Rapid advances in artificial intelligence and AI-powered analytics are helping drive an unprecedented demand for high-resolution network video. As a result, more people than ever before are feeling the pinch of network and storage constraints.
Enter AV1: a next-generation video encoding standard designed to solve this challenge.
In a first for the network camera industry, Axis pioneered support for the AV1 codec with the 2024 release of the ARTPEC 9 system-on-chip (SoC). But what is AV1? What sets it apart from other capable video encoding formats? And why does AV1 matter, especially now?
What is AV1?
The AV1 codec is a video encoding format built for the modern internet, developed by the Alliance for Open Media (AoM).
This organization was founded in 2015 by leading tech innovators including Google, Amazon, Cisco, Intel, Microsoft, Mozilla, Nvidia, and Netflix, to provide the next generation of video communication technology.
Three years later, they released the AV1 specification, purpose-built for the streaming era.
As a collaborative undertaking, AV1 is open-source friendly, with freely accessible verification streams. It’s available completely license-free from AoM.
AV1 video encoding represents a significant leap forward, delivering:
- High-quality video at low bitrates
- Support for video wider than 8K
- Extended playback compatibility, thanks to decoding support in web browsers, operating systems, and mobile devices.
Why move beyond H.264 and H.265
Currently, the vast majority of network camera solutions rely on legacy encoding methods such as H.264 and H.265. Although they’ve served the industry well, they’re now under pressure.
The growing demand for high-resolution footage forces organizations to compromise between infrastructure costs and ease of implementation. AV1 video encoding is the alternative to this compromise.
What is the difference between H.264 and H.265?
Understanding the limits of these legacy codecs comes down to bandwidth vs. accessibility. H.264, also called Advanced Video Coding (AVC) is a 20-year-old technology.
It has wide support and performs reliably, but it requires high bitrates to preserve visual clarity. Across large-scale high-resolution camera systems, that means high costs, infrastructure bottlenecks, or both.
Its intended successor, H.265, also called High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) , successfully transmits high-quality video at lower bandwidths. Unfortunately, its restrictive licensing has limited its adoption by making it virtually impossible for browser vendors to include client decoders.
That’s left many end users with the complicated process of installing the necessary decoders themselves.
AV1 vs H.264/AVC
For network video users, replacing legacy H.264 with the modern AV1 standard yields dramatic improvements. AV1 performs well across all kinds of video material, delivering efficient streams with an attractive quality-to-bitrate ratio.
Typically, systems using H.264 on ARTPEC-8, the most common current setup, reduce bitrate by around 40% by switching to AV1. When H.264 is pushed to operate at lower bitrates, image quality deteriorates.
That can lead to blurring of crucial forensic details, like text or license plates. AV1 more successfully preserves this information, even with limited bandwidth, ensuring your video remains actionable.
AV1 vs H.265/HEVC
When handling high-resolution video and complex motion, AV1 delivers clarity entirely on par with H.265. Running on the ARTPEC-9 chip, it can also yield an impressive bitrate reduction of around 25% over the H.265 encoder on ARTPEC-8.
However, the defining strategic advantage of the AV1 codec is that it offers this high-level performance without the complicated licensing associated with H.265. By removing major adoption barriers, AV1 paves the way for universal client support.
Already, AV1 video encoding is supported by all major browsers, computer operating systems, and mobile platforms.
Top 5 benefits of the AV1 codec
AV1 brings five core benefits to the IP video industry, creating opportunities in surveillance, monitoring, and business intelligence. Here’s what AV1 enables, and why it’s set to become the new standard for network video infrastructure:
Deliver higher quality at lower bitrates
AV1 video encoding is explicitly engineered for streaming media, offering uncompromised image quality at low bitrates.
It is also capable of supporting video resolutions wider than 8K, previously only possible with H.265. 8K resolutions aren’t widespread yet, but that day is on the horizon. AV1 helps ensure that running those high-fidelity streams is a realistic possibility when the time comes.
Reduce storage costs
Because the AV1 codec generates highly efficient streams, it significantly changes the math on storage expenses.
Consider a retail chain operating 2,000 cameras across 150 locations, all streaming at 1080p or higher. Using H.264, that generates terabytes of data per day. Switching those streams to AV1 could cut storage needs by roughly 40%.
Organizations can then maintain large, high-resolution video archives for forensic purposes and long-term analysis, without prohibitive infrastructure costs.
Support stronger AI performance
When it comes to modern AI-powered analytics, an algorithm can only be as good as the visual data it receives. Rich, clear images are crucial for analytics to deliver reliable information.
If legacy codecs overly compress footage to save bandwidth, critical details can be lost or blurred, leading to suboptimal performance.
In contrast, AV1 video encoding preserves visual details at lower bitrates, helping ensure that visual data remains intact.
Optimize for cloud and streaming
Streaming directly from the camera remains essential for local operations and real-time object detection.
But modern enterprise architectures increasingly require video to be routed through the cloud for secure remote access or the use of compute-heavy AI models.
With solid support across all major cloud frameworks, AV1 has emerged as the preferred decoder for cloud-based applications. Building AV1 capabilities directly into network cameras makes it easier to bridge between applications and bring hybrid solutions to market faster.
Many standardized cloud technologies, such as WebRTC, already use AV1 video encoding.
Enable open and future-ready workflows
From an architectural standpoint, proprietary technology can often lead to restrictive roadblocks. Because AV1 is a royalty-free, open-source codec, it supports interoperability and long-term viability.
AV1 provides hassle-free playback, with decoding support already built into modern web browsers, computer operating systems, and mobile devices.
And on the development side, this openness means programmers can leverage familiar AXIS OS APIs (VAPIX) for customized integrations, as well as tools like FFmpeg to efficiently extract and render AV1 streams.
The video monitoring market is ready for AV1
Understanding AV1 means understanding both where the network video industry is now and where it’s heading.
By delivering high-resolution, cost-efficient streaming and storage without complicated licensing, the AV1 codec provides distinct operational and financial advantages.
The full industry transition will take years, and support for legacy encoding methods will remain essential in the interim. Even so, this next-generation codec is on a fast track to becoming the new standard for network video.
As forward-looking vendors embrace AV1, transmitting detail-rich video at scale becomes easier and cheaper. That, in turn, enables organizations to scale AI-powered analysis of their video data more efficiently.
AV1 video encoding isn’t just revolutionizing the market. It’s securing the future of the high-performance video infrastructure needed for business intelligence and other actionable insights.
At Axis, we’re proud to be the first network camera supplier to provide AV1 video encoding to our customers and partners. All products with the ARTPEC-9 SoC include support for AV1 in addition to H.264 and H.265.
