Bitmovin cannot currently reveal the secret sauce behind its AV1 3-Pass encoding to produce improved visual quality at the same target bitrate, because the vendor has applied for a patent to legally protect the unique technique. In the same breath, Bitmovin is attempting to use this breakthrough to debunk the narrative that AV1 should not be considered until view counts exceed multiple millions. Once (or if) Bitmovin has successfully patented its AV1 3-Pass technology, it promises to start boasting about it in blog posts and marketing materials. In the meantime, we should assess the benefits of AV1 3-Pass and what the process means for customers. Typically, most encoders do two encode passes. Bitmovin claims to be a maverick of the…