One of Faultline’s predictions for 2020 was that the codec wars were destined to intensify after an extended period of relative hush. Most industry projections have since been voided, with various arms of the video industry since joining in solidarity to traverse the challenging terrain thrown up by quarantines, which has only served to elevate the demand for advanced compression techniques. When this all blows over, the major codec funders and patent pools will forget all about unity and commit full throttle to the dirty tactics that have become associated with the codec industry. We have heard stories from the dirty underbelly of R&D, consisting of academic insults, old-guard snobbery, and even outright lies to block deployments. Our revised prediction…