Netflix has begun streaming select titles encoded in
the new, more efficient AV1 codec to compatible Smart TVs and game consoles.
AV1 is the first royalty-free high-efficiency video codec, developed by a
non-profit industry consortium called the Alliance for Open Media, or AOMedia.
This group was founded in 2015 by a few scrappy, up-and-coming tech companies,
including Google, Amazon, Apple,
Facebook, Netflix, Microsoft, Samsung, Intel, and Nvidia.
Based in Wakefield, Massachusetts, AOMedia is committed
to developing “open, royalty-free technology for multimedia delivery,” and now
enjoys backing from an even longer laundry-list of industry heavy-hitters,
including Adobe, AMD, Hulu, Realtek, and the BBC. The AV1 codec is reportedly
between 20 and 40 percent more efficient than the current HEVC (H.265) codec, which replaced MPEG4 (H.264). The HEVC
format is currently being used by Netflix, Amazon, Disney+, Apple TV+, and others,
to stream video in 4K HDR. The higher efficiency of AV1 over HEVC means that
AV1 can offer superior video quality at any given bitrate. That translates to higher
overall video quality when bandwidth isn’t being squeezed, and fewer drops in
video quality when the bits can’t flow as freely as we might prefer. Netflix
first began streaming AV1-encoded
movies and TV shows to compatible Android mobile
devices in early
2020. Youtube followed suit in May of 2020, using AV1 to stream 8K content to 8K TVs. Now, Netflix has started
streaming AV1 content to certain Smart TVs from Samsung, and to select Android TV devices (with
Android OS 10 and above), select Amazon Fire TV devices (with Fire OS 7 and
above), and the Sony PS4
Pro gaming
console. Curiously, Sony’s newer PS5 console isn’t yet getting AV1 Netflix
streams, but Netflix has stated that the company will eventually “roll out AV1
on all of our platforms.”
Today we are excited to announce that Netflix has
started streaming AV1 to TVs. With this advanced encoding format, we are
confident that Netflix can deliver an even more amazing experience to our
members. We compared AV1 to other codecs over thousands of Netflix titles, and
saw significant compression efficiency improvements from AV1.
— Netflix
According to Netflix, all of the company’s AV1 streams
are encoded in 10-bit at the highest available source resolution and frame-rate, but not yet in HDR (High Dynamic
Range). Netflix says that AV1 with HDR is “another exciting direction we are
exploring.” AV1 is a complicated codec capable of delivering a wide range of
quality levels depending on the bandwidth available. For example, AV1 level 4.0
can deliver a 1080p video at 30 fps (frames-per-second), at a bitrate of just
12 Mbps. The highest currently-defined level of AV1 is level 6.3, which can
deliver an 8K video at 120 frames-per-second. Doing so requires bitrates in
excess of 160 Mbps, and up to 800 Mbps, depending on factors like bit-depth and
chroma subsampling. Future levels of AV1 are expected to accommodate even
higher-quality video content as the technology is further developed, and as
home internet speeds continue to climb. Netflix has not specified which levels
of AV1 are currently being used to encode the company’s content, but did say
that “some streams have a peak bitrate close to the upper limit allowed by the
spec.” Streaming a 4K video at 30 fps requires AV1 level 5.0. Level 5.1 ups the
frame-rate to 60 fps, and only needs 40 Mbps of bandwidth to make it happen.
Compared to MPEG4 and HEVC, “AV1 delivers videos with improved visual quality
at the same bitrate,” according to Netflix. A feature called dynamic
optimization allows the …….
Source: https://www.audioholics.com/hdtv-formats/netflix-av1