Chrome 70 released recently has addressed the auto sign-in issue in the browser issue by offering a setting, apart from that and other changes, the browser has got AOMedia Video 1 (AV1) decoder. For the uninitiated, AV1 is the latest royalty-free Video codec offers 30% compression over its predecessor, VP9.
Vivaldi has also enabled AV1 codec support in Snapshot 2.1, while Mozilla is still trying to turn it on in Firefox, you can enable AV1 manually in Firefox 63 or 64 version by toggling a preference, we’re not sure the company is going to Ship Firefox 63 with AV1 support.
Playing AV1 Videos on YouTube
YouTube already has a playlist of 14 AV1 transcoded videos, if you have supported browsers installed, you can try playing videos in AV1 on YouTube, here is how.
“The AV1 codec provides advanced compression, bringing you smoother streaming in HD and data savings for more video on the go” YouTube testube pages says.
Enable AV1 support on YouTube
Ensure you’re using Chrome 70 or greater
1. Visit YouTube test Tube page
2. Select ‘Prefer AV1 for SD’ or ‘Always Prefer AV1’
Note: If you choose ‘Prefer AV1 for SD’, the videos up to 480 resolution will be played using AV1, higher resolution will use the VP9 codec.
3. Try to play any video clip from AV1 Beta Lunch Playlist, while playing, if you right-click and select stats for nerds, you will see av01. for codecs, that confirms video is playing with the AV1 codec.
Enable AV1 codec Support in Firefox
1. Make you sure you’re using Firefox 63 or 64 version, visit about:config
2. Find media.av1.enabled and change its value to true.
And follow the steps mentioned above from 1 to 3 to for videos to be played in Firefox to use AV1.
Vivaldi and Opera, AV1 support
Currently, latest Vivaldi 2.1 snapshot and Opera 57 beta use Chromium 70, supports AV1 codec and you need to redo the steps mentioned above from 1 to 3 to watch AV1 videos in these browsers.