H.264 vs. H.265: Codec Choices for Streaming in 2026

The choice between H.264 and H.265 directly impacts CDN costs and audience reach, as HEVC's efficiency reduces bandwidth requirements but H.264 ensures playback on all devices. This strategic decision necessitates balancing bandwidth savings against the need for universal compatibility, particularly for diverse global audiences or legacy hardware. Operators should monitor evolving hardware support for HEVC and AV1 to determine optimal codec mixes for their adaptive bitrate ladders.

The video codec landscape in 2026 continues to evolve beyond the H.264/H.265 dichotomy, with AV1 emerging as a significant contender. Developed by the Alliance for Open Media (AOMedia) and backed by major players like Google, Netflix, and Amazon, AV1 is royalty-free and offers compression efficiency comparable to or exceeding HEVC (per MpegFlow, May 2026). Netflix has reported bitrate savings of up to 50% versus their H.264 baseline with AV1 deployments, and YouTube announced AV1 as the default for popular content (Visylix, May 2026). While AV1 adoption is accelerating, especially with over 60% of smartphones shipped in 2024 including AV1 hardware decode, its hardware encoding support remains limited, making software AV1 encoding computationally expensive and better suited for VOD than live streams (Visylix, May 2026). HEVC, despite its licensing complexities, remains crucial for the Apple ecosystem, older Android devices, and mid-range smart TVs that decode HEVC but not AV1 (MpegFlow, May 2026). Concurrently, H.264 persists as the default 'floor' codec due to its ubiquity, ensuring compatibility with devices stretching back over a decade and broad browser support (Compresto, May 2026). Industry surveys by Bitmovin show H.264 still used by 83% of respondents as of 2024, highlighting its continued relevance despite newer, more efficient alternatives (Visylix, May 2026).