As video continues to evolve, the demand for new technology to handle its complexity is growing. With the arrival of 4K video, for example, developers quickly became aware that existing video codecs like H264 were no longer going to cut it. To that extent, AV1 has started to become the popular standard for decoding and encoding on devices. Now, Google is ready to adapt to the changing times, and it will soon be reflected onYouTube.
YouTube’s 1080p enhanced bitrate option is now widely available on the web
Android device owners will have to wait a bit longer
Arif Dikici, who is a part of the Android Video and Image Codecs team at Google, recentlyannounced on LinkedInthat Android will now use an AV1 decoder known as “libdav1d,” which was created by the team behind VLC. As specified, all devices dating back to Android 12 will have native software support for the codec once they’ve received the March 2024Google Play System Update.
YouTube going AV1 by default adds a wrinkle to the rollout
While the update will bring improved AV1 codec support to a huge number of Android phones, it doesn’t activate the new codec by default — instead, the existing AV1 decoder, libgav1, is used, unless an app specifically requests to use the newer dav1d decoder to process video. That’s exactly what YouTube started doing immediately after this rollout began, and it’s causing controversy among some Android users.
One of the key benefits of the codec is that it helps maintain video quality during compression and decoding, so many users are excited about the potential for higher quality AV1 video. However, not everyone is happy with the change — particularly those with older devices and midrange phones. It’s mostly newer higher-end phones that have hardware decoding support for AV1, so those with midrange devices and older flagships may have to rely on software decoding now that YouTube has opted in to the libdav1d decoder. Many of these Android usershave expressed concernover how the change will impact their battery life if it means a move away from hardware-accelerated decoding.
