Support AV1 Video Encoding and Decoding

[Eccentric Locust]

AV1 has been becoming a more and more popular codec for not just streamers, but also content creators and filmmakers. Video hosting platforms, such as YouTube, are now implementing AV1 as a way to easily stream video content to audiences at lower bandwidths. Filmmakers, and especially content creators, are asking for AV1 for creating high quality content without too much compromise for file sizes and ease of use when viewing.

Having the benefit of AV1 video will help with preserving the best image quality at a much smaller and efficient file size than codecs like H.264. HEVC/H.265 is supported in Premiere Pro and it's a very nice codec. In fact, both HEVC and AV1 perform very similarly. However, it would be wonderful to have the flexibility of additional codecs that are gaining traction in modern media.

HEVC isn't supported everywhere, largely due to their licensing slowing down adoption. Meanwhile, AV1 is open source, so it would be easier to adopt without the concern for licensing; thus, making it more popular with platforms than HEVC.

Competing video editing platforms have also supported AV1 encoding and decoding for some time and I have been wanting Adobe to look into it for a while.

Overall, I highly recommend Adobe include AV1 encoding and decoding support for Premiere Pro. I strongly believe it will heavily encourage more people to create the best content with a codec that is extremely efficient as it is excellent at preserving image quality.

[CyberbrainPC]

Been waiting for AV1 support for years! I hope it comes soon. 

[lukeripa]

HEVC/H.265 is able to achieve similar results, however, it isn't supported everywhere

HEVC/H.265 has been widely supported for the last 5 years - it's the standard run-and-gun codec (mainly news production), it's supported by basically all post-2020 tablets, laptops and smartphones. 

AV1 at the moment is literally confined into the streaming niche, which is nowhere near as importanrt as the news production.

AV1 is awesome but it literally is designed primarily for game streaming due to the framerates and the need to keep constant quality, and yeah above 60fps it is the best format available.

But when it comes to production that actually costs money, H264 and H265 derivatives (so not really those) are still the norm, with AV1 being considered as a delivery format, but even then for delivery Europe broadcasting switched to HEVC a couple of years ago and they haven't finished phasing out H264. 

Sure, Netflix and Prime are using AV1 (for a handful of content), but, again, as a delivery format. 

Should Premiere implement AV1? Absolutely, but it's not as important as this topic wants to think it is. And if any it mainly should be for encoding. 

[Gaurav25856014nf32]

It doesn't matter how much you try to protect HEVC at this point. Here are the reasons that people with common sense can get why AV1 is needed:

1. AV1 is royalty free.

2. It is delivery format so was AVC and is HEVC. Plain and simple as that. If you want editing format then there is ProRes and DNXHR.

3. It is 2025. So, backing HEVC like it is the future is one of the lame statement. If you don't improve or change with time you will disappear. All these companies including Adobe griding their a** to get royalty free and best encoding format which is AV1 is thought as a joke if they are not even bothering still to implement. If HEVC is that good then why are there codecs supported? Simple, right! Give user options on latest and greatest.

[R Neil Haugen]

I think your 'take' on the previous post a bit odd. None of us users are (as far as I've ever heard) trying to "protect" a codec/format. I don't understand the assumption even! Or why a large company like Adobe would give crap 1 about any specific codec, either.

What would be the point?

Please do understand that explanations are not defenses, they are simply an explanation. Seen by someone with a different viewpoint. And please accept that we all think and see everything differently.

One of my big joys at going to NAB is talking with other video post pros ... and no two ever do anything exactly alike. It's amazing in the variety of approaches.

You like AV1, great, most of us would naturally prefer to always have more choices. So of course, as another user, I've upvoted this a long time ago!

But the explanation offered is quite valid. There are sound reasons AV1 isn't racing through the video post industry. I hope it will spread. But in the meantime, there are other, far more widely used options.

[Gaurav25856014nf32]

There are sound reasons AV1 isn't racing through the video post industry. Why?

-Despite there are dGPU and iGPU with AV1 decode as well encode support company like Adobe is not bothering to provide a decent software that supports AV1.

I hope it will spread.

-Without even bothering to implement in software which sould be norm years back, it is not going to spread. Just remove HEVC support from Adobe software and let's see how it will be the normal codec even for delivery.

But in the meantime, there are other, far more widely used options.

-Beause they are made available in Adobe apps and not ghosted like AV1 which should have already been launched back years, well tested by now and should be normal delivery codec by now.

[R Neil Haugen]

I do at least somewhat understand your passion for a codec that is in use among those you work around. And yes, from what I've read, it is a good tool for certaing things. All totally understandable.

As a user of several video post apps, I have constant frustration with every one of them, not having something or things that would make my work easier. But such is Life.

And there were many technical reasons oft given, why Betamax was a much better video tape system than VHS. But alas, straight "reason" may not have been enough. VHS prevailed.

Past that, none of the video post apps has a complete deck of formats in use. Resolve has its holes, as does Premiere ... Avid ... and all others.

