- Netflix AV1 grain synthesis technology increases image quality
- It also reduces file size and improves transmission performance
- Technology has been arriving at films and television programs since March 2025
Film Grain is a kind of ‘secret sauce’ that makes movies look, well, as movies. Go to the cinema and, although you will barely notice, these imperfections that move through the image give it a depth that is difficult to recreate digitally.
Well, now Netflix has revealed in a Techblog post that has found a better way to do it, with a new technique that also easily improves reproduction stability, while reducing errors and rejection. It has been implemented worldwide since March, with transmissions enabled for FGS now available on compatible devices.
So what exactly Netflix did? Filmed films in digital cameras may seem too clean and perfect, and even digitized versions of analog films can fight to properly retain the grain. This is particularly true for films in services such as Netflix, which require compression to reduce file size for transmission performance without problems.
In your efforts to maintain efficient things, the compression process will eliminate the grain from the original video file, which means that the viewer obtains a constant transmission but an image that lacks that true aspect of the film.
Not anymore. Netflix has revealed that it has implemented a technology called “movie grain synthesis AV1” (FGS), which offers a pleasantly granulated image without increasing the file size.
It is something intelligent: FGS analyzes the video of origin to determine its specific grain pattern and shape, estimating it by comparing the original video with an non -tail version, the difference is the grain.
Then scale the intensity of the grain for different scenes, adjusting it for lighting and color. This information is transmitted together with the compressed video file without grains, and is used to recreate the grain effect on your device.
Better image quality, greater efficiency
This means that films and television programs on Netflix will now offer that desirable aspect of the analogical film, which increases the image quality and provides users with a more pleasant transmission experience.
Interestingly, during the A/B tests of the Netflix function, it also found that the FG significantly reduced the requirements of the bits rate and the bandwidth of the network, the reproduction errors and the rejection decreased, and the reduction of the starting delay, all of which result in a more stable general transmission experience. Double victory.
If you are excited to see FGS in action for you, you will need a reproduction device that admits it. Unfortunately, it is not yet clear exactly what programs and films will benefit from technology, or what are the hardware requirements: we have contacted Netflix to find out and update this story when we receive backward.
However, The Netflix blog post details the deployment suggestions They clon Tyrone and Department q They are good places to start. The transmission giant says that it is possible to deactivate HDR from the configuration menu to see those FGS transmissions.
