Videographers or people who are into videography would be familiar with codec. It stands for codec-decoder, which means compressor-decompressor. So codec is basically a way to compress videos, audios, or even images into certain sizes. There are a few formats for the codec, which are AV1, HEVC, and H265. In this article, we're going to talk about those two formats and make a comparison between AV1 VS HEVC.
In this article
Part1: How Do Codecs Help Streaming Experience?
Watching video online on our cell phone or tablet, which is usually called streaming, is one of the phone activities that can use a lot of data. Whether we watch it on Netflix, YouTube, Twitch, or other platforms, they are still using a huge amount of internet quota, especially if we're watching HD-quality videos.
The solution to this problem is by using a codec. Video streaming platforms that we usually use right now, such as YouTube, Netflix, or Twitch, all already use codecs, so it would save a lot of data usage.
Every output video has its own codec, as a form that distinguishes one video from another. There are several codecs we can use, such as AV1 VS HEVC and AV1 VS H265.
Depends on what device did you make the video on. Every format has its own advantage and disadvantages, the video quality is compatible with the video size. Usually, the smaller the video size then, the worse the quality is, but it is different with AV1 and HEVC.
A codec is a software or hardware that could help us to compress-decompress the amount of data we use in the video. Of course, each codec has different bandwidth, depending on the resolutions. There are several kinds of codecs that you can actually find in your daily life.
- Video Codec, is a tool that is able to compress or decompress a video in digital format. The kinds of codecs include AV1 VS HEVC and AV1 VS H265.
- Audio Codec, same as the video codec, this codec is also used to compress or decompress, the difference is that it's only for digital audio.
- Data Codec is software or hardware to compress or decompress data, it can play both audio and video files.
However, here in this article, we are going to completely talk about the video codec. The most common codec is the H264, it is used for HD digital videos and also the distribution of videos. The latest codecs that are used by several video streaming platforms are AV1 VS HEVC and AV1 VS H265.
The several kinds of video codecs, such as AV1 and HEVC are using different bandwidths. The H264 requires a network bandwidth of 165.38 Mbit/s, but the latest version of it, which is H265 (HEVC), can use 50% less. The AV1 is even less than that, so it is very effective.
Part2: Comparison Between the AV1, HEVC, AND H265
Video streaming is the number one usage of smartphones, this is why codec is very useful. At the beginning of the article, it is already mentioned that there are three latest codecs that are used in big video platforms such as Youtube, Netflix, and Twitch. The video codecs are AV1 and H265 (HEVC). We got the comparison of AV1 VS HEVC and AV1 VS H265 here for you.
1. AV1
OAMedia Video 1, known as AV1, is a new video codec in the media industry that is developing efficiency. The world's giant platform for video streaming, YouTube, is one of the platforms that uses the AV1 codec, not only Youtube, Netflix, and Twitch are now also using AV1. AV1 VS HEVC and AV1 VS H265 are great codecs but if is compared, Av1 is more efficient.
Codec has a very important role in sharing or sending media files. AV1 is developed by Alliance for Open Media (AOMedia), it is a consortium that consists of huge platforms like Google, Apple, Facebook, Netflix, Amazon, Mozilla, Samsung, and many more. The main feature of this codec is that its open source and royalty-free. That is why it's considered to be more efficient than H265 or HEVC which requires a fee.
As we all know, the usage of video streaming is increasing, and this is why several huge companies in Silicon Valley are holding hands to make the alternative for MPEG-4. If we compare AV1 VS HEVC, AV1 performance is better.
We measure it from the quality and bit speed because with the same video quality, codec AV1 is able to reduce 30% of bitrate. In comparison between AV1 VS HEVC and AV1 VS H265, AV1 is compatible with browsers like Firefox, Chrome, IE, Edge, Safari, Opera, Samsung Internet, Android Browser, etc.
2. HEVC
For now, H264 (MPEG-4) is the dominant video codec in the digital multimedia field, followed by HEVC. High Efficient Video Coding (HEVC) or also known as H265, is the next version of Advanced Video Coding (AVC), that is also known as H264, which is the standard compression of Blu-Ray.
The macroblocks of H625 are different than the H264, the H265 process information in CTU (Coding Tree Units) that can create macroblocks 4X4 to 16X16 block sizes. But CTU can compress the information efficiently, it can create 64X64 blocks.
If we compare AV1 VS HEVC and AV1 VS H265, the point of HEVC is to have the same video quality as AVC but with fewer data.
HEVC is the smarter way to get a more efficient result than H264 because it needs less data but with the same high quality as H264, especially when doing streaming. If we are one of the users of video-on-demand platforms such as iflix, Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc., it is great to use HEVC.
Another comparison between AV1 VS HEVC is that HEVC is not free royalty such as AV1. The fee has to be paid according to the negotiated terms and conditions.
However, there are certainly a condition that makes you don't need to pay fees, such as when you're distributing your content for free or uploading it on YouTube, or when you only use hardware or OS-exposed encoder/decoder to play or broadcast videos.
As mentioned before, HEVC is able to provide 50% better compression than the previous version, H264. But if we compare AV1 VS H265, the AV1 can compress 30% better than H265. Even that AV1 is better that HEVC, but no doubt that HEVC sits in second place after H265.
Don't forget to make sure that your device is compatible with HEVC, it must have one of these:
- iOS 11.0 or higher
- Android 5.0 or higher
- The latest version of the Arlo app
- A web browser that supports HEVC.
Part3: How to Adjust Video Format between AV1, HEVC, and H265?
After comparing AV1 VS HEVC and AV1 VS H265, you must be curious about how to adjust the video formats. There are several tools you can find on the internet to convert AV1 to HEVC.
You can download the software to your PC or convert it straight to the website. There are websites that have free trials. To convert AV1 to HEVC or H265 is usually very simple, these are the steps below:
- Enter the website and download the software, if it's a web-based tool, you just need to log in.
- Open the video file you like to convert.
- Convert the video, you can also customize the video settings
- When the conversion is finished, you can save the file.
Make sure the website you pick is able to convert the AV1 and HEVC. One of the best platforms for video editing is Filmora Wondershare. It has a complete feature for you who wants to professionally edit your video with efficiency.
Filmora has a new great feature which is the auto highlight, and it can be used for AV1 format. You don't have to find the best part of your video anymore because you can auto-highlight all of it so that all parts would look great.
You can auto highlight your videos by doing these simple steps below:
- Open Filmora and find the Auto Highlight option
- Import your clip with Auto Highlight and start the automatic analysis
- Finish extracting highlights and export your video
