlayer or AVSampleBufferDisplayLayer, including using Media Source Extensions (MSE), or Managed Media Source (MMS) as Apple calls their new version, under an experimental setting on iOS Safari.

HLS playback of AV1 will work without any new signaling requirements, just the regular CODEC and VIDEO-RANGE attributes. The SCORE attribute can also be used to force the playback client to prefer AV1 over other encodings, but renditions encoded with AVC and/or HEVC should still be included for older devices and AirPlay support. The WebKit blog provided more information about Safari 17.0, confirming support for the AV1 video codec was added on devices with hardware decoding support. They also shared this html code snippet for presenting single-file progressive video that has been encoded with AV1, HEVC and VP9, which allows the browser to choose the best option for playback. It should be noted that outside of very short clips, adaptive streaming with HLS is preferred over progressive streaming in order to provide the best quality of experience and bandwidth efficiency.

The ‘type’ attribute signals the type of container being used and ‘codecs’ parameter string lets the browser know which codec was used and other characteristics like profile, level, color space, bit depth and dynamic range. This informs the browser and lets it decide whether it supports those attributes or needs to fall back on an older codec. It’s also possible to use a simpler codecs=”av01”, but it’s best to provide as much detail as possible if you can. More information on the AV1 codecs parameter string from the Alliance for Open Media can be found here, and details about codec and profile parameters are available in this IETF doc. 

While not directly related to the Apple AV1 news, Safari 17.0 also added a new media player stats overlay similar to YouTube’s “stats for nerds”. This is a nice addition for video developers doing any troubleshooting and will be very helpful as people begin experimenting with adding AV1 encoding. It’s available to anyone who checks the “Show features for web developers” box in the advanced settings of Safari.  

Apple M3 processor announcement

In late October 2023, Apple announced their newest generation of desktop processors would include AV1 hardware decoders. This includes the M3, M3 Pro and M3 Max chips, meaning all new models of Macbooks, iMacs and desktop computers with an M3 processor will support AV1 video playback. Some were disappointed that the M3 did not also include support for AV1 encoding, but for video playback, the decoding is all that really matters, so this will be another nice wave of new devices that streaming services can target with AV1 encoded video. 

Apple M4 processor iPad announcement

Announced in May 2024, the new iPad Pro is powered by Apple’s latest system on a chip, the M4. The media engine of the M4 supports multiple codecs, including H.264, HEVC, ProRes and now AV1, making it the most advanced media processor ever in an iPad. With this, Apple continues their march toward full AV1 support. Will the Vision Pro 2 be next?

Apple AV1 Dolby Vision Support

Usually around the time of Apple’s World Wide Developer Conference there are some new updates or features around HLS and AVPlayer. During WWDC24, Apple shared a “What’s new in HTTP Live Streaming 2024” doc with several interesting new additions. For AV1 specifically, they called out support for using Dolby Vision Profile 10, which is Dolby’s 10-bit AV1 aware profile. Apple now supports 3 different Dolby Vision profiles: 10, 10.1 and 10.4. Profile 10 is “true” Dolby Vision, 10.1 is their backward compatible version of HDR10 and 10.4 their backward compatible version of Hybrid Log Gamma (HLG). For profiles 10.1 and 10.4, you need to use a SUPPLEMENTAL-CODECS attribute and the correct VIDEO-RANGE. For these, 10.1 should use ‘db1p’ and PQ, and 10.4 should use ‘db4h’ and HLG. The full example codec string they provided is: CODECS=”av01.0.13M.10.0.112″,SUPPLEMENTAL-CODECS=”dav1.10.09/db4h”,VIDEO-RANGE=HLG.

AV1 Software Decoding Support?

When Apple released the iPhone 6s with the A9 chip, it became the first iOS device to support HEVC(H.265) hardware decoding, which included support for FairPlay Streaming with HEVC. When this happened, they also included an HEVC software decoder as part of the next iOS and macOS updates for older devices without hardware support. While the software decoding didn’t support FairPlay Streaming, it was still a big boost for HEVC support and was one of the first things we wondered about after seeing the AV1 decoder announcement.

