AV1 vs H.264: Codec Comparison Guide [2025 Updated]

We covered how AV1 compares to VP8 and VP9 in our previous blog. In this one, we’ll look at which codec comes out on top in the fight between AV1 vs H.264. You’ll learn how they differ in encoding performance, CPU consumption, bandwidth savings, browser support, licensing, supported streaming protocols, and long-term value for streaming platforms.

What is a Video Codec?

A video codec is a software or hardware process that compresses or decompresses digital video. Video codecs are employed to reduce the size of video media to take-up less storage when archived and lower bitrates to stream; both yielding cost savings. When you watch a video online, the codec compresses it for sending and then decompresses it for viewing. Codecs are used in streaming, video calls, and everyday video playback.

What is AV1?

AV1 codec is a next-generation, royalty-free video compression standard developed by the Alliance for Open Media (AOMedia). It was designed to deliver significantly better compression efficiency than older codecs like VP9 and H.265 also called HEVC, while maintaining high video quality across a wide range of resolutions and devices. AV1 reduces bandwidth consumption, making it ideal for modern streaming platforms, 4K and 8K video, and emerging immersive applications such as VR and AR.

How It Works

AV1 achieves superior compression by combining advanced prediction techniques, flexible partitioning, and enhanced filtering to reduce redundancy and improve visual fidelity. It is optimized for both streaming efficiency and playback performance, with hardware acceleration increasingly available in modern devices.

Some of the key advancements include:

• Superior Compression Efficiency: AV1 reduces file sizes by 30–50% compared to VP9 and HEVC at equivalent video quality, lowering bandwidth requirements for high-resolution streaming.
• Scalable Resolution Support: AV1 supports everything from mobile video up to 8K and beyond, making it versatile for a wide range of use cases.
• Advanced Prediction Modes: AV1 improves intra-frame and inter-frame predictions, resulting in more accurate motion estimation and smoother playback.
• Flexible Block Partitioning: AV1 allows for dynamic block sizes down to 4×4 pixels and up to 128×128 pixels, adapting better to content complexity than previous codecs.
• Enhanced Parallel Processing: AV1 supports multi-threading and tiling, enabling faster encoding and decoding on multi-core systems.
• Improved Loop Filtering: Features like Constrained Directional Enhancement Filter (CDEF) and Loop Restoration Filter reduce compression artifacts and improve visual quality.

What is H.264?

H.264 also called MPEG-4 AVC or Advanced Video Coding – is a block oriented motion compensation-based video compression codec. It is a standard capable of providing good video quality at substantially lower bit rates than previous standards. It can be implemented in a wide variety of networks and systems and is usable with many protocols. Read more in the streaming glossary of our documentation.

How It Works

AVC compresses video by breaking each frame into 16×16 pixel macroblocks and encoding only the differences between frames. This approach reduces file size while preserving acceptable quality. It relies on intra-frame prediction, inter-frame compression, and motion estimation to efficiently represent video data. Entropy coding further minimizes redundancy, making H.264 widely adopted for streaming, video calls, and broadcasting.

Some of the key advancements include:

• Improved Compression Efficiency: H.264 significantly reduces file sizes compared to older codecs like MPEG-2, while maintaining high video quality. This efficiency has made it the standard for streaming, video conferencing, and broadcasting.
• Wide Resolution Support: H.264 can handle everything from low-resolution video to full HD and even 4K, making it versatile across devices and platforms.
• Flexible Macroblocks: H.264 uses 16×16 pixel macroblocks with options for sub-partitioning, allowing efficient handling of both simple and detailed areas within a video frame.
• Advanced Motion Estimation: By predicting motion between frames, H.264 reduces redundancy and improves compression, especially for dynamic video content.
• Entropy Coding Techniques: With methods like CABAC (Context-Adaptive Binary Arithmetic Coding) and CAVLC (Context-Adaptive Variable-Length Coding), H.264 achieves higher compression without sacrificing clarity.
• Intra- and Inter-frame Prediction: H.264 balances predictions within a single frame (intra) and across multiple frames (inter), helping deliver smoother playback and efficient encoding.

Error Resilience: Built-in error resilience features help maintain video quality over unreliable connections, making H.264 reliable for streaming and live broadcasts.

AV1 vs H.264

Point of Comparison	H.265 (HEVC)	AV1	Winner
Release Year	2013	2018	AV1
Encoding Quality	4K/8K capable, high compression efficiency	4K/8K capable	H.265
Encoding Time	Moderate (faster than AV1)	Slow (improving)	H.265
CPU Consumption	Moderate CPU use; good hardware support (Windows, Apple, Android)	High	H.265
Adoption & Browser Implementation	Adoption slowed by licensing; Chrome supports hardware decoding	Growing rapidly	AV1
Bandwidth Savings	Excellent compression and low bandwidth use; CPU load increases with higher efficiency	Very good compression and low bandwidth; CPU bears the impact for the savings	AV1
Licensing and Accessibility	Managed by multiple patent pools (MPEG-LA, Velos Media, HEVC Advance); requires licensing fees; more costly, limiting adoption	Open-source, royalty-free	AV1
Supported Streaming Protocols	Supports HLS, MPEG-DASH, RTSP, SRT; limited WebRTC/browser support due to licensing and often requiring hardware support	WebRTC, Enhanced RTMP, YouTube, HLS, DASH	AV1
Live Streaming Ready	Yes	Yes	H.265

8 Points of Comparison for AV1 vs H264

1. Release year

• AV1, finalized in 2018, incorporates advanced compression techniques developed by the Alliance for Open Media. This consortium includes industry giants like Google, Mozilla, Netflix, Amazon, and Apple, ensuring broad industry support for the standard.
• H.264, standardized in 2003 by the ITU-T and ISO/IEC, became the dominant video codec for online streaming, video conferencing, and Blu-ray due to its efficient compression and broad compatibility. It was used by 91% of video industry developers as of September 2019.

Winner: AV1.

2. Encoding Quality

• AV1 codec performance: Rapidly improving software optimizations. Quality gains and overall bandwidth savings often justify computational cost for many applications.
• H.264 codec performance: Lower quality at the same bitrate. It needs a higher bitrate for comparable results.

Winner: AV1.

3. Encoding Time

• AV1 codec performance: Significantly higher computational complexity (5–10× slower than VP9, but improving with newer software and hardware acceleration).
• H.264 codec performance: Fast and efficient to encode, with widespread hardware acceleration making it suitable for real-time applications like online auctions and live sports broadcasting.

Winner: H.264.

4. CPU Consumption

• AV1 encoding and software decoding are significantly more CPU intensive than VP9, making it more suitable for offline or server-side encoding rather than real-time on devices lacking hardware support.
• H.264 enjoys widespread support and doesn’t drain the CPU as much.

Winner: H.264.

5. Adoption & Browser Implementation

• AV1: Supported in Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and recent Safari builds (macOS 16 / iOS 16+) when hardware decoding is present. AV1 playback is supported on Android 10+ devices with hardware decoders, and smart TV manufacturers such as Samsung, LG, and Sony include AV1 support in models released from 2020 onward.
• H.264 is supported by all of the browsers on laptops as well as mobile.

Winner: H.264.

6. Bandwidth Savings

The biggest advantage to increased compression rates and the resulting smaller file sizes is that video consumes less bandwidth when you broadcast it. This means that users with slower internet speeds are not limited by their internet connection and can still enjoy high-quality video streams.

• AV1: Delivers the strongest bandwidth savings of the three codecs, with compression efficiency improvements of 30–50% over VP9. This efficiency makes AV1 ideal for 4K, 8K, and HDR content, as it provides higher video quality at lower bitrates, helping streaming services scale while reducing delivery costs.
• H.264: Higher bandwidth consumption; less efficient than newer codecs. Requires significantly more data to deliver comparable quality, which can limit performance for higher resolutions and increase delivery costs.

Winner: AV1.

7. Licensing and Accessibility

• AV1: Backed by the Alliance for Open Media, AV1 is open source and royalty-free. It was designed to be an industry-standard codec that removes licensing barriers for modern video applications, giving developers and providers an advanced option for delivering high-quality, bandwidth-efficient video without additional costs.
• H.264 (AVC): Licensing is handled by MPEG-LA, with royalties applied in many commercial use cases. Although H.264 has one patent associated with it, as we mentioned earlier, in 2013, Cisco open-sourced its H.264 implementation and released it as a free binary download.

Winner: AV1.

8. Supported Streaming Protocols

• AV1 codec issupported in modern streaming workflows such as MPEG-DASH and HLS with CMAF packaging. AV1 integration into WebRTC is still developing, and support for RTSP is not available. Recently RTMP gained support for AV1 via Enhanced RTMP.
• H.264 codec is widely used across streaming platforms and supports WebRTC, RTMP, RTSP, SRT, HLS.

Winner: H.264.

9. Live Streaming Ready

• AV1: Still developing in the live streaming space. While it delivers excellent compression efficiency, AV1 encoding remains too resource-intensive for most real-time applications.
• H.264: Fully established for live streaming.

Winner: H.264.

What Codec To Choose Between H264 and AV1?

• If you need a future-ready solution for premium applications where maximum bandwidth efficiency and next-generation quality are critical, choose AV1. Although it carries a higher initial encoding cost, savings of 30–50% in bandwidth and growing hardware acceleration make it a strong long-term option for high-volume streaming.
• If you need maximum compatibility, fast encoding, and reliable real-time performance across virtually all devices and platforms, choose H.264. It is fully established for live streaming, supported by widespread hardware acceleration, and cost-effective for most applications. However, it requires higher bandwidth to achieve comparable quality, making it less efficient for high-resolution or large-scale streaming.

How to Migrate from AVC to AV1?

A Georgian developer migrates from h.264 video codec to AV1.

Current AVC (H.264) workflows can gradually adopt AV1:

Phase 1: Assessment

• Evaluate current H.264 performance and bandwidth usage.
• Test AV1 encoding with representative content at different bitrates.
• Assess target audience device and browser support.
• Calculate potential delivery cost savings from bandwidth reduction.

Phase 2: Hybrid Deployment

• Deploy AV1 for supported devices with H.264 fallback.
• Monitor quality, encoding time, and playback performance across both codecs.
• Optimize encoding settings separately to maximize efficiency.
• Increase AV1 usage as hardware and software support expands.

Phase 3: Full AV1 Adoption

• Transition primary encoding workflows to AV1 where broadly supported.
• Retain H.264 as a legacy fallback for maximum device compatibility.
• Implement adaptive codec selection to automatically serve the best option.
• Track long-term performance and cost benefits of AV1 at scale.

AV1 codec support in Red5 Pro is coming early 2026. Get in touch with us today to join the waitlist and be among the first to try it.

Conclusion

AV1 delivers unmatched compression efficiency and long-term savings, but at the cost of higher computational demand and slower encoding. H.264 remains the most compatible and reliable option for live streaming today, making it the practical choice for many real-time applications. If you are planning for the future, AV1 is worth adopting gradually while keeping H.264 as a fallback for legacy support. To learn how the AV1 codec compares to H.265, read our next blog.

FAQs

Which is better: AV1 vs H264?

AV1 delivers superior compression efficiency, reducing bandwidth use by up to 50% compared to H.264, making it ideal for 4K and beyond. However, H.264 remains the most widely supported codec, offering faster encoding and universal compatibility. The better choice depends on whether you prioritize efficiency and future readiness (AV1) or broad compatibility and real-time performance (H.264).

Does Red5 support H.264 and AV1 codecs?

Red5 Pro and Red5 Cloud fully support H.264, which powers most live streaming workflows today due to its speed and universal hardware compatibility. AV1 support is coming in early 2026, giving you access to advanced compression and bandwidth savings. Get in touch with us today to join the waitlist and be among the first to try it.

How to migrate from H.264 codec to AV1?

Migration is best done in phases. Start by evaluating H.264 performance and testing AV1 encoding on sample content to calculate savings. Next, deploy AV1 for supported devices while keeping H.264 fallback to maintain compatibility. Gradually increase AV1 usage as hardware support grows. Eventually, transition to AV1 as the primary codec while retaining H.264 for legacy viewers.