- AV2 allows for higher video quality using less bandwidth
- Multiple simultaneous streams for multi-camera, AR/VR and 3D TV
- It is expected to be adopted towards the end of 2026.
AV2, the next generation of the widely used AV1 streaming standard, could give your favorite streaming service a big boost, and it may also improve the efficiency of delivering high-resolution 3D movies, which is brilliant news for the six people who still have a 3D TV.
A new report from FlatpanelsHD shows that AV2 offers considerable benefits over the existing AV1 standard. In a presentation by Netflix research scientist Andrey Norkin, who, along with experts from the likes of Apple, Google, Meta and Tencent, is a collaborator with AV2 creator Alliance for Open Media, shared new benchmarks detailing the improved performance.
The short version: higher quality, lower bandwidth, smiling faces everywhere.
What does AV2 really offer?
In Norkin’s presentation he demonstrated that AV2 offers 30% better video compression than AV1. In other words, AV2 can deliver the same quality as AV1 with 30% less bandwidth. This has particularly big implications for 4K and 8K video, as it could persuade streamers to deliver higher quality video streams without restricting them to the most expensive tiers. Although it’s worth noting that Norkin didn’t offer comparisons to H.264 (MPEG4), H.265 (HEVC), or H.266 (VVC) codecs. As the report notes, H.264 is the most used codec for HD video and H.265 is the same for 4K.
One of the most interesting things about AV2 is that it is also designed to offer multi-stream video, which is when multiple streams of the same thing are transmitted simultaneously, such as the stereo images of a 3D movie, or multi-camera views or live and studio broadcasts of a sporting event.
Given that AV2 will be compatible with Disney, Apple, Google, and more, that could be very interesting, and it could mean more immersive video content, like Los Angeles Lakers games, being streamed to Apple’s Vision Pro. Both virtual reality and augmented reality are expected to be key beneficiaries of the standard.
The full AV2 specification will be released later this year and 53% of Alliance for Open Media members say they will adopt it within 12 months.
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