Unfortunately when asked, Roger Pantos shared that Apple would not be shipping an AV1 video software decoder at this time. He did confirm that iOS 17 does include some AV1 codec support, but only for still images using the Alliance for Open Media’s AVIF format. For now, we can only hope that AV1 video software decoding (like Meta is already using in their iOS apps) will be coming soon.

Ready to take advantage of AV1 Encoding?

Bitmovin has been ready for AV1 adoption to spread for some time now, dating back to 2017 when we partnered with Mozilla to enable AV1 playback in the Firefox browser using the Bitmovin Player. We’ve added AV1 codec support to our Per-Title and 3-pass encoding optimizations and just recently made AV1 encoding available in our dashboard UI, so now you can perform your first AV1 encode without any code, API calls, or configuration necessary! Bitmovin’s AV1 encoding has supported DASH streaming together with Widevine content protection for a long time, but we’ve now also added support for fMP4 in HLS playlists together with FairPlay content protection to take advantage of Apple AV1 support for premium content. It’s also available in our free trial, so there’s never been a better time to check it out and begin taking advantage of the bandwidth savings and quality improvements that AV1 can provide. 

Click here to start your free trial today!

Related links

• Read the latest info about our AV1 playback support and device testing here.
• Learn how using Bitmovin’s Per-Title Encoding together with AV1 can let you stream 4K video at bitrates that had been limited to Standard Definition with older codecs. 
• Check out our AV1 hub and download our datasheet to learn all about the codec’s development, performance and how it can lower your CDN costs.

The post Everything you need to know about Apple AV1 Support appeared first on Bitmovin.

In this post, I’ll be taking a look at the current state of AV1 playback support, covering which browsers, mobile devices, smart TVs, consoles and streaming sticks are compatible with the AV1 codec right now.  I’ll also touch on some of the incredible bandwidth savings companies like Netflix are seeing with AV1 and detail the latest announcements, rumors and speculation around future AV1 playback support.

AV1: The Story So Far (2017-2023)

Back in 2017, Bitmovin debuted the world’s first AV1 live encoding at the NAB Show in Las Vegas, earning a Best of NAB award. While it was an exciting proof of concept at the time, AV1 playback support was extremely limited and large-scale production usage wouldn’t come until years later. In 2020, YouTube and Netflix began delivering AV1 to the first compatible Android devices, and last year Netflix shared details about their expanded use of AV1 for 4K streams.

Netflix also published a report that showed over the course of one month in early 2022, 21% of their streamed content benefited from the most recent improvements in codec efficiency, like Per-Title optimized AV1 and HEVC. They estimated that without those improvements, total Netflix traffic globally would have been around 24% higher, proving that you can see massive bandwidth and overall cost savings by encoding just a portion of your most popular content with AV1.

Apple adds AV1 hardware decoding support to iPhone 15 Pro and new Macbooks

Many of us who have been tracking the adoption and progress of AV1 were disappointed when the announcements for Apple’s M-series processors over the past couple years did not include AV1 hardware decoding support. But on September 12, 2023, the big moment we’ve been waiting for finally arrived when Apple announced that the A17 Pro chip in their new iPhone 15 Pro would include a dedicated AV1 decoder. This is a big line in the sand for Apple and for the wider industry and will hopefully prove to be the day that revitalized interest and momentum for AV1 adoption across the industry.

“We also included a dedicated AV1 decoder, enabling more efficient and high-quality video experiences for streaming services.”

Sribalan Santhanam – VP, Apple Silicon Engineering Group

After the presentation, co-author of the HLS spec Roger Pantos shared more details via the hls-interest mailing list: 

The iPhone 15 Pro (both screen sizes) will be the first Apple product to support hardware decode of AV1 content. This includes SDR, HDR10, and content protected by FairPlay Streaming, played back through either AVPlayer or AVSampleBufferDisplayLayer (including MSE on Safari).

