Next-Gen Streaming: Enable AV1 Codec on YouTube

Do you notice that many YouTube videos have been streamed in AV1? YouTube AV1 just happened suddenly a few years ago. This article will inform you about all the things you want to know about AV1 Youtube settings. I will let you know the tutorial to turn in AV1 settings on YouTube and the reason why should choose AV1 along with the others, and some more things about AV1.

Part 1: How to turn on AV1 settings on YouTube?

Do you wonder how to turn on AV1 settings on YouTube? For your information, AV1 is a video codec that is developed by a consortium of companies. It offers you advanced compression, enabling you to do smoother HD streaming and data savings for the video. Google also has already implemented AV1 use on YouTube. To turn on AV1 settings on YouTube, here are the steps:

Step1Go to playback and performance

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To turn on the AV1 settings, go to your YouTube account, after that click “Playback and Performance”.
In the AV1 settings. Besides “Auto (Recommended)”, there are other two options, which are “Prefer AV1 for SD” and also “Always prefer SD”.
“Always Prefer AV1” uses the codec whenever it is available for a video while “Prefer AV1 for SD” limits it to SD videos. There are two options to avoid low-performance devices when AV1 videos are played on YouTube. You can select “Always Prefer AV1” to see if your device performance is good enough when you play videos on YouTube that support AV1.

Step2Test if the AV1 settings are already enabled in your video

You may ask how to confirm your YouTube videos are playing with AV1 Codec. Well, you can search playlist on YouTube with the keywords “4K, 5K, and 8K videos with the new AV1 Codec “. You can test it by playing one of the videos. You have to right-click on the media player and then select “Stats for nerd”. If it shows the av01 codec there, then the AV1 settings are enabled already.

Part 2: Why choose AV1 over VP9 and other formats?

Now, do you need a reason why you should choose AV1 compared to VP9 and the others? As you know, there is also another video codec like VP9. There are also the others such as VVC, and many more. So what is the superiority of AV1 over the others? I will let you know why you should choose AV1 in this part.

The main thing is, as mentioned before, AV1 is developed by a consortium of companies founded in 2015. It is supported by The Alliance for Open Media (AOMedia) such as Amazon, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and Netflix, and also by web browser developers and semiconductor firms. Aomedia made it clear the algorithm is free-to-use. It means that there are no greedy negotiators that will be dependent on the developers.

Also, these days, with a format that provides a much smaller workload for internet providers. Their today focus is, that AV1 can reach the quality but can get the job done with 20% more efficiency. Then, with AV1 encoding, a “standard” 4K movie will be much more accessible than it is now. These are some more reasons why you should choose AV1.

1. Royalty-free

As mentioned before, AV1 is royalty-free. AV1 is such a next-generation of royalty video codec. It means that it is not just free to use, but also free of charge, obligations, or even liability. It is an open and royalty-free video codec that the video platform will not charge to pay royalties to the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG), the developer of video codecs.

When it comes to the group that will ask for the royalty, MPEG is not the only one. There are also other patent groups and companies that can ask for it. Aomedia integrated Google, Mozilla, and Cisco, while they were busy creating their new video codec. However, the three companies joined together to create one codec to beat them all.

2. Better performance

It is said that the AV1 codec is 30% more efficient. According to the tests conducted by Moscow State University, AV1 can outperform AV1 by about 28% in the efficiency of encoding and decoding. As per the performance graph from the Graphics & Media Lab Video Group, MSU below, AV1 can offer the exactly same quality as X264 at 55% of the average bitrate.

AV1 is designed so exclusively to function better than all the other codecs in the market. It is an open-sourced codec with simple patent licensing, and the integration manages to save, as mentioned, up to 30% of the bandwidth for the exactly same image quality. In other words, with AV1, distributors can send streams much faster and cheaper and we can enjoy higher definitions in the same bandwidth.

3. AV2 to come in the future

AV1 is undoubtedly superior if we compare it to other available video codecs and the exploration of the codec technology AV2 has already begun. This is such an early performance evaluation. There is some interesting part of the exploration development of AV2, such as multiple line selection for Intra prediction can make you select not just neighboring row/column for directional prediction. The same tool also exists in VVC.

There are also three essential improvements, which are simplifying the existing feature (also complete removal) and picking the tool used by VVC/H.266 (It is lack originality but so much work on it) and improvement periodically improvement of an existing tool, it is too few and also not original. We haven’t known yet when AV2 will be done completely though, maybe there still be some more essential improvements.

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Part 3: What’s the best video editor for YouTubers with AV1 format?

When we talk about YouTube, it feels incomplete if we don’t talk about the video editor. So, what is the best video editing software for YouTubers with AV1 format? Yes, it is Filmora . It is such a great video editing software that allows you to import and edit many video file formats. Filmora also allows users to export AV1 MP4 format video and then can directly upload it to YouTube.

Filmora gives some ways to export your videos. Here are the five ways. You can also customize the export settings then you can save them to reuse the same settings next time. The first is you can export your project file and video to the local computer. It supports export as MP4, AVI, WMV, AV1, MOV, GoPro Cineform, F4V, MKV, TS, and 3GP.

After that, you can export your video to any device you want, such as iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Apple TV 4K, iPod, Samsung Galaxy, Smart Phone, Android Generic, Google Pixel, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PSP, and Smart TV. Then you can upload it to YouTube, Filmora provides you to export your video to Youtube directly. All you need to do is logging your Youtube account and export.

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Part 4: FAQ: Does YouTube use AV1 or VP9?

For today, YouTube encodes all the videos with the VP9 codec, but for some reason displays for low view count videos. AV1 usage also had been pushed to very low view counts. When it comes to cost or quality tradeoffs, AV1 