Adapt to multi-codec world or die, warns Bitmovin as AV1 escalates

Observing the video ecosystem from the video developer perspective is often overlooked, overshadowed somewhat by those higher up, so it was refreshing to read a report from encoding expert Bitmovin – giving the devs a well-deserved voice. Results from Bitmovin’s third annual developer survey showed an expectantly overwhelming reliance on H.264, although interestingly one-in-five developers plan to implement AV1 in 2020 – with big ramifications for the wider video industry. Device manufacturers, browser vendors, and content distributers like Cisco, Mozilla, and YouTube have already started implementing AV1 on larger scales, leading Bitmovin to conclude that AV1 is well positioned to compete with H.265/HEVC and to succeed VP9 for open-source use cases in 2020. This goes against the majority of conversations…