There is no new signaling necessary for HLS, just the regular content-specific values for the CODECS and VIDEO-RANGE attributes in the MVP. If you wish, you can use the SCORE attribute to make the client prefer AV1 over other encodings (but please continue to provide renditions encoded with AVC and/or HEVC for compatibility with earlier devices and AirPlay).

A month later in October 2023, Apple announced their newest generation of desktop processors would include AV1 hardware decoders. This includes the M3, M3 Pro and M3 Max chips, meaning all new models of Macbooks, iMacs and desktop computers with an M3 processor will also support AV1 video playback.

Earlier in 2023, while everyone was waiting for Apple to officially support AV1, Meta took matters into their own hands, sharing how they brought AV1 to their Reels videos for Facebook and Instagram, including on iOS devices. This became possible through ongoing open source software decoding efficiency improvements, in particular with the dav1d decoder, developed by VideoLAN. Meta also said they believe for their video products, AV1 is the most viable codec for the coming years. The image below shows how they significantly improved visual quality with AV1 over VP9 and H.264, while keeping the bitrate constant.

At Bitmovin we also believe in the potential of AV1 and have explored the possibilities of software decoding on mobile devices. At a recent internal hackathon, one of our senior software engineers, Roland Kákonyi, built a custom iOS player using the dav1d decoder that was able to decode and smoothly play 1080p AV1 content. We’ll continue exploring this further as a way to fill gaps in playback coverage for devices lacking hardware support.

AV1 Playback Support News in 2024

Following 2023’s big announcements from Apple, 2024 got off to a strong start with Android, Firefox and (again) Apple adding new AV1 playback support. The barriers and arguments against adopting AV1 continue falling, slowly, but surely.

Android adds dav1d decoder

In March 2024, VideoLAN’s “dav1d” became available to all Android devices running Android 12 or higher. Apps need to opt-in to using AV1 for now, but according to Google, most devices can at least keep up with software decoding of 720p 30fps video. YouTube initially opted to begin using dav1d on devices without a hardware decoder, but may have reverted that decision, likely due to battery concerns on phones. For plug-in Android devices, dav1d is still a great option and a welcome addition to the ecosystem.

Firefox adds AV1 support in Encrypted Media Extensions

While Firefox was the first major browser to support AV1 playback, a long-standing bug (or lack of implementation) prevented DRM-protected AV1 from playing. When Apple added support to Safari for HLS + FairPlay streaming, it meant Firefox was the only major browser that still did not support premium, secure content. That changed in April 2024, when Firefox 125 added AV1 support in encrypted media extensions, meaning Widewine-protected AV1 is now supported.

iPad Pro gets AV1 playback support with M4 processor

In early May 2024, Apple continued their march toward full AV1 support with the announcement of their new M4 chip, which will power the new iPad Pro. The Media Engine of M4 is the most advanced to come to iPad, supporting several popular video codecs, like H.264, HEVC, and ProRes, in addition to AV1.

Current State of AV1 Playback support

To answer the question of current playback support as thoroughly as possible, we created several sample streams with different combinations of containers, muxings and DRM. While there will be some exceptions and omissions, especially when you go back to the 2021 and 2020 models, I’ll use the emojis below to show the general level of support you can expect from these platforms and brands right now and give the full results of our direct testing in the table at the end. 

• Fully Supported – Successful AV1 playback with all test streams, including DRM

• Partial or Documented Support – Successfully played at least one, but not all of our test streams OR the product documentation claims AV1 playback support, but has not yet been verified by Bitmovin

• Not Supported – AV1 playback not supported here currently

Browsers and Operating Systems

*Safari 17 or later, when a hardware decoder is present

**AV1 is also supported in Chrome and Firefox on macOS

Generally speaking, the Chrome browser and Android ecosystem handle AV1 well across phones, tablets, smart TVs and set-top boxes/streaming sticks. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for Safari and iOS where support had been lacking until the iPhone 15 Pro announcement.

