AOMedia's AV2 codec targets 30% bitrate reduction over AV1
The Alliance for Open Media has released the final AV2 specification, an open and royalty-free video codec designed to achieve a 30% bitrate reduction compared to AV1. This new codec introduces advanced coding tools like data-driven transforms and larger coding units to improve efficiency, potentially allowing streaming providers to deliver 4K content with significantly less bandwidth. However, widespread adoption will depend on encoder implementations and hardware support, which historically takes several years.
Key Takeaways
- AOMedia's AV2 codec specification is finalized, aiming for 30% lower bitrate than AV1 at comparable quality.
- AV2 introduces advanced tools including data-driven transforms, improved entropy coding, and larger coding units up to 256x256 pixels.
- The codec supports features like Intra Block Copy (IBC), useful for screen recordings and cloud gaming.
- AOMedia was founded by Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Cisco, Netflix, Mozilla, and Intel.
- Independent comparative studies and mature encoder implementations for AV2 are not yet available; most results are from development circles.
Why It Matters
A 30% bitrate reduction with AV2 could allow streaming providers to deliver 4K content using significantly less bandwidth or offer higher quality streams. This pushes open-source codec development closer to the efficiency of proprietary codecs like VVC. However, the streaming ecosystem requires substantial time, often several years, for hardware manufacturers and software developers to integrate new codec specifications. Watch for independent validation of AV2's performance claims and the first major hardware or software announcements supporting the new standard.
Read full article at heise.de
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