AV1 vs H.264 – Which Video Codec is Best for In-App Video Calls?

Yogesh — Thu, 04 Dec 2025 11:25:33 +0000

Most conversations about video codecs get lost in theory. But when you are building real-time video inside a product — whether it is interviews, support sessions, telehealth, or live collaboration — the choice between AV1 and H.264 has direct impact on:

Bandwidth consumption
Latency
User experience on low-end devices
Infrastructure cost
Global reliability
Battery and performance on mobile

Here is a straightforward, engineering-first breakdown of AV1 vs H.264 for in-app video calls -

1. Compression Efficiency

AV1 is ~30–50 percent more efficient than H.264 for the same visual
quality.

In real terms, this means:

Better quality at the same bitrate
Or the same quality at significantly lower bitrate
Or usable video on networks where H.264 breaks down

This matters a lot in India, Brazil, Southeast Asia, Africa, and rural regions — basically anywhere your video users do not have stable 20 Mbps connections.

Takeaway:
If your audience includes low-bandwidth regions, AV1 gives a visible quality uplift.

2. CPU Usage and Latency

AV1’s biggest weakness - encoding cost!

AV1 encoding is heavier
Decoding is lighter
H.264 is extremely fast across all hardware

For real-time video calls, the encoding cost matters more than anything.

Higher encoding load → more CPU → more heat → more fan noise → more battery drain → more latency.

If you are building a live video product, you cannot afford this overhead on weaker devices.

Takeaway:
AV1 decode is fine but AV1 encode is expensive for real-time use.

3. Hardware Support

This is where H.264 still wins.

Every browser
Every mobile device
Every GPU
Every camera pipeline

has native hardware acceleration for H.264.

AV1 support is improving — newer Android devices, Apple M-series, and recent GPUs support it but it is not universal yet.

Takeaway:
If you must support all devices, H.264 is the safe baseline.

4. Cost & Infrastructure Impact

AV1 can reduce your bandwidth and relay/server cost by 20–40 percent depending on your architecture.

If you are using SFUs → outbound bandwidth drops
If you record a lot → storage drops
If you stream → CDN cost drops

Real takeaway:
AV1 directly saves money but only if your CPU budget can handle it.

*Here’s a simple rule that matches real-world deployments- *

Use H.264 for real-time video calls

Best cross-device compatibility
Lowest latency
Hardware accelerated everywhere
No surprises

Use AV1 for

Recordings
Screenshare
High-res playback
Users on strong devices / connections
Low-bandwidth regions where improved compression helps

If you are building video into your product, think about -

Your device mix
Your bandwidth cost
Your global users
Your latency envelope
Your CPU budget
Your recording needs

Then choose the codec strategy that balances performance, cost, and reliability.

DEV Community: Yogesh

AV1 vs H.264 – Which Video Codec is Best for In-App Video Calls?