We believe that everyone should have access to technology that will help them share their videos in the best possible quality for global audiences to enjoy. And we’re committed to deploying open and free technologies that will improve video experiences for everyone and enhance the future of our industry.
Today, we’re excited to say we’re taking the next step in our commitment and launching support for the AV1 video codec. Recent additions to Vimeo’s beloved Staff Picks will now be delivered in AV1 on any supported platform (including the most recent Chrome and Firefox).
David Jervidal‘s Staff Picked film “Capture the North” (below) is just one example of one of the many videos that will be leveraging AV1. Read on for a rundown of AV1.
AV1, codecs, and why it matters
If you’re not familiar, codecs are what are used to encode and decode media to enable faster transmission and delivery, making it possible to stream high-quality videos on the web.
AV1, designed by the Alliance for Open Media (Vimeo joined AOM last year), is considered the next generation codec and is the culmination of a joint effort by Google, Mozilla, Cisco and countless other companies, such as Intel, Twitch, Microsoft, and so many more. AV1 enables global creators to stream video content at a reduced bitrate without loss of visual quality. In other words, if you happen to be in a part of the world where you might not have the best internet connection, AV1 will still provide you with an impeccable viewing experience.
Across the industry, AV1 is still in the beginning phases of its development and deployment — there’s still a lot of work to be done — but it’s being adopted faster than any other royalty-free codec before it. So, expect more innovation around AV1 in the future.
To us, supporting AV1 is more than providing an excellent video experience (although that is a major part of it); we’re joining the movement for royalty-free video and furthering our commitment to empowering open-source communities across the industry, all over the world.
Want to learn more?
If you’re curious to learn more about AV1, want to hear about how we worked with Mozilla on their encoder rav1e, or just want to get technical, check out our engineering blog on the subject.