मुख्य जानकारी
YouTube has officially announced plans to begin streaming content using the AV2 codec by early 2027. As the successor to AV1, this royalty-free format promises approximately 30% improved compression efficiency, enabling higher visual fidelity at existing bitrates or reduced bandwidth consumption.
Beyond basic compression gains, the AV2 standard introduces technical enhancements including support for multi-view and multi-stream video, increased frame rates, and superior HDR performance. These features aim to modernize video delivery across the platform's extensive library.
Google has demonstrated AV2 playback within a custom Chrome build, though specific version support remains unconfirmed. Hardware decoding is currently unavailable on consumer GPUs or televisions, necessitating reliance on CPU-based software decoding. VideoLAN notes that AV2 decoding complexity is roughly five times higher than that of AV1.
While YouTube leads the transition, other industry players like Meta, Netflix, and Prime Video are exploring the format. Intel is currently developing the SVT-AV2 encoder, suggesting a gradual industry shift from software-based early adoption toward future dedicated hardware integration.
