AV2 Ecosystem Showcased at IBC 2026

Picture Source: IBC

Members of AOMedia are showcasing a range of AV2 technologies at the ongoing IBC 2026 in Amsterdam. More than a dozen members are exhibiting at the event, with several demonstrating AV2 development, playback, testing, and other tools.

AV2 was released earlier this year, followed shortly by the official specification.

Developed as an open, royalty-free codec, AV2 has experienced rapid progress in software implementations and developer tools since its launch, alongside ongoing efforts toward hardware enablement.

IBC 2026 serves as a key venue to bring these collaborative initiatives together under one roof.

“IBC offers an opportunity to see how rapidly the AV2 ecosystem is taking shape,” said Matt Frost, Director of Product Management at Google and Chair of AOMedia’s Board of Directors

“As a founding member of the Alliance for Open Media, Netflix has helped build open codecs from the ground up. AV1 now powers over a third of our global VOD streaming, delivering better picture quality to members everywhere,” said Anne Aaron, Senior Director, Live & Encoding Technologies at Netflix.

“Prime Video has been deeply involved in the development of AV2 from its earliest stages, contributing engineering expertise and real-world streaming insights to help shape the specification,” said BA Winston, VP of Technology at Prime Video.

Other prominent members, including Intel and NVIDIA, are also highlighting AV2 technologies at the event.

The Promise of AV2

AV2 aims to deliver approximately 30% bandwidth savings over its predecessor, AV1. This is based on quality metrics across a range of content types and ladders (resolutions).

• Next-Gen Support: Enhanced support for AR/VR (Augmented/Virtual Reality) applications.
• Superior compression: It features significant architectural upgrades, including a highly refined intra-frame prediction engine. This is a crucial advantage as the internet braces for an influx of 4K, 8K, and high-framerate content.
• Massive Bandwidth Savings: Early AV2 prototypes have already demonstrated over a 30% improvement in bitrate efficiency compared to AV1 at the exact same visual quality.
• Larger Superblocks: The maximum superblock size has been doubled from 128x128 to 256x256. This specifically enhances the sharpness of text and screen-shared content, keeping details crisp while maintaining minimal bitrates.