pixels and pictures

Netflix now supports the AV1 video codec in its Android app, which it says is 20 percent more efficient than the VP9 codec it currently uses. The codec can be enabled now for "selected titles" by selecting the app’s "Save Data" option.

With the premium segment - led by Apple - now supporting H.265/HEVC, it is time content distributors leverage the massive user experience advantages of next generation compression (H.264/AVC was ratified back in 2003). Using ABR on congested networks an H.265/HEVC or VP9 stream can deliver HD whereas an H.264/AVC stream would be limited to SD. Of course this also saves bandwidth/CDN and storage costs.

The mass market segment lead by Google has decided not to support H.265/HEVC, but instead supports VP9. Despite lots of propaganda, VP9 can performs almost as well as H.265/HEVC (unlike most companies, we have built both encoders). So, post the 2003 H.264/AVC codec, both codecs will be required. Due to commercial and political reasons, both camps will not align around one next generation codec. In fact on a low cost Android phone priced under $100, it is impossble for the OEM to enable H.265/HEVC and have to pay royalties, since this would remove most of their profits. They will only enable VP9.

Video is taking over the internet, but it's never been more obvious than when you look at who's hogging the world’s internet bandwidth.

Netflix alone consumes a staggering 15 percent of global internet traffic, according to the new Global Internet Phenomena Report by bandwidth management company Sandvine. 

Movie and TV show fans are lapping up so much video content that the category as a whole makes up nearly 58 percent of downstream traffic across the entire internet. The report brings us some truly shocking numbers when it comes to the state of web traffic, too. But, at 15 percent all on it’s own, no single service takes up more bandwidth than Netflix.

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What’s perhaps most surprising is that Netflix could dominate even more of the internet’s data if it wasn’t so careful optimizing it’s content. 

According to the study, Netflix could consume even more bandwidth if it didn't so efficiently compress its videos. “Netflix could easily be 3x their current volume," says the report. 

As a case study, Sandvine looked at the file size of the movie Hot Fuzz on multiple streaming services. The file size for this 2 hour film when downloading via iTunes ranged from 1.86GB for standard definition to 4.6GB for high definition. On Amazon Prime, films of a similar length clock in at around 1.5GB. However, the 120 minute film on Netflix only takes up 459MB.