Firefox was the first major browser to support AV1, and recently Firefox 125 added support for AV1 in Encrypted Media Extensions, meaning Widevine-protected content is now playable.

The Edge browser on Windows 10 and later supports AV1, but you may need to install the free AV1 Video Extension from the Microsoft Store. 

For more details about the specific versions and less common browsers that support AV1, check out the table from CanIUse.com here. 

Smart TVs

As mentioned, Android handles AV1 quite nicely, which also applies to the Smart TVs running Android TV and Google TV operating systems. These include Sony Google TV models from 2021 on and many Amazon Fire TV models as far back as 2020. (FireOS is based on Android)

Samsung TVs (and phones) from late 2020 onward have AV1 hardware decoders and were mentioned by Netflix as some of the first outlets for their 4K AV1 content. 

LG has developer documentation stating AV1 is supported for their UHD TVs and projectors running WebOS 5.0 and above, although our testing on some 2020 models was unsuccessful.

Consoles and Streaming Sticks

Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max

Playstation 4 Pro

Xbox One

Roku Streaming Stick 4K

Playstation 4 Pro was also called out by Netflix as one of the targets for their 4K AV1 streams and it takes advantage of GPU-accelerated decoding. Netflix didn’t publicly mention delivering AV1 to Xbox One, but the same decode libraries that the PS4 Pro uses were first made available for Xbox One, so it should be possible.

The Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max has AV1 + DRM support, making it one of the cheapest and best options for giving older 4K TVs an AV1 upgrade. 

Roku is a little bit of a gray area at the moment. Officially, they still do not support AV1 as an adaptive streaming video codec, but newer models like the Roku Ultra that have a USB port do support AV1 playback via USB media. There does appear to be some level of support for AV1 adaptive streaming, as the YouTube “stats for nerds” overlay reveals a combination of AV1 video and opus audio playing on many of the popular recommended videos. Hopefully wider support is coming, but in the meantime, did confirm successful playback of our single file “progressive” AV1 MP4 files on the Streaming Stick 4K.

Looking Ahead: Future AV1 Playback Support

Even with gaps in support on some platforms, there is plenty of opportunity to see tangible bandwidth savings and quality improvements from AV1 right now and thankfully, the future looks even brighter. Intel, AMD, Samsung and Qualcomm have all announced additional AV1 support coming at the chip level.

Will Apple add AV1 software decoding support for older devices? 

There have been several indications that Apple would eventually support AV1. Apple joined the Alliance for Open Media, the organization responsible for creating and promoting AV1 encoding, back in 2018, which many took as a sign that Apple would eventually support it. We’re hopeful that with the addition of AV1 hardware decoding support to the iPhone Pro 15, iPad Pro and Macbooks, Apple will also add official HLS support and fallback software decoding for older devices that are capable.

Conclusion

While AV1 support and adoption has been on the rise and we’ve seen some encouraging announcements, universal support like we have with H.264 is just not there yet. That means AV1 will need to be part of a multi-codec approach for the foreseeable future, but that’s ok! Not that long ago, it took millions of views to offset the higher encoding costs of AV1, but with recent improvements, we’ve seen the break-even point drop to as low as 4,000 views! So for a whole lot of content, encoding with AV1 can already save you money right now and those savings will only increase as more supporting devices become available. 

Ready to get started with AV1 encoding? You can try it for free with a Bitmovin Trial, sign up here!

