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Microsoft Launches Free AV1 Video Codec For Windows 10 (softpedia.com)
Microsoft has released a free AV1 video codec for Windows 10 devices that's available via the Microsoft Store.
"Play AV1 videos on your Windows 10 device. This extension is an early beta version of the AV1 software decoder that lets you play videos that have been encoded using the AV1 video coding standard developed by the Alliance for Open Media," the company says. "Since this is an early release, you might see some performance issues when playing AV1 videos. We're continuing to improve this extension. If you allow apps to be updated automatically, you should get the latest updates and improvements when we release them." Softpedia reports: Oddly enough, the codec can only be installed on devices running Windows 10 October 2018 Update, which is no longer up for grabs after Microsoft pulled it last month. It remains to be seen how often Microsoft updates the codec in the coming months, but I've already tried it out for a test earlier today and the initial release seems to be running just fine. You can install the codec from the Microsoft Store to be notified when new versions are out, and make sure you report any potential issues to Microsoft for more bug fixes.
"Play AV1 videos on your Windows 10 device. This extension is an early beta version of the AV1 software decoder that lets you play videos that have been encoded using the AV1 video coding standard developed by the Alliance for Open Media," the company says. "Since this is an early release, you might see some performance issues when playing AV1 videos. We're continuing to improve this extension. If you allow apps to be updated automatically, you should get the latest updates and improvements when we release them." Softpedia reports: Oddly enough, the codec can only be installed on devices running Windows 10 October 2018 Update, which is no longer up for grabs after Microsoft pulled it last month. It remains to be seen how often Microsoft updates the codec in the coming months, but I've already tried it out for a test earlier today and the initial release seems to be running just fine. You can install the codec from the Microsoft Store to be notified when new versions are out, and make sure you report any potential issues to Microsoft for more bug fixes.
It's significant because it's a massive middle finger to MPEG. They made a complete hash of the licensing around H.265 so that nobody can figure it out, and those that can either have to have contributed IP to the licensing pools or get financially raped to use it. So the vast majority of the tech industry threw all their patents together into this effort to cut MPEG out, and by the way made it free of cost to use.
It's supported by ARM, Nvidia, Intel, AMD, Microsoft, Google, Apple, and many others. Surprisingly, Samsung, Sony, and Qualcomm aren't on the list, so expect some Android hardware to not have hardware support unless they inherit it from an included GPU design.
List of members in the Alliance for Open Media
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