Qualcomm’s Chips Will Soon Start Supporting AV1 Decoding

AV1 is one of the future prospects of video codecs. It is not surprising at all since AV1 decoding will offer 30% better compression than Google’s VP9 format; it won’t affect the picture quality that much. What’s more, you will actually see the benefits of enhanced compression with an increase in resolutions. For instance, if you are watching 4K or higher quality content on Netflix, it will save you a lot of data.

Moreover, the codec is developed by Alliance for Open Media and companies can use it for free. Netflix has already adopted the AV1 video codec.

However, major giants like Qualcomm are still adding native decoding AV1 support. Once Qualcomm will add the support, AV1 will reach everywhere in the world, considering Snapdragon chips are powering millions of devices every year. That said, it might change very soon.

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Qualcomm’s next chipset to have AV1 decoding support

Entertainment newsletter’s newest edition reveals that Qualcomm is gearing up to add AV1 support to the Adreno GPU of its forthcoming SM8550 chipset. It is important to note that the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 has the codename SM8450. Hence, the SM8550 could be the successor likely to be Snapdragon 8 Gen 2.

Furthermore, we might get to see the introduction of the chipset by the end of this year looking at its usual timeframe. So, it could arrive in devices in 2023.

In an interview with AnandTech, Qualcomm provided clarification on the lack of AV1 codec compatibility in its chips. The company revealed plans about its premium tier offers two to three years in advance. On top of that, it must follow a stringent schedule set by carriers and Android OEMs. Despite its willingness, it has been unable to include an AV1 decoder in Snapdragon chips due to these factors.

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