Android system development manager Arif Dikici confirmed yesterday that the Play System update released in March 2024 has switched to VideoLAN’s open source libdav1d codec, thereby improving Support for AV1 encoded video.
Since Google released the Android 10 system, the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) has included the open source AV1 decoder libgav1 developed by Google.
VideoLAN’s open source libdav1d codec has higher codec performance and efficiency than libgav1, which can fully utilize the device’s CPU resources, reduce bandwidth, and optimize the video playback experience.
Google says that most Android phones can decode 720p30 videos through libdav1d. Dikici explained that Google will soon make the new codec a default on Android.
It was previously reported that compared with libgav1, libdav1d runs more efficiently on the CPU. Even low-end devices can play high-quality AV1 videos smoothly without consuming too much power.
For example, on a Google Pixel 3 XL phone without a hardware-accelerated AV1 decoder, when decoding 4K60 resolution video using libdav1d, the average frame rate can reach 50fps, while using libgav1 it is less than 10fps.
