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YouTube moves to AV1 by default to the dismay of some Android users
(www.androidpolice.com)
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this post was submitted on 19 Apr 2024
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Because they can't use hardware decoding.
Which is fair, but AV1 isn't new any more, and it's pretty universally recognized as better.
Hardware decoding is the whole point. Hardware support is notorious for lagging greatly behind software. Desktop support is not great either right now. It makes you wonder what Google's reason is, they have to be aware that must people won't be able to use it properly.
I know hardware decoding is the point. But you can't just wait until every phone on the planet supports it.
Their reason is that it's a massively better format.
The proper approach is simply to have the app check the hardware decode capabilities of the device and use the best option. Pretty sure that's what YT has always done for codec transitions in the past.
Forcing AV1 on devices without hardware decode will end up making users think their battery is starting to wear out, even with the better software decoder'
...massively better for whom? I mean I understand if they start using it and offering it to devices that support it. But if they push something that needs software decoding when there are other formats that have hardware support it's going to be a shit fest.
Right now AVC (H264) has hardware 4k support and HEVC (H265) has hardware 2k, while AV1 only has 1080p software. What's the point of offering AV1 4k?
Massively better quality per byte.
You know, the sole purpose of a lossy video codec?
But the licensing is also far better for end consumers.
None of that is going to benefit you if your phone barfs its guts trying to decode it. Until you get a phone with hardware support it's going to be purely theoretical. And if Google forces you to decode 720p AV1 in software when you have a perfectly good AVC and HEVC hardware decoder just sitting there is going to be downright stupid.
I think only the last generation or two of iPhones even supported h265. That said there's a lot less reason for them to take as long supporting av1 if my understanding is correct about the patents Etc. And yes av1 is a massive step up. I've been redoing much of my jellyfin library with it and it's fantastic. But they should still at least offer a fallback of 264 or 265.
The Apple A9 (iPhone 6S) added hardware decoding support for HEVC/H.265, the A10 (iPhone 7) added hardware encoding as well. If I recall correctly Apple was pretty much first in supporting saving video recordings in HEVC.
You might be confusing this for AV1 support, which Apple added with the A17 Pro and the M3 (both decode only though).
No I'm not confusing it. But I'm definitely no expert. All I know is that especially over the pandemic years probably because of lots of family without newer phones at the time though I could have sworn several were. I kept getting lots of complaints about files not playing it all ended up being about h265. So you are probably right.
I am very much not a Microsoft or apple person.