In an age of rapid technological developments, the choice of the right video format plays a crucial role for streaming platforms, content creators and companies. New standards are gaining acceptance and replacing older technologies. It’s not just about better image quality, but also about efficiency, bandwidth and compatibility. One particularly exciting trend is the rise of AV1.
AV1: The codec of the future
The AV1 codec, developed by the Alliance for Open Media (AOMedia), promises revolutionary advances over older formats such as H.264 (AVC) and H.265 (HEVC). The aim of AV1 is to reduce file sizes and improve image quality at the same time – and it is license-free, which makes it particularly attractive for streaming providers.
Advantages of AV1:
- Efficiency: AV1 offers up to 50% better compression than H.264 and around 30% better efficiency than H.265.
- Cost savings: The fact that no license is required means that the usual fees charged for H.265, for example, do not apply.
- Future-proof: Major platforms such as Netflix, YouTube and Amazon Prime Video are already testing or implementing AV1, which indicates broad future acceptance.
Technical classification: Why AV1 is so special
AV1 uses state-of-the-art algorithms such as predictive coding, adaptive block sizes and a variety of new entropy coding methods to drastically reduce the data rate. Compared to H.264, AV1 reduces redundancy within video images much more efficiently and can handle complex content – such as detailed scenes or fast movements – better. However, AV1 is significantly more computationally intensive when encoding, which is why powerful hardware or specialized software encoders are required to keep production times within reasonable limits.
What Stream1 is currently testing: Always one step ahead
We are currently testing various encoding methods on our own livestream-server.de platform in order to be able to offer our customers state-of-the-art streaming quality in the future. In addition to classic open source solutions such as FFmpeg and libx264, we are specifically using hardware acceleration through NVIDIA NVENC.
NVENC enables us to encode video streams directly on the GPU. This reduces the load on the main processor, significantly reduces latency and enables even greater parallelism for multiple live streams. At the same time, we are working on optimizing our video players in order to be able to adapt new formats such as AV1 as quickly as possible. Our goal: better quality with lower bandwidth, shorter loading times and seamless playback on all end devices.
Business perspective: Why SMEs should act now
Even if your company does not have a direct focus on video today: The demand for high-quality online communication – be it for live streams, product presentations or webinars – is constantly growing. Modern codecs such as AV1 make it possible to distribute content more efficiently, reduce data transmission costs and improve the user experience at the same time. Those who invest in a modern streaming infrastructure at an early stage secure a competitive advantage, reach their target groups more reliably and demonstrate innovative strength.
With Stream1 as your partner, you benefit from a platform that is not only powerful today, but also actively integrates the technologies of tomorrow.
