What is the AV1 Encoding Codec? How to Play & Convert AV1?

Part 1. What's AV1 Codec?

AV1 (AOMedia Video 1) is an open, royalty free video encoding format designed for video transmission and storage. It was developed by the Alliance for Open Media (AOM), an alliance composed of multiple companies including Google, Mozilla, Cisco, Amazon, Intel, Microsoft, Netflix, and others. AV1 aims to replace VP9 and become the main video encoding standard competing with HEVC (H.265).

AV1 codec is first released on March 28, 2018. The initial validated version (1.0.0) was shot out on June 25, 2018, and their pace of evolving is quick as lightning. Several versions were released and some notorious issues for early versions have been significantly improved. For the year 2022, with only 4 years of R&D, AV1 codec has become quite usable with many exciting features. Many consider AV1 codec will dominate the vided streaming market in all probability.

Part 2. Advantages and Disadvantages of AV1:

Advantages:

◆ Superior Compression Efficiency: AV1 aims to provide higher data compression rates than existing video encoding standards such as H.264/AVC and HEVC/H.265, which means that video files encoded by AV1 will occupy less storage space and bandwidth at the same video quality.

• For example, AV1 can deliver 30% to 50% higher video quality compared to H.264/AVC and HEVC at similar bitrates.
• It can even outperform HEVC by a significant margin in reducing bitrates for high resolutions like UHD 2160P.

◆ Open Source and Royalty-Free: Unlike some other video encoding standards such as HEVC, AV1 is completely open and royalty free, making it an attractive choice for developers and content creators as it eliminates the burden of copyright fees.

◆ Wide Compatibility: AV1 is designed to support wide compatibility from low-end mobile devices to high-end production and playback devices. With the development and adoption of technology, more and more browsers, operating systems, and hardware are starting to natively support AV1.

◆ Suitable for Various Applications: From online video streaming (such as YouTube and Netflix) to video conferencing and real-time broadcasting, AV1's design goal is to meet the needs of various video applications.

Disadvantages:

While AV1 offers superior compression and quality, its drawbacks include slower encoding speeds, limited hardware decoding support, and potential licensing complexities, though AV1 is generally considered royalty-free.

◆ Slow Encoding: AV1 has been reported to be one of the slowest codecs available, with some estimates suggesting it is 2500-3000 times slower than its competitors. Currently, AV1 lags behind HEVC significantly, taking around 100 seconds to encode a single frame of any 4K video.

Several tests have shown that AV1 takes approximately three times longer to encode video than the HEVC/H.265 standard. While AV1's encoding time is still slower than other codecs, significant improvements have been made with the release of AOM-AV1 3.5, resulting in a reduction of at least 34% in encoding time. In contrast, HEVC has a less complex encoding/decoding algorithm, resulting in a faster and more efficient performance for CPUs and batteries. This efficiency makes HEVC popular for commercial streaming services that prioritize playback performance and battery life.

◆ Limited Hardware Decoding: While hardware decoding support for AV1 is growing, it's not as widespread as for H.264 or HEVC, meaning older devices or devices without dedicated AV1 decoders may struggle to play AV1 content smoothly.

Part 3. AV1 vs HEVC/H.265: Which is the Codec of the Future?

Overall, even though AV1 has 30% better performance, it's in early stage now. That means, most devices now support HEVC only. That said, we believe AV1 is more promising, especially for online streaming of large-resolution content.

Comparison Chart of AV1 vs HEVC in Key Differences

Feature	AV1	HEVC
Compression Efficiency	Higher	Lower
Licensing	Open-source, royalty-free	Complex and costly
Hardware Support	Developing	Widespread
Encoding Speed	Slower	Faster
Use Cases	High-resolution streaming, bandwidth optimization	Broadcasting, video recording, general streaming

• AV1 is royalty-free while HEVC is royalty bearing.
• AV1 can save up to 30% file size than HEVC for the same image quality.
• AV1 requires more powerful hardware to decode, and it takes much longer time to decode than HEVC.
• HEVC is supported by GPU/CPU from AMD, Nvidia, Intel, Apple, Qualcomm, etc. The support for AV1 decoding is already here but the AV1 encoding is by far supported by Nvidia and Intel only.

Part 4. How to Play and Convert AV1 Files?

Below are several simple methods to play AV1 videos on Windows, macOS and Linux.

Method 1. Install AV1 Video extension (Windows 10/11)

If you are a Windows 10/11 user, you can play AV1 videos for free with the "Movies & TV" app or Windows media player once you download AVI codec extension.

To download AV1 codec on Windows 10/11, go to Windows > find "Microsoft Store", and click in. Then search ""AV1 video Extension". Click [Get it] button and install the AV1 Video extension from the Microsoft Store.

Method 2. Play AV1 video with a Third-party AV1 Video Player

Many media players have added their support for the AV1 codec. With these media players in hand, you can play AV1 file without even downloading AV1 decoder. Be sure to download the latest version for help, or you may run into no picture error and receive error messages such as codec not supported, cannot decode av01 codec. Below are two great AV1 video players.

• 1. VLC Media Player (Windows, Linux, and MacOS)
• 2. 5KPlayer (Windows and macOS)

Method 3. Play AV1 Video in Chrome, Edge

If you use the Chrome or Edge web browser, simply drag and drop the AV1 video onto the Chrome or Edge tab to play.

Method 4. Convert AV1 to MP4 (H264)

You can convert AV1 to MP4 (H.264) so that you can play the file on various devices. The H.264 (MP4) codec is more compatible than the AV1 codec and can be played on computers/smartphones without having to install the additional codec.

EaseFab Video Converter is a professional video converter tool that can help convert AV1 to populr HEVC, H.264, MP4, MOV, MKV and more swiftly for robust playback.

Part 5. FAQ about AV1 Codec

1. What is AV1 codec?

The AV1 codec is a royalty-free video codec developed by various leading companies, such as Intel, Microsoft, and Google, with better compression efficiency than H.265 (HEVC) or VP9. For this reason, many video platforms and media streaming services actively use the AV1 codec.

2. Is AV1 better than H265?

Yes, AV1 is generally considered better than H.265 (HEVC) for video compression, offering superior efficiency and quality, especially at lower bitrates, but it requires more processing power for encoding.

3. Is AV1 higher quality?

Yes, AV1 (AOMedia Video 1) generally offers similar or even better video quality compared to HEVC at lower bitrates. This means that with AV1, you can achieve the same level of visual quality as HEVC but with potentially smaller file sizes. This is due to the advanced compression techniques and efficiency improvements that AV1 brings to the table.

4. Does YouTube use AV1 codec?

Yes, Youtube does. According to Google official, approximately 20% percent of Youtube video contents will roll out with AV1 codec for better quality and smaller file size. It's a sweet spot for me in the quality/speed trade-off.

5. What is AV1 vs HEVC vs VP9?

AV1 tends to offer better compression efficiency and potentially smaller file sizes compared to HEVC, making it an attractive option for high-quality video streaming. HEVC is widely adopted and offers excellent compression efficiency. VP9 provides a good balance between quality and file size and is used by platforms like YouTube.