Google may require AV1 codec support on all new Android TV devices

Google's Android TV devices launching after March 31, 2021 will support AV1 video decoding. This requirement is said to apply to all new TV products launching with Android 10 or Android 11 later this year, reports XDADevelopers.

AV1 is a video codec rated to enhance file compression compared to its current alternatives.

Google has already started using AV1 on YouTube, Chrome, and Duo on compatible devices and plans to expand those efforts to Google Photos, Play Movies/Google TV, Meet, and even Stadia over time.

AV1 is gaining popularity for online streaming and media consumption, only a handful of streaming services to date encode some of their content in AV1.

It is a fast-emerging codec rated to boost compression efficiency by 20 per cent and 50 per cent compared to its better-known couterparts VP9 and H.264 respectively. Therefore, it might allow playback at higher resolutions and smaller file-sizes.

YouTube streams some videos encoded in AV1 on select Android TV devices and Netflix streams select titles in AV1 if the service's data saving mode is turned on.

According to Android TV Guide, it has also recently mandated that AV1 decoding be available on all Android 10 TV devices to come - so long as it has the chipset to support.