Video Codec	Chrome	Edge	Firefox	Safari	Android Native	Android Web	iOS	Fire TV Max	Fire TV Max Web (Silk Browser)	Roku Streaming Stick 4K	Samsung Tizen (2020-2021)
fMP4 (DASH)
fMP4 with Widevine and Playready (DASH)
Single file “progressive” MP4 (.mp4)
Single file “progressive” MP4 + Widevine (DASH)
WebM (DASH)
WebM + Widevine (DASH)
Single file “progressive” WebM (DASH)
Single file “progressive” WebM + Widevine (DASH)
fMP4 (HLS)					–	–		–	–	–	–
fMP4 + Fairplay (HLS)					–	–		–	–	–	–

The post The State of AV1 Playback Support: 2024 appeared first on Bitmovin.

This post will provide some background information on video codecs and the pros and cons of the most common codecs used by streaming services. We’ll discuss why you should be taking advantage of newer codecs and the many benefits they can provide. Finally, we’ll provide a step-by-step guide through the factors and questions you should consider when evaluating or adding AV1 encoding to your workflow.

What are video codecs?

The word codec is a combination of the words coder and decoder. Video codecs are used to reduce or compress the size of video files for storage and transmission, because raw source files produced by professional studios or cameras use too much data to be delivered smoothly over the internet. For video streaming purposes, the master file or live source is encoded for transmission, then decoded for playback on the end-user device. This encoding typically involves lossy compression, meaning the overall file size is reduced, often significantly, with a tradeoff of slightly lower visual quality. How noticeable that quality reduction is and the amount of data compression possible depends on the codec and settings that were used.

What is the best video codec?

Like with many technical questions, the frustrating, but most accurate answer is “It depends.” Each codec has its own pros and cons in terms of cost, performance and support, so the best codec (or codecs) can differ based on your company’s goals, applications and business model. Let’s take a closer look at some of the high level pros and cons of the most common codecs used by streaming platforms.

H.264/AVC

–  Almost universal playback compatibility with nearly 20 years in the field. 

–  It’s almost 20 years old, and several newer codecs offer better compression and can produce higher quality video while using less data, providing a better viewing experience and reducing your long-term storage and delivery costs. 

H.265/HEVC

–  MPEG’s successor to H.264/AVC can provide higher quality per bit and makes it possible to deliver HD,  4K and even 8K video to a wider audience, while using less bandwidth. H.265/HEVC is usually encoded with a higher bit depth than H.264/AVC, making high dynamic range (HDR) support possible, so most Dolby Vision streaming workflows use H.265/HEVC.

– Royalty fees and complex licensing terms for H.265/HEVC have led some content creators and streaming services to avoid it. There are multiple patent pools, along with some individual companies that claim to own patents covering essential parts of the standard, creating uncertainty for end users around their liability and obligations.

VP9 

– Google’s open source VP9 is a royalty-free alternative to H.265/HEVC with similar performance in terms of compression efficiency. Platforms like YouTube and Facebook use VP9 to offer higher resolution video than H.264/AVC and improve video quality over low bandwidth, which is especially important for viewing on mobile devices. 

– VP9 is over 10 years old and while it is still widely used and supported, most of the current innovation and new development is focused on its successor, AV1.

AV1

– AV1 offers the best compression performance of any of the codecs discussed here. On average it can achieve the same visual quality using ~50% less data than H.264/AVC and ~30% less data than H.265/HEVC and VP9. Those are significant savings that really add up over time and millions of views. YouTube and Netflix both use AV1 for their most popular HD and 4K content as a way to enable high-res viewing for people on slower connections, improving quality of experience and drastically reducing data usage, which lowers their egress and CDN costs.  

– Even though it’s a few years old, adoption of AV1 has been lagging behind initial expectations, mostly because of slower than expected rollout of playback and decoding support. Because of that, anyone encoding with AV1 will still need to provide backup H.264/AVC streams in the near future. However, recently launched products like the iPhone 15 Pro, Apple’s M3 desktop processor and the Meta Quest 3 headset all include AV1 decoding support, so hopefully the tide is turning and AV1 adoption will ramp up in the coming months.

Why should I use newer codecs?

