Netflix announced that AV1 now powers 30% of its streaming, making it their second most-used codec. The company highlights AV1's role in delivering higher video quality (4.3 VMAF points higher than AVC, 0.9 higher than HEVC) at lower bandwidth (one-third less than AVC/HEVC), leading to 45% fewer buffering interruptions, and driving network efficiency for its Open Connect CDN. Netflix also details AV1's use in advanced features like HDR10+ and Film Grain Synthesis, and its potential application in live streaming and cloud gaming.
Netflix has moved AV1 from a niche rollout to a material part of its delivery stack, with 30% of viewing now on the codec. That gives the company a concrete efficiency and quality lever: smaller streams, higher VMAF scores, and fewer buffering interruptions, all delivered through Open Connect. The broader signal is ecosystem adoption — Netflix says 88% of large-screen devices submitted for certification from 2021 to 2025 supported AV1, and since 2023 almost all certified devices have been AV1-capable. Watch the share of HDR catalog covered by AV1-HDR10+ as it moves from 85% toward 100%.
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