After Android mobile devices in early 2020, Netflix now offers content compressed in AV1 on a selection of Smart TVs and game consoles.
AV1, késako?
As a reminder, AV1 is a royalty-free compression / decompression codec, competing with HEVC, offered by the Alliance for Open Media (AOM) foundation supported by big names in technology such as Microsoft, Apple, Google, Microsoft , Amazon, Facebook, Cisco, Mozilla and - of course - Netflix, which will integrate AV1 on their machines and applications.
Talk to Netflix
"We have compared the AV1 to other codecs on thousands of Netflix titles, and have seen an improvement in compression efficiency for the AV1," says the streaming platform. All Netflix AV1 streams are 10-bit encoded at the highest resolution and frame rate possible, including HFR, but HDR is not yet supported. Note that the AV1 requires a compatible television or console (the PS4 Pro for example), and that Netflix is working with its partners to extend the availability of the AV1, as well as its quality, in particular to add HDR technology.
Precision, knowing that encoding in AV1 is time consuming to achieve, only the most popular titles on the platform will be converted for the moment.