Which is frustrating to the max, guaranteed. And also, totally human. We are none of us perfect, either as an individual nor in group organizations.

So do keep pushing for AV1, don't get me wrong. But also, understand if not all other humans see everything as you do. They certainly don't see things the way I do! Ha.

[Johan34975111sv2d]

I work for Axis Communications one of the worlds largest manufacturers of Network Video Cameras we recently introduced AV1 as the preferred encoding method for all our new and upcoming network cameras - My team produces education material using Premiere and we use a lot of video from our own products when doing so. Premieres lack of AV1 support has forced us to use DaVinci recently or chose the less efficient H.264 not ideal as we want to push the advantages of AV1

[Lateralus99]

Thanks for posting this. I hope Adobe listens to the professionals and adds AV1 support.
You sound like a pro, so I wanted to ask you, what are the top advantages you've found with av1? It's my understanding that the quality is the same as h264, but the file size is reduced. 

[lukeripa]

I'm not defending anything, I'm telling you to face reality.

Reality is AV1 is a new codec despite being around for 4 years. HEVC took almost a decade to be a somewhat universal format, H264 did the same.

The fact it is royalty free does not really matter to Adobe or really anyone - it's cool but the fee for HEVC and the avdantages AV1 has over it aren't significant enough to brute force the format into a standard. 

Like, manufacturers are still prioritizing Dolby Vision over HDR10+, Hollywood does the same, despite the latter being royalty free, and Dolby Vision costing quite a bit and being much more of a hassle.

Also, something being royalty free isn't automatically better. AV1 doesn't really offer a concrete advantage to 24fps/30fps content, and most people do not notice the difference even at 60fps (sport events) where for 4K and HDR broadcasts H265 has been the norm for 2-3 years and it will be for at least half a decade.

AV1 only concrete advantage is space - which is AWESOME if you produce a lot (and indeed game streaming is one) and it will eventually be a standard if SVOD streaming keeps up (which is not a given), but as of now it's still to early.

That doesn't mean that Premiere shouldn't support AV1, they should and it's a matter of time not if, but also you need to understand that AV1 isn't widespread as you think yet, things are slow and take time.

All I'm saying is there's not the priority you think there is to implement it. That is all. I want it to as a content creator (among other things), but I also much prefer Adobe focusing on improving the software and adding things that really make a difference in my worflow. 

[abuse removed by moderator]

[slick_willy]

Hi Fergus--appreciate your attention to this ongoing concern. Wanted to include some more info about where this codec is emerging and how it's beeing presented to end users. It indeed seems that game recording is perhaps the most prominent use at the present. In addition to OBS, AV1 is being rolled out with Medal, which is the most popular all-in-one third party in-game recording solution. Here's how Medal describes AV1 in their FAQ, in relation to H.264 and H.265:

AV1 is the most advanced and efficient video codec out of the three. It offers even better compression efficiency while maintaining the video quality compared to H.265. This results in even greater data reduction without noticeable quality loss. However, AV1 needs even more processing power than H.265, which makes it only compatible with newer generation hardware.

The most serious gamers (e.g. the ones most likely to have high-end hardware, play at higher resolutions, record a high volume of in-game content, want to preserve media without significant compression, and then want to edit that media with a NLE) are going to be the folks most drawn to this codec. I don't record for "content" necessarily but can easily rack up several hundred GBs of recorded gameplay just casually playing with friends at 3440x1440 resolution. So maintaining quality with reduced file sizes is certainly attractive. I've recently tried recording in AV1 via Medal and like others I was a bit disappointed to see that it wasn't supported in PP 2025. It's by no means a dealbreaker and I'm happy to revert to H265, but I would not be surprsised to see AV1 useage continue to proliferate as more people, especially the more traditioanlly casual users, begin to find themselves recording/ingesting/encoding longer form media for content creation as it continues to become more accessible. Looking forward to updates and thanks for looking into this!

[2001bc]

Yes, we need this! Thank you.

[Lev313207659vbh]

For the past year I've had the need for av1 support almost daily. I work in a professional production house and there is an actual need for AV1 support. Currently we encode the AV1 to other codes (somethimes prores, sometimes h264/5 or anything which are supported in Adobe) to even work with them. But this process is time consuming and you lose quite a bit of quality. The codec is ready, community is ready. Time for Adobe to be ready. 

[Steve GVG]

Hi Fergus,

AV1 is critically important to those of us in the YouTube space in particular. As an editor at a smaller channel, I can't afford to archive originals of all our videos, but as YouTube has moved to AV1 for 4K content, we find ourselves stuck when we need to pull clips from previously published content at its original resolution. Our only option is to download at 1080p or lower and integrate those clips, or spend more than we can afford on archiving our content in its original format.

Any YouTuber under a million subscribers that's making 4K content (most of the gaming space) is likely facing this same issue.

[Steve GVG]

To be clear, we can (and do) transcode in Handbrake when needed, but considering our team is paying for Adobe, it'd be nice if it could handle codecs that are commonly used in our line of work. Having ME able to do less than a piece of freeware doesn't feel great.