Android Embraces AV1 Video Decoding with dav1d Integration
As the digital world continues to evolve, the AV1 video coding format stands out as a beacon of innovation, offering an open and royalty-free codec tailored for internet video streaming. This format, heralded as the successor to Google’s VP9, distinguishes itself from established codecs like H.264 and H.265 (HEVC) by providing a license free of constraints, thereby fostering its adoption in open-source initiatives. In the realm of data compression, AV1 shines, with third-party evaluations demonstrating its superior ability to compress data more effectively than its competitors.
Arif Dikici, the mind behind video and image codecs on Android at Google, has unveiled a significant advancement for the mobile operating system: the integration of an official, software-based AV1 decoder. This decoder, known as dav1d, is the brainchild of VideoLAN’s assembly experts and is recognized for its exceptional performance in the VLC media player. Dikici lauds dav1d as the premier software AV1 decoder of our time.
Android users can look forward to this enhancement reaching devices as far back as Android S (Android 12), courtesy of an update that commenced its journey to users alongside the March 2024 Google Play system update. With the advent of dav1d, a vast array of smartphones and Android devices will gain the capability to decode 720p30 videos, all without the need for specialized hardware.
While the quintessential AV1 decoding experience is best achieved with hardware designed to natively support the format, such hardware decoders are not as ubiquitous as one might hope. In this interim period, a proficient and swift software decoder like dav1d serves as an excellent stopgap, ensuring that even older and more affordable devices can keep pace with video technology advancements.
For third-party applications to reap the benefits of Android’s dav1d decoder, opting in is necessary. However, Dikici indicates that this library is on the cusp of becoming the default software decoder for AV1 on the platform. When compared to libgav1, the current default AV1 codec, the upcoming “libdav1d” library appears to be significantly more efficient, promising enhanced performance. Nevertheless, it’s worth noting that a dedicated hardware decoder would still outperform any software-based solution.
YouTube is among the early adopters of libdav1d, although there have been indications that server-side changes enforcing AV1 video streaming may have been temporarily rolled back. The switch to the new library could potentially lead to higher power consumption, but the impact will vary across different devices.
For Android users with entry-level devices, the prospect of decoding higher-resolution videos is particularly appealing. App developers, too, stand to benefit from the improved video capabilities this update brings. VideoLAN is not resting on its laurels either; they are actively working to enhance the efficiency of their dav1d decoder to curb power usage. While the limitations of a software decoder are acknowledged, the next release of dav1d is expected to offer a 12 percent improvement in certain scenarios, signaling continuous progress in video decoding technology.
