Axis Communications announced it will provide AV1 to all of its customers and partners.

In addition to H.264 and H.265, all future products featuring ARTPEC-9 SoC will include support for AV1. Axis believes the demand for high-resolution network video is growing.

This creates a pressing need for a video encoding standard that delivers high-quality video at low bitrates for efficient transmission and reduced storage costs. Fortunately, that standard already exists: AV1. Introduced in 2018 by the Alliance for Open Media (AoM), AV1 is a next-generation, device-agnostic video encoding standard poised to revolutionize the surveillance market.

AV1 is a flexible video format designed for optimized hardware and software implementation. It makes it easier to stream video over the internet by enabling high-performance video on many devices. AV1 is open-source friendly with freely accessible verification streams and is available license-free from AoM. AoM’s founding members include industry leaders like Amazon, Cisco, Google, Intel, Microsoft, Mozilla, and Netflix, highlighting the widespread support for AV1 video technology.

Currently, most current video surveillance systems rely on H.264. While H.264 is widely supported and performs well, its 20-year-old technology struggles to meet modern demands for transmitting and storing critical high-resolution video surveillance footage. For years, H.265 was expected to replace H.264. Unfortunately, however, its restrictive licensing has limited its adoption. It has been virtually impossible for browser vendors to include client decoders, and it is complicated for end users to install the necessary decoders themselves.

AV1 performs well on all kinds of video material, delivering efficient video streams with an attractive quality-to-bitrate ratio. For high-resolution video and complex motion, it offers results that are on par with H.265 minus the complicated licensing requirements. For most network video users, replacing legacy H.264 with the more modern AV1, will deliver significant bitrate reduction, reduced storage costs and allow for the growing demand for high-resolution video. It is important to note however that the transition to AV1 will take place over years and video surveillance solutions will have to continue to support legacy encoding methods for some time.

AV1 is also the preferred decoder for cloud-based applications with solid support in major cloud frameworks. Streaming from cloud to client device is a mature mass-market solution and support for AV1 in network cameras will facilitate easier integration and deployment by simplifying surveillance solutions. In addition, many standardized cloud technologies, such as WebRTC, already use AV1 today. The introduction of AV1 to the surveillance market will make it easier to bridge between applications and bring hybrid solutions to market faster.

Since its release, software and hardware vendors have been busy preparing support for AV1 in various devices. AV1 is currently supported by all major browsers, computer operating systems and mobile platforms. Popular microprocessors from Intel, AMD and ARM have long supported accelerated hardware decoding, and more and more mobile devices with hardware accelerated decoders are reaching the market. 

Axis said it’s time to bring the benefits of AV1 to the video surveillance industry. AV1 delivers high-resolution, hassle-free, cost-efficient streaming and storage, providing advantages that users will appreciate. As such, this next-generation standard is expected to be embraced by the market quickly as forward-looking vendors introduce support for it.