AV1 vs VP9
TL;DR: AV1 is the current global king of high-efficiency streaming, VP9 is the older reliable standard used by YouTube,.
AV1 (AOMedia Video 1)
The successor to VP9, developed by a massive group (Google, Apple, Netflix, Amazon) to provide the highest possible quality without royalty fees.
- Best for: 4K/8K streaming, HDR content, and low-bandwidth mobile video.
- Compression Efficiency: The best of the three. It is roughly 30% more efficient than VP9 and HEVC (H.265).
- The Catch: It is extremely "heavy." Encoding (creating) an AV1 video requires massive CPU power or specialized new hardware.
- Status: It is the current industry standard for high-end web video. Most modern GPUs (RTX 30/40 series, Intel Arc) have hardware support for it.
VP9
Developed by Google as an open-source alternative to H.264/H.265. It was the primary codec for YouTube's 4K content for years.
- Best for: General web video, older 4K devices, and browsers where AV1 is too heavy.
- Compression Efficiency: Better than H.264, roughly equal to H.265, but noticeably worse than AV1.
- The Catch: It is being phased out by AV1. While still widely supported, it no longer represents the "cutting edge" of file size reduction.
- Status: Extremely stable and widely supported across almost every device made in the last 10 years.
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | VP9 | AV1 |
|---|---|---|
| Developer | AOMedia (Global Tech Giants) | |
| Licensing | Royalty-Free | Royalty-Free |
| Efficiency | High | Ultra High |
| Encoding Speed | Medium | Very Slow (High Complexity) |
| Global Adoption | Everywhere | Growing (Netflix, YouTube) |
| Primary Use | YouTube 1080p/4K | 4K/8K, HDR Web Video |
Which one should you care about?
- If you are a regular viewer: You are likely already using VP9 and AV1 without knowing it. YouTube automatically switches between them depending on your device's power.
- If you are a content creator: Exporting in AV1 is the future, but it takes a long time to render. For now, VP9 (or the classic H.264) is still the safer bet for compatibility.
AV1/VP9 vs H.264/265/266
The comparison between these two "camps" of codecs is essentially a battle between Open/Royalty-Free standards (AV1/VP9) and Licensed/Proprietary standards (H.264/265/266).
Whether one is "better" depends on whether you are looking at cost, efficiency, or compatibility.
The Financial Advantage: Licensing (The "Killer" Feature)
The biggest reason AV1 and VP9 exist is money.
- H.264, H.265, and H.266: These are developed by the MPEG group. To use them, hardware manufacturers (like Apple or Samsung) and sometimes streaming services must pay massive royalty fees to patent pools.
- AV1 and VP9: These are royalty-free. Any company can build hardware or software for them without paying a cent to a licensing body.
- Why this matters: This is why Google created VP9 and why the "Alliance for Open Media" (Google, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Meta) created AV1. It saves them billions of dollars in streaming and hardware costs.
Compression Efficiency (File Size vs. Quality)
If we rank these codecs by how small they can make a file while keeping the image looking perfect, the order of "best to worst" generally looks like this:
- H.266 (VVC): The current king of efficiency. It can make a file 50% smaller than H.265 with the same quality.
- AV1: Extremely close to H.266. It is roughly 30% more efficient than H.265/HEVC and significantly better than VP9.
- H.265 (HEVC) / VP9: These two are roughly tied. They were the standard for 4K for the last decade.
- H.264 (AVC): The old standard. It produces files much larger than the others for the same quality.
The "Better" Verdict: AV1 is considered better than H.265 because it offers better quality at lower bitrates for free. However, H.266 (VVC) is technically more efficient than AV1, but its high licensing costs are slowing its adoption.
Hardware Support and Encoding Speed
This is where the "H" series (H.264/265) usually wins.
- The Struggle of AV1: AV1 is incredibly complex. It takes a lot of computing power to "squish" a video into an AV1 file. For a long time, there was no hardware in computers to help with this, so encoding was painfully slow.
- The Advantage of H.264/265: Because these have been around so long, almost every chip (in your phone, your laptop, and your TV) has a dedicated "engine" just for them. This makes them very fast and keeps your battery from draining while watching video.
- The Shift: Modern hardware (Nvidia RTX 40-series, Apple M3/M4 chips, and recent Intel CPUs) now includes AV1 hardware acceleration, finally making AV1 as "fast" as the H-series.
Summary: Which is "Better"?
| Feature | AV1 / VP9 | H.264 / 265 / 266 | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free (Royalty-free) | Expensive (Licensing fees) | AV1 / VP9 |
| Efficiency | Very High (AV1 is elite) | Ultra High (H.266 is the best) | H.266 (Technical) / AV1 (Practical) |
| Compatibility | Best for Web/Browsers | Best for TVs, Cameras, Phones | H.264 / 265 |
| Internet Use | Used by YouTube/Netflix/Twitch | Used by Disney+/Blu-ray | AV1 / VP9 |
| Encoding Speed | Very Slow (Software) | Fast (Wide hardware support) | H.264 / 265 |
The Final Verdict:
- AV1 is "better" for the internet. It allows companies like Netflix and YouTube to stream 4K video to you using much less data, and they don't have to pay royalties to do it.
- The H-Series is "better" for devices and recording. If you are filming a video on a GoPro or a professional camera, H.265 is still the standard because the hardware is more mature and the files are easier for most editing software to handle.
- VP9 is effectively being "retired" in favor of AV1.
Is YouTube Migrating From VP9 to AV1?
Yes, but it is a long-term transition, not an immediate switch.
Google treats AV1 as the successor to VP9, but because AV1 is much harder to process, the two codecs will coexist for years. You should view this as an "expansion" where AV1 takes over the high-quality/high-traffic tier, while VP9 remains the workhorse for general compatibility.
How to check which codec is being used?
Open any video on YouTube. Right-click the video and select Stats for Nerds.
Look at the Codecs line:
- If it says
av01..., you are using AV1. - If it says
vp09..., you are using VP9 (Google's older codec). - If it says
avc1..., you are using H.264.