If you are watching Netflix σε συσκευές Android, ίσως να έχετε παρατηρήσει ότι το streaming έχει γίνει πολύ καλύτερο recently.
The company has started using a “new” video codec for Android devices that provides “improved performance compressions by 20%” through the VP9 codec that the company used before to display shows and movies on Android devices.
The new encoder used by Netflix is called AV1, and it is a free video encoder.
The AV1 is backed by some of the biggest tech companies, including Microsoft, Google, Apple, Facebook, Netflix, Mozilla and Nvidia. So there is a very good chance that it will become the next generic codec.
What has happened in recent years:
Η Mozilla και η Google προσφέρει ολοκληρωμένη υποστήριξη για το AV1 στο Firefox και τον Chrome αντίστοιχα, είχαμε την έναρξη υποστήριξης του AV1 στο YouTube το 2018, αλλά και μια beta εφαρμογή που κυκλοφόρησε η Microsoft με την επωνυμία AV1 Video Extension στο τέλος του 2018 για να προσθέσει υποστήριξη σε βίντεο AV1 στα Windows 10. Το AV1 codec υπόσχεται καλύτερη συμpressure χωρίς να επηρεάζει την ποιότητα του βίντεο.
Android was chosen as the first mobile platform to adopt the AV1 encoder, and there are reasons for that. Mobile networks are not always reliable, and bandwidth is often not as fast on mobile.
Netflix customers can enable the 'Data Storage' feature on Netflix to make use of the new AV1 streaming. This is done from the path Menu – Application Settings – Usage Cellular Data. There is the option "Save data" or "Save Data".
The company states that there are currently "selected movies" that use AV1, but does not say which are and which are not. We certainly expect availability to increase over time.
Netflix is a founding member Alliance for Open Media, which oversees the development of AV1. The company has decided to use the new encoder for Android exclusively for now, but plans to extend its use to "more devices".
