--- title: "What Is AV1? The Royalty-Free Video Codec Explained" description: "AV1 is a royalty-free video codec that compresses about 30% better than H.265. See which devices support it and when it is worth encoding." url: "https://www.rentanott.com/glossary/av1" markdown_url: "https://www.rentanott.com/glossary/av1.md" category: "Streaming technology" updated: "2026-10-05" --- # What is AV1? AV1 (AOMedia Video 1) is an open, royalty-free video codec released in 2018 by the Alliance for Open Media, a group that includes major browser, chip and streaming companies. It compresses roughly 30% more efficiently than H.265 and about 50% more than H.264. ## Why AV1 exists H.265 brought large efficiency gains and a tangle of patent licensing. AV1 was created to offer better compression with no royalties, so that browsers, device makers and services could adopt it freely. ## Device support Support is strongest on hardware from the last few years, so AV1 is delivered alongside older codecs, not in place of them. - Browsers: Chrome, Firefox and Edge decode it; Safari on devices with hardware support - Android: hardware decoding on recent mid-range and flagship phones - Apple: hardware decoding on recent iPhones and Macs - Televisions: most recent smart TVs and streaming devices - Older devices: software decoding only, which drains battery and may stutter at high resolutions ## The trade-offs AV1 encoding is slow and expensive, though it has improved greatly since the first encoders. It adds another set of renditions to store. The saving comes back on delivery, so it pays off for titles watched many times and not for a long tail watched rarely. ## When to use it - Your most-watched titles, where delivery cost dominates - Audiences on constrained mobile networks, where lower bitrates mean fewer stalls - 4K and HDR delivery to devices that support it - Not as your only codec: keep H.264 for everything else ## AV1 on RentAnOTT RentAnOTT handles encoding and adaptive delivery for you, up to 4K on Growth and Scale. Ask us on a demo which codecs apply to your catalog; the bitrate calculator compares bitrates by codec. [Try the bitrate calculator](https://www.rentanott.com/tools/video-bitrate-calculator). ## Related terms - [H.264](https://www.rentanott.com/glossary/h264) — H.264, also called AVC (Advanced Video Coding), is the most widely supported video compression standard. Finalized in 2003, it plays on practically every phone, computer, television and browser in use, which makes it the baseline codec for streaming. - [H.265](https://www.rentanott.com/glossary/h265) — H.265, also called HEVC (High Efficiency Video Coding), is the successor to H.264. It delivers the same picture quality at roughly 40% to 50% lower bitrate and is the standard codec for 4K and HDR streaming. - [Codec](https://www.rentanott.com/glossary/codec) — A codec is the algorithm used to compress video or audio for storage and delivery and to decompress it for playback. The name combines coder and decoder. The choice of codec determines how small a file is at a given quality and which devices can play it. - [Video encoding](https://www.rentanott.com/glossary/video-encoding) — Video encoding is compressing video with a codec, such as H.264, H.265 or AV1, so that it is small enough to store and stream. It removes detail the eye will not miss and describes each frame by how it differs from its neighbors. - [Bitrate](https://www.rentanott.com/glossary/bitrate) — Bitrate is the amount of data used to represent one second of video or audio, measured in kilobits or megabits per second (kbps or Mbps). A higher bitrate carries more detail and produces larger files and higher delivery costs. - [4K streaming](https://www.rentanott.com/glossary/4k-streaming) — 4K streaming is delivering video at a resolution of 3840 × 2160 pixels, also called Ultra HD or UHD, which is four times the pixel count of Full HD. It is usually offered together with HDR and reserved for a premium tier. - [Egress cost](https://www.rentanott.com/glossary/egress-cost) — Egress cost is the charge for data leaving a cloud provider's or CDN's network, billed per gigabyte transferred. For a streaming service it is the cost of delivering video to viewers, and it is usually the largest variable cost of the service. ## Further reading - [Streaming bandwidth cost calculator](https://www.rentanott.com/tools/streaming-bandwidth-cost-calculator) - [Matroska vs MP4](https://www.rentanott.com/blogs/matroska-vs-mp4) - [Pricing](https://www.rentanott.com/pricing) ## Frequently asked questions ### Is AV1 better than H.265? It compresses about 30% better and carries no royalties. H.265 has wider hardware support on older televisions and is cheaper to encode. ### Is AV1 free to use? It was designed to be royalty-free, and its backers license their patents on that basis. ### Should a new streaming service encode in AV1? Usually not at first. Start with H.264, add a more efficient codec once delivery cost is significant and you know which titles carry most of the viewing. All 163 terms: [Streaming and OTT glossary](https://www.rentanott.com/glossary). ## Book a demo Tell RentAnOTT what you are launching. The team walks through the platform and maps the path to go-live around your catalog, markets and revenue model. Book a demo: https://www.rentanott.com/contact ## More from RentAnOTT - [Home](https://www.rentanott.com/index.md) — What RentAnOTT is, what every plan includes, and how launch works - [Features](https://www.rentanott.com/features.md) — Every core feature and optional add-on - [Pricing](https://www.rentanott.com/pricing.md) — Platform tiers, apps, add-ons, usage rates and example bills in INR and USD - [Free tools](https://www.rentanott.com/tools.md) — OTT app builder and calculators for streaming revenue, bandwidth, bitrate and pricing - [Insights](https://www.rentanott.com/blogs.md) — All streaming business articles - [Glossary](https://www.rentanott.com/glossary.md) — Definitions of streaming and OTT terms - [Book a demo](https://www.rentanott.com/contact.md) — Talk to RentAnOTT about your launch Full site in one file: https://www.rentanott.com/llms-full.txt