Video Format Comparison

VP9 vs AV1: Google's Codecs Compared

VP9 and AV1 are both royalty-free, open-source codecs developed in the same lineage: Google created VP9 (released 2013) and then participated in creating AV1 (released 2018) through the Alliance for Open Media. AV1 is VP9's successor — significantly better compression at the cost of slower encoding. Both are used by YouTube, Netflix, and major streaming services.

VP9vsAV1

Quick Verdict

Use VP9 when…

Use VP9 when encoding speed matters — VP9 encodes 3-5x faster than AV1 at similar quality. Good for live streaming with fast transcoding or large-volume batch encoding.

Use AV1 when…

Use AV1 when file size is critical and you can accept slower encoding: static video on websites, VOD distribution, 4K streaming. AV1 achieves 30-50% smaller files than VP9.

VP9 vs AV1: Feature Comparison

Feature	VP9	AV1
Compression vs H.264	~30-50% better	~50-60% better
Compression vs VP9	Baseline	~30-50% better
Encoding speed	Faster (3-5x faster than AV1)	Slow in software; fast with hardware
Hardware support (2024)	Widespread (NVENC, QSV, AMD)	Growing (RTX 4000+, Intel ARC, iPhone 15)
Browser support	Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Opera	Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari (AV1 in MP4)
YouTube default	Used (1080p and below)	Used (4K content)
Royalty-free	Yes	Yes

When VP9 wins

✓Compression vs H.264: ~30-50% better
✓Compression vs VP9: Baseline
✓Encoding speed: Faster (3-5x faster than AV1)

When AV1 wins

✓Compression vs H.264: ~50-60% better
✓Compression vs VP9: ~30-50% better
✓Encoding speed: Slow in software; fast with hardware

Frequently asked questions

Should I encode my web video in VP9 or AV1?

For 2024: encode in both VP9 and AV1 with H.264 fallback for maximum compatibility. Or, if you can only pick one: use AV1 (better compression, growing hardware support) with H.264 MP4 fallback for Safari. If encoding speed is a constraint: VP9 with H.264 fallback. YouTube uses AV1 for 4K+ content and VP9 for lower resolutions.

Does AV1 have hardware encoding yet?

Yes, but not universally. NVIDIA RTX 4000-series GPUs have AV1 hardware encoding (NVENC AV1). Intel Arc GPUs support AV1 hardware encoding. AMD RDNA 3 GPUs have AV1 encoding. Apple Silicon (M3+) has AV1 decoding but not encoding (as of 2024). For software AV1 encoding: libaom (very slow, reference encoder) or SVT-AV1 (much faster, used by Netflix and Twitch).