In general, newer codecs provide better compression efficiency than their predecessors, using less bits to deliver the same level of quality. They can also support higher resolutions and wider color and contrast ranges than earlier generations. This has multiple benefits for streaming services and their viewers.

Better visual quality at lower bitrates

When delivering video to mobile phones, to viewers on shared, congested wifi or in areas with limited bandwidth, the tradeoff between quality and bitrate becomes especially apparent. This is where the compression performance of newer codecs can really stand out. Using a newer codec like AV1 can mean the difference between acceptable quality and a pixelated mess as you can see in the screenshot below from Facebook.

Improved quality of experience and less buffering for all viewers

It’s not just the low bitrate streams where newer codecs can improve quality of experience. The ability to deliver higher quality with less bits improves QoE across all adaptive bitrate renditions. At Demuxed 2023, Netflix reported that using AV1 not only reduced network bandwidth, but also lowered rebuffer rates and play start delay, while providing up to 38% reduction in quality drops compared to other codecs. They were also able to improve VMAF quality scores by up to 10 points with AV1. 

Higher resolutions and more advanced features

H.264/AVC can technically be used for HD and 4K encoding, but you typically need extremely high bitrates to achieve the quality viewers expect from HD and UHD content. These higher bitrates can lead to more rebuffering and QoE issues, not to mention higher prices for storage and delivery. Most H.264/AVC workflows are limited to 8-bit encoding and decoding, which means it can’t really be used for HDR. H.265/HEVC, VP9 and AV1 can all handle 4K and 8K resolutions and support 10-bit and higher encoding, making them a better choice for premium content tiers. Netflix reported that using AV1 led to a 5% increase in 4K streaming time, so it can make a meaningful difference for the viewing experience and how your platform is perceived by users. 

Long term cost savings

In addition to improving QoE, the better compression performance and lower bitrates required by newer codecs will also save you money over the lifetime of your video content. Even though the encoding is more complex and may cost a little more up front, the smaller file sizes can reduce your storage footprint and drastically cut your bandwidth on network egress and CDN delivery charges. For popular content receiving tens of thousands or millions of views, the overall savings can be substantial.

Should I use more than one codec?

This could potentially be another frustrating “It depends” question, but in most cases, the answer here is “Yes, you probably should”. Using H.264/AVC together with at least one newer codec ensures you have video that is backward compatible and available for everyone, while providing a higher quality viewing experience for those on newer devices with more advanced codec support. YouTube for example, encodes content in H.264/AVC, VP9 and AV1. Netflix uses H.264/AVC and AV1 for standard dynamic range content and H.265/HEVC for Dolby Vision. The right combination for your business will depend on your target viewing platforms, output quality, and business model. The step-by-step guide below will focus on AV1, but the same questions and steps could also be applied to other codecs.    

Step-by-step guide to adding AV1 encoding:

1. Determine how AV1 can help your business goals and viewer experience

Adding a new codec can be beneficial in many ways as discussed above, but it’s a big decision and should be made with deliberate intentions and goals in mind. What is it that you want to achieve by adding a new codec to your encoding stack? 

• Quality improvement on mobile devices or areas with limited bandwidth? 
• Long term reduction of storage, egress, and CDN delivery costs? 
• Making premium 4K and HDR tiers available to a broader audience? 
• Improving QoE and reducing buffering across your platform? 

AV1 can help in all of those areas, and you can fine tune your implementation to achieve your specific objectives.

2. Project Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), savings and revenue potential

AV1 is more complex to encode and can cost a little more in terms of computing power and encoding time. But the significant bandwidth savings it provides over H.264/AVC mean that in most cases, this initial cost will be more than offset by the longer term egress and CDN savings, giving you a lower TCO over the lifetime of each video. The actual break-even point will depend on your own contracts and delivery costs, so we created this calculator to help forecast where you might begin to see overall savings by adding AV1.

Besides lowering TCO for your video, AV1 can actually help generate revenue and retain subscribers. Its lower bitrate requirements for HD and 4K content mean that it can grow your total addressable market for higher quality upsell tiers. It can also help reduce subscriber churn by lowering rebuffering rates and providing a generally better quality of experience for your viewers. 

3. Utilize cloud-native encoding and analytics for fast, risk-free evaluation

Some on-premises encoders may require a pricey license upgrade to support AV1 encoding and in other cases, you’ll need to purchase a new appliance or hardware. You can avoid those high up-front costs that may stifle innovation by using a cloud encoding service that lets you pay on a usage basis. Even better, with Bitmovin’s cloud-native encoding, you can try it for free with our 30-day trial. With Bitmovin, you can also use your cloud credits on AWS, Azure or Google Cloud or use some of your contracted commitment to help fund your initial evaluation.

One of the knocks on AV1 has been that there is less playback support compared to older codecs, but there’s been steady improvement and some big announcements over the last year, so momentum is building. Our AV1 playback support guide details which SmartTVs, streaming sticks and consoles already support AV1, but you can actually go beyond rough projections and use Bitmovin’s Video Analytics to see how much of your own audience could already be taking advantage of AV1. This is also available to you in our free 30-day trial and is easy to add to most players, so you should definitely take full advantage of that as part of your evaluation. The numbers may surprise you!

4. Accelerate proof-of-concepts with content-aware, Per-Title Encoding

AV1 is more complex to configure than previous generations of codecs and many technicians and engineers have spent years developing expertise with H.264, so there may be some reluctance or lack of time to fully dive into the details of a new codec configuration. You can overcome that obstacle by taking advantage of a content-aware encoding service, like Bitmovin’s Per-Title Encoding. Each file is automatically analyzed for complexity and the ideal adaptive bit-rate encoding ladder is generated for each piece of content, with no advanced knowledge or configuration of AV1 required. This not only simplifies the process, it will save you on storage costs by eliminating unnecessary renditions from your adaptive bitrate ladder and ensure you’re making the most efficient use of data on the delivery and playback side. 

5. Deploy with most popular content for early ROI 

One thing to keep in mind for AV1 deployment is that you don’t need to take an all-or-nothing approach. Some of the earliest adopters like YouTube and Netflix initially only encoded their most popular content with AV1, since that is where the delivery costs were highest and they could maximize their returns on the initial encoding investment. 

In this study released by Netflix, analysts found that 21% of content streamed in one month in early 2022 benefited from the most recent improvements in codec efficiency (Per-Title HEVC and AV1). Without those improvements, they estimated that total Netflix traffic globally would have been around 24% higher. That’s a pretty solid proof point that using Per-Title AV1 with even a portion of your most popular content can make a big difference for overall data usage and cost. As of October 2023, Netflix reported that over 30% their catalog has now been encoded with AV1, with more being backfilled daily, and AV1 encoding is enabled for all new videos ingested to their platform. That shows they’ve now seen the value and potential benefits of AV1 make it worth adopting even beyond the most viewed content. 

Conclusion

In a crowded marketplace where viewers have many options, taking advantage of newer codecs can help streaming services stand out with a better quality of experience for their viewers, while saving themselves money in the background. Which codecs provide the most benefit will depend on each service provider’s goals, business model and target devices, but it’s clear that evolving beyond H.264 alone is necessary to provide best-in-class streaming experiences. In addition to better quality, adding newer codecs like AV1 can help relieve the financial burden of higher egress and CDN costs that come with increased popularity. Making an investment in upgrading codecs now will pay dividends for years to come. 

Related Material

For more information about video encoding in general, our comprehensive streaming technology guide goes into greater detail about codecs, compression, and available encoding products and services. 

Check out our AV1 hub and data sheet for more information on its development, benchmarking and playback support. 

This Bitmovin community post explains how to configure multi-codec playback on the web.

Our github repo has code examples for implementing multi-codec streaming.

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