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AV1 Encoder

Category
Multimedia
Type
Chromium catches up
Status
Enabled by default (Chrome 90)
Intent stage
Shipped

Summary

This feature ships an AV1 encoder in Chrome desktop, specifically optimized for video conferencing with WebRTC integration.

Motivation

AV1 encode is requested by a number of RTC applications, including Duo, Meet, and Webex. The primary benefits of AV1 are: - better compression efficiency to reduce bandwidth consumption and improve visual quality - Enabling video for users on very low bandwidth networks (offering video at 30kbps and lower) - Significant screen sharing efficiency improvements over VP9 and other codecs We are also promoting this launch to enable easier testing and experimentation with AV1 RTC calls.

Standards & signals

Docs: https://bugs.chromium.org/p/webrtc/issues/detail?id=11404

View on chromestatus.com