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Reference Formats

AV1

AV1 is a royalty-free video codec, not a container, built by an industry consortium as an alternative to HEVC's fragmented licensing, typically delivered inside MP4 or WebM.

Extension

.av1

Full name

AOMedia Video 1

Introduced

2018

Vendor

Alliance for Open Media (AOMedia) — founding members include Google, Amazon, Cisco, Intel, Microsoft, Mozilla, and Netflix

What is inside the container

AV1 is packaged inside MP4 or WebM containers rather than defining its own; its royalty-free status comes from the Alliance for Open Media Patent License, under which member companies cross-license their essential patents to each other and to implementers at no cost. That pledge covers AOMedia members' own patents, not every conceivable third-party patent — non-member patent-assertion activity against AV1 implementers has occurred and, as of 2026, includes active, unresolved litigation.

How to open it

Command line (any OS) ffmpeg with SVT-AV1 (`-c:v libsvtav1`), the Intel/Netflix-backed encoder that is 2–5x faster than the reference libaom encoder at similar quality, making it the practical production default for AV1 encoding.
Browsers Chrome, Firefox, and Edge all support AV1 playback natively; Safari added support from version 17 with hardware-dependent decode on recent Apple silicon.
Hardware decode/encode NVIDIA RTX 40-series GPUs, Intel Arc GPUs, and Apple M3/A17 Pro and later chips include hardware AV1 decode; NVIDIA RTX 40-series and Intel Arc also support hardware AV1 encode.
Software fallback playback VLC plays AV1 natively using dav1d, an extremely fast software decoder that serves as the fallback wherever hardware AV1 decode isn't available.

For archives

AV1 is a strong choice for storage- and bandwidth-conscious delivery proxies given its royalty-free status and efficiency advantage over H.264, but hardware decode support is newer than H.264's — devices older than roughly 2021 may lack it, so pair AV1 delivery with an H.264 fallback for broad compatibility. Encoding is comparatively slow with the reference libaom encoder, so DAM pipelines processing AV1 at scale should default to the faster SVT-AV1 encoder rather than libaom for practical throughput.

AV1 was developed by the Alliance for Open Media, a consortium founded in 2015 by Amazon, Cisco, Google, Intel, Microsoft, Mozilla, and Netflix, with the finalized bitstream specification released in March 2018 and a validated 1.0 release that June. It was built specifically as a response to HEVC’s fragmented, multi-pool patent licensing — AOMedia member companies cross-license their essential patents to each other and to implementers under the Alliance for Open Media Patent License at no cost, giving AV1 a genuinely royalty-free design from the outset rather than a free tier bolted onto a paid pool.

That royalty-free status has held up well but is not absolute immunity from all patent risk — it’s a pledge among AOMedia’s own members, not a guarantee against every third-party patent claim. Sisvel formed a separate licensing program targeting AV1 implementers outside the AOMedia pledge as early as 2019, and in March 2026 Dolby Laboratories sued Snap Inc. in the US and Brazil over patents covering both AV1 and HEVC — patents Dolby acquired from GE and asserts independently of AOMedia’s cross-license, since Dolby was never an AOMedia member. That litigation was active and unresolved as of mid-2026, worth noting as ongoing risk rather than a settled outcome, though it does not revoke or contradict AOMedia members’ own royalty-free commitments to each other.

  • AOMedia members cross-license their essential patents to each other and to implementers at no cost, under the Alliance for Open Media Patent License
  • Sisvel, never an AOMedia member, launched a separate licensing program targeting AV1 implementers in 2019
  • Dolby Laboratories, also never an AOMedia member, sued Snap Inc. in the US and Brazil in March 2026 over patents it says cover both AV1 and HEVC

Adoption has moved quickly on the delivery side: Netflix has reported AV1 now powers roughly 30% of its total streaming hours, and YouTube has shifted a substantial share of its catalog to AV1 as well. Browser support is broad — Chrome, Firefox, and Edge all decode it natively, and Safari added support from version 17 — though hardware decode still depends on relatively recent silicon (NVIDIA RTX 30-series and later, Intel 12th-gen and later, Apple M3/A17 Pro and later). For a DAM, that makes AV1 an increasingly practical choice for storage-conscious delivery proxies, provided an H.264 fallback stays available for the meaningful population of older devices still lacking AV1 hardware decode.

Frequently asked

Is AV1 truly royalty-free, or is that just marketing?

It is genuinely royalty-free by design for AOMedia members and implementers relying on their patent cross-license, backed by the Alliance for Open Media Patent License. That said, it isn't blanket immunity from every possible patent claim — non-member entities have separately asserted patents against AV1 implementers, including active 2026 litigation, so treat it as royalty-free by design rather than risk-free in every jurisdiction.

How much smaller are AV1 files compared to H.264?

AV1 generally needs meaningfully less bitrate than H.264 for comparable quality — commonly cited savings are in the 30–50% range depending on content, which is a real consideration for storage-heavy DAM libraries choosing a delivery codec.

Does every browser support AV1 playback?

Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Opera, and Samsung Internet all support it natively. Safari added support starting with version 17, though playback there can depend on available hardware decode on the specific Apple device.

Is AV1 hardware-accelerated on most devices, or mostly software-decoded?

It's a mix — recent hardware (NVIDIA RTX 30-series and later, Intel Arc/12th-gen and later, Apple M3/A17 Pro and later, AMD RDNA2 and later) includes dedicated AV1 decode, but older devices fall back to software decoding via decoders like dav1d, which is fast but more CPU-intensive.

Which AV1 encoder should a DAM pipeline actually use?

SVT-AV1, developed with Intel and Netflix backing, rather than the original libaom reference encoder — SVT-AV1 is 2–5x faster at similar quality, making it the practical default for production transcoding at scale.

Why is there litigation around AV1 if it's supposed to be royalty-free?

AOMedia's royalty-free pledge covers patents held by its own member companies. Dolby, which was never an AOMedia member, sued Snap Inc. in March 2026 over separately acquired patents it says cover both AV1 and HEVC — a live dispute over non-member patent claims, not a challenge to the AOMedia cross-license itself.

Should AV1 replace H.264 entirely for DAM delivery proxies?

Not entirely, at least not yet — AV1's hardware decode support is newer and narrower than H.264's near-universal coverage, so most DAMs pair AV1 delivery for capable devices with an H.264 fallback for older hardware rather than dropping H.264 outright.

Is AV1 adoption actually significant among major platforms?

Yes — Netflix has publicly reported AV1 powering roughly 30% of its streaming hours, and YouTube has migrated a substantial share of its playback to AV1 as well, making it a mainstream production codec rather than an experimental one at this point.

Sources