AV1 at the Front: How Today’s Codec Choices Shape Tomorrow’s Video Ecosystem  

As the video industry accelerates toward digital-first, codec evolution has become a defining strategic priority. Over the past year, one codec has moved from “emerging” to “inevitable”, AV1.  

With broad ecosystem support, royalty-free licensing, and meaningful bitrate savings, AV1 is reshaping compression strategies across OTT, broadcast, and device manufacturing. 

Yet AV1 is only one part of a broader transformation. New standards like VVC, new use cases such as 3D and immersive video, and emerging AI-driven approaches including Next-Generation Video Codecs (NGVC) are influencing how content distributors plan for the next decade. What follows is a concise view of the codec landscape as we enter 2026, with AV1 as its gravitational center. 

AV1: The Catalyst Codec for the Next Five Years 

AV1’s momentum stems from a combination of technical, economic, and ecosystem-driven advantages. The most significant is its royalty-free licensing, managed by the Alliance for Open Media. Unlike other codec options that come with more costly and fragmented royalty structures, AV1 greatly reduces licensing risk, an increasingly critical factor for OTT platforms operating at massive scale.

This economic benefit is strengthened by roughly 15% additional bitrate efficiency over HEVC, leading to substantial distribution and storage savings when applied across global VOD libraries and live streaming portfolios.

These two elements alone establish AV1 as one of the most cost-efficient codecs available to high-volume operators.

Ecosystem maturity has also reached a tipping point. AV1 is now supported across YouTube-compatible Smart TVs, Android 11+ devices, Apple’s iPhone 15 Pro and M3-based processors and higher, and major silicon vendors including Qualcomm, MediaTek, and Broadcom. Apple’s adoption filled the last major device-side gap, completing end-to-end coverage across streaming, mobile, and connected TV environments.

Technically, AV1 distinguishes itself with native HDR support. This simplifies encoding and ensures consistent playback across diverse content types. AV1 also includes Film Grain Synthesis, which removes grain during encoding and reconstructs it at playback, preserving artistic intent while reducing bitrate by up to two third for grain-heavy content.

AV1 is not without limitations. Its lack of robust resilience tools and absence of built-in packet recovery make it less suitable for traditional broadcast environments, and its higher encoding complexity can be challenging for live workflows. However, these costs are often offset by broader efficiency and TCO gains. As streaming becomes the dominant mode of consumption, AV1’s strengths increasingly outweigh its constraints.

Beyond AV1: The Codec Landscape in 2026 

H.264: Still here, but aging fast 

Despite being more than twenty years old, H.264 remains the most widely deployed codec across OTT services, browsers, cable, IPTV, DTT, satellite, and broadcast. Its near–royalty-free status and universal hardware support keep it relevant for compatibility. However, H.264 struggles with 4K, HDR, and modern adaptive streaming demands. As consumer expectations rise, the codec’s inefficiency makes it increasingly unsuitable for future-focused workflows.

HEVC: The Efficiency Workhorse 

HEVC delivered the first major leap beyond H.264, offering 30–40% bitrate savings and enabling the practical rollout of 4K. It remains central to UHD workflows, supported by FCC mandates for satellite distribution, and is widely used in 4K and HD HDR production, contribution and delivery workflows. HEVC serves as the foundation for ATSC 3.0. Apple’s adoption in 2017 ensured strong device-side penetration, while innovations like tiling opened the door to advanced streaming use cases.  

Despite these strengths, HEVC’s complex royalty environment continues to hinder adoption, pushing many OTT services toward AV1’s simpler economic model. 

MV-HEVC: The enabler of consumer 3D 

Though nearly a decade old, MV-HEVC has found renewed relevance with devices like Apple Vision Pro. It is the first codec capable of delivering true HDR stereoscopic video and supports Dolby Vision, making it ideal for premium 3D and immersive cinematic content. MV-HEVC improves efficiency through inter-view prediction, reducing bitrate by ~30% for the second eye and about 15% overall for stereoscopic delivery. Recent industry demonstrations, such as those presented at NAB 2024 and in collaborative publications highlight MV-HEVC’s pivotal role in enabling high-quality, immersive 3D experiences. With immersive media gaining traction, MV-HEVC is positioned for a new wave of adoption. 

VVC: The efficiency leader 

VVC represents the next major step in compression efficiency, offering 30–40% bitrate savings over HEVC through expanded coding tools, more flexible block partitioning, and improved intra/inter prediction. Unlike AV1—which is primarily OTT-focused—VVC performs well across both broadcast and streaming environments. This dual capability is reflected in real-world deployments, including Brazil’s TV 3.0 initiative and TikTok’s large-scale adoption in China. As 4K, 8K, and high-frame-rate content grow, VVC is emerging as a strong candidate for the next stage of the codec roadmap. 

VP9: Google’s internal alternative 

VP9, developed by Google as an alternative to HEVC, became central to YouTube streaming but saw limited adoption elsewhere. Without broad hardware support or industry alignment, VP9 remained largely confined to Google’s ecosystem. As the market shifts, H.264 remains the compatibility baseline, HEVC serves UHD, and AV1 is becoming the preferred next-generation OTT codec.

What’s Next? AV2, AI Codecs, and NGVC 

Looking ahead, the industry is actively advancing toward a future where machine learning is central to video compression and moving rapidly. As of early January 2026, the final specification has been nearing completion, but its public release has been anticipated for the end of 2025. Next-Generation Video Codecs (NGVC) is in development and already implementing innovations such as neural prediction models, AI-driven rate-distortion optimization, and fully learned compression frameworks. These approaches are pushing beyond incremental improvement of hybrid-codecs, marking a shift toward perceptually optimized, AI-based coding.

Choosing the Right Codec: It’s Now About TCO, and Great Quality 

Codec decisions now extend far beyond PSNR, VMAF, or subjective quality. Operators must evaluate device support, royalty exposure, compute demands, delivery and storage costs, operational efficiency across OTT and broadcast, and emerging needs such as 4K HDR, 8K, 3D, VR/AR, and low-latency workflows. Within this broader matrix, AV1 is emerging as the preferred codec for OTT, HEVC and VVC remain strong in broadcast and regulated environments, and MV-HEVC is becoming the codec of choice for immersive experiences.

Summary: AV1 Has Sparked a New Codec Era 

A few years ago, it would have seemed optimistic to predict AV1’s dominance. However, its leadership in the codec landscape has quickly become evident as ecosystem support has expanded. AV1 is now positioned to lead OTT streaming for the foreseeable future, while HEVC, VVC, MV-HEVC, and upcoming AI-driven codecs support an increasingly diverse media landscape. Today, the codec universe has evolved from a single race into a constellation of specialized tools, with AV1 now sitting at its center.

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