MJPEG remains video mainstay as USB bandwidth constraints challenge raw streaming

The streaming hardware market's continued reliance on MJPEG over more efficient codecs like H.264 highlights a critical bottleneck in B2B video infrastructure: the trade-off between bandwidth and local processing power. While USB 3.0+ offers the pipe for raw 4K, the ecosystem prioritizes 'spending' that bandwidth to protect CPU resources for secondary meeting functions like noise reduction and background blurring. As the industry eyes a transition to AV1 or H.266, the stability of the UVC standard remains a baseline for interoperability. Watch for the emergence of 'UVC 2.0' or updated descriptors that could finally mandate hardware-accelerated H.265 or AV1 to reduce network strain in low-bandwidth environments.

The strategic positioning of MJPEG as a 'good enough' standard persists even as the broader hardware market shifts toward high-speed protocols. Per Plugable and the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF), January 2026, the industry is moving toward simplified branding that emphasizes transfer rates, such as USB 20Gbps and USB 80Gbps. These high-speed tiers theoretically support raw, uncompressed 4K and 8K video, yet consumer-grade peripherals still target the 'lowest common denominator' of USB 2.0 (480 Mbps) to ensure compatibility across a fragmented PC ecosystem. This conservative approach in camera engineering mirrors trends in the USB Audio Class (UAC) sector, which, per Growth Market Reports, 2024–2026, remains focused on uncompressed PCM audio due to its minimal bandwidth footprint and robust driverless stability.

Simultaneously, the regulatory environment is forcing a physical consolidation that may eventually phase out legacy bottlenecks. Per Fyelec, March 2026, mandatory EU regulations requiring USB-C ports for all portable devices are expected to accelerate the adoption of USB4 v2.0 as a baseline. This shift provides a massive 80Gbps ceiling that could move the industry away from MJPEG toward high-bitrate YUV or AI-integrated codecs. Already, as noted by CamStreamer in January 2026, companies like Axis Communications have begun integrating AV1 into edge cameras to optimize cloud storage costs. However, until conferencing software vendors guarantee hardware-path decoding for these newer codecs across all operating systems, MJPEG is expected to remain the de facto medium for real-time USB capture through 2026.