Google sparks controversy after confirming AV1 will become the new default

Arif Dikici, who is a part of the Android Video and Image Codecs team at Google, recently announced on LinkedIn that Android will now use an AV1 decoder known as “libdav1d,” which was created by the team behind VLC.

  • conciselyverbose@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    921·
    7 months ago

    Because they can’t use hardware decoding.

    Which is fair, but AV1 isn’t new any more, and it’s pretty universally recognized as better.

    • Eldritch@lemmy.worldEnglish
      21·
      7 months ago

      I think only the last generation or two of iPhones even supported h265. That said there’s a lot less reason for them to take as long supporting av1 if my understanding is correct about the patents Etc. And yes av1 is a massive step up. I’ve been redoing much of my jellyfin library with it and it’s fantastic. But they should still at least offer a fallback of 264 or 265.

      • narc0tic_bird@lemm.eeEnglish
        2·
        7 months ago

        The Apple A9 (iPhone 6S) added hardware decoding support for HEVC/H.265, the A10 (iPhone 7) added hardware encoding as well. If I recall correctly Apple was pretty much first in supporting saving video recordings in HEVC.

        You might be confusing this for AV1 support, which Apple added with the A17 Pro and the M3 (both decode only though).

        • Eldritch@lemmy.worldEnglish
          11·
          7 months ago

          No I’m not confusing it. But I’m definitely no expert. All I know is that especially over the pandemic years probably because of lots of family without newer phones at the time though I could have sworn several were. I kept getting lots of complaints about files not playing it all ended up being about h265. So you are probably right.

          I am very much not a Microsoft or apple person.

  • johannesvanderwhales@lemmy.worldEnglish
    41·
    7 months ago

    This is not a very helpful article summary.

    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 users have expressed concern over how the change will impact their battery life if it means a move away from hardware-accelerated decoding.

    • AnActOfCreation@programming.devOPEnglish
      281·
      7 months ago

      This is not a very helpful article summary.

      Sorry it wasn’t meant to be. I just thought it was funny that they’re taking advantage of VideoLAN’s library (which is presumably open source) rather than their own.

      • Kazumara@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
        6·
        7 months ago

        AV1 is based on VP9. Google made VP9 and it’s open source and royalty free.

        Google just joined the Alliance for Open Media and gave their VP9 as a starter for AV1 instead of making some other successor called VP10 or something on their own.

        During development of AV1 Google contributed a lot to libaom, the reference implementation in C++, but since this codebase grew together with the codec it is not the most clean design. Also the reference implementation benefits from being clear more than being fast.

        Therefore, instead, these days the later projects rav1e (encoder in rust, started by Xiph Foundation) and dav1d (decoder in C, started by the VideoLAN non-profit) are the fastest, because they started from a green field approach when the wire-format for AV1 was mostly fixed and they focused on speed.

        I think overall Google’s stance on the Alliance for Open Media makes sense. As part of the new media streaming techno bubble they (as well as Amazon, Facebook, even Microsoft) have an interest in getting an interoperable royalty free codec into the market, and spread it as far as possible, to avoid the rent seeking behaviour of the old guard, Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) from Hollywood and similar groups. For every device that wants support for H265 the OEM has to pay a license of around 1 dollar currently.

  • DanTDM@lemmy.worldEnglish
    232·
    7 months ago

    Reminder that all libaom versions are named after My Little Pony characters. Anytime you watch a video encoded in AV1 you are consuming My Little Pony content

  • MonkderDritte@feddit.deEnglish
    13·
    7 months ago

    Youtube has multiple format streams (vp9, avc (mp4), av1) by default. So frontends choose the one supported and good.

  • mlg@lemmy.worldEnglish
    9·
    7 months ago

    One one hand av1 has some great advantages and this will force some lagging OEMs to add hardware support

    On the other hand snake ass google already split encoding into premium qualities, so they’re just gonna set the “free” bitrate so low it may as well be H264.

  • HeavyRaptor@lemmy.zipEnglish
    8·
    7 months ago

    I’m still looking for something to replace my shield TV tube. I don’t believe that has AV1 support.

    • ours@lemmy.worldEnglish
      11·
      7 months ago

      Android added software-based AV 1 decode yesterday so the Shield could support it with an update.

  • magiccupcake@lemmy.worldEnglish
    51·
    7 months ago

    Are they still using Mp3 for audio or have they switched to something more modern for that too?

  • merthyr1831@lemmy.worldEnglish
    3·
    7 months ago

    Firefox for android supports extensions so could probably use youtube mp4 there. Not sure what other youtube frontends (if functional still since the crackdown) support changing the codec

  • Linkerbaan@lemmy.worldEnglish
    53·
    7 months ago

    AV1 has been quite disappointing compared to HEVC. Encoding and decoding is super heavy and hardware acceleration is very lacking.