LAS VEGAS – A groundswell of support seems to be building for a highly efficient next-gen video codec.
AV1 is an open, royalty-free video codec that's designed to use 30% to 40% less bandwidth than such existing video codecs as High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) and VP9, another royalty-free codec created by Google in 2013. Sensing its potential for greater bandwidth savings, such big names in the video tech world as Netflix, Intel, Google and Samsung are now lining up behind it.
Most notably, at the big annual NAB Show two weeks ago, Intel and Netflix gave AV1 a big boost by introducing an even higher performance version of the codec called SVT-AV1 (SVT stands for Scalable Video Technology). Intel executives said the new software-based codec can deliver performance gains and higher bandwidth efficiencies in handling the ever-growing volumes of video content coming down the pike.
"There is a shift from passive consumption to intelligent visual experiences" that are more immersive and interactive, said Lynn Comp, VP of Intel's network platforms group and GM of the company's visual cloud division. "It is media transformed. It is media in the next evolution."
On the show exhibit floor, Intel engineers demonstrated just how efficient SVT-AV1 could be, running a 4K video stream at 60 frames per second at a relatively low bit-rate of 10 Mbps. Intel and Netflix are now open-sourcing SVT-AV1, which is a follow-up to a version that Intel developed for the earlier VP9 codec.
Comp noted such high bit-rate efficiencies will be increasingly important to all types of streaming video services, and especially critical for new types of virtual reality (VR) services that are more immersive. Citing an example of the new, rich interactivity that is coming to the OTT world and will require an extra level of media processing, she pointed to Netflix's Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, a TV series with multiple potential endings that users can choose.
While SVT-AV1 backers will initially focus on on-demand content, there's potential to use the codec to create live/real-time content as well, she added.
Netflix plans to create its own products based on the new SVT-AV1 codec. Tech suppliers – such as Harmonic, Beamr, ZTE and Ateme – are working on AV1 offerings too. "We're supplying to both ecosystems," Comp said.
During another briefing at NAB, Nathan Egge, a codec engineer with Mozilla, predicted it won't be long before a surge of AV1-powered content reaches the OTT video market. Egge, whose company is a strong early backer of the new codec, noted YouTube has already announced the Google video streaming service will be supporting AV1. Even though that's no surprise given Google's fervent support of AV1, YouTube will clearly give AV1 another strong lift.
On the hardware side, both Mozilla's Firefox browser and Google's Chrome browser already offer support for the new codec. Samsung gave the hardware integration drive a push earlier this month when it announced its support for AV1. Although Samsung did not specify how it will implement the codec in its devices, the company is expected to stitch it into its roster of smart TVs and smartphones.
Similarly, Google's Android Q plans to introduce support for AV1. It is also expected that future versions of Android TV will implement the codec as well.
