Vodafone , Meta , and Google today released a white paper detailing the benefits of advanced video compression technology in mid and low tier smartphones to enhance the viewing experience for more people. The technology will also free up network capacity for all users while optimising computing power and storage.
In the joint white paper, the companies present testing that shows increased use of the AV1 video codec, an advanced video compression technique, in low to mid-tier smartphones would provide users with video download quality comparable to premium handsets. Despite the improvement in user-experience, smartphone chipset support for such codecs today remains limited to higher tier products.
30% improvement in video compression
Several large technology companies and content providers, such as Google and Meta, have implemented AV1 compatible codecs in their technologies. Codecs can enhance file compression by 30% compared to prior standards, making it suitable for most types of video format.
This is less consistent at the handset level. While many mobile phones in use today across Europe are lower tier handsets, priced between €25 and €250, many lack the necessary codec, particularly built-in hardware, to decompress files to deliver a buffer-free video experience. The situation is only marginally better with mid-tier handsets. Low and mid-tier handsets account for around 75% of handset sales globally.
Video accounts for up to 80% of mobile data traffic
Video content represents between 70%-80% of all mobile data traffic and continues to be popular with users. Greater adoption of AV1 would help mobile operators enhance the user experience by further reducing network capacity crunches whilst meeting increasing user demand. Similarly, AV1 has matured enough to help more content providers cope with greater volumes of smartphone video downloads and save on compute, edge cache resources, and energy costs.
AV1 can be implemented in two formats, either as a smartphone software upgrade or embedded in the core processors (SoC) for better battery efficiency and performance for end users. As highlighted in the white paper, AV1 hardware can give smartphone manufacturers a competitive edge through superior energy-efficient compression gains versus other techniques without compromising connection speeds.
In summary, the white paper makes the following recommendations:
- Vendors of core processors should evaluate the adoption of AV1 hardware.
- In scenarios where this is not an option, vendors should consider using a software-based AV1 decoder, which can help with the transition to AV1 in low/mid-tier devices.