AOMedia’s AV2 codec is around 30% more efficient than AV1

AO Media and Netflix unveil AV2’s efficiency gains over AV1

As part of a new presentation, Netflix’s Andrey Norkin unveiled new details about AOMedia’s upcoming AV2 video codec. The AV2 codec is due to be released before the end of 2025, and reportedly delivers around 30% efficiency gains over today’s AV1 codec.

Like AV1, AV2 will be a royalty-free specification. Due to its efficiency gains, AOMedia expects AV2 to gain widespread adoption over the next few years. With AV2, users can use the codec to deliver the same levels of video quality with less bandwidth or a lower bitrate. Alternatively, users can use it to enable higher levels of image quality with the same bitrates as today.

Overall, AV2 appears to be around 30% more efficient than AV1. In the YUV-PSNR test, it is 28.68% more efficient than AV1, and in Netflix’s VAMF test, it is 32.59% more efficient.

AV2’s efficiency gains come from a wide range of improvements. These include larger superblocks, smarter partitioning, improved prediction, and other alterations. AI and machine learning are not an integral component of AV2. AOMedia have confirmed that AI/ML extensions may be added to AV2, though these were not all elaborated upon.

Overall, AV2 appears to deliver solid improvements over AV1. However, it should be remembered that it will be years before we see AV2-compatible hardware and content. Don’t expect AV2 to be widely used by the industry anytime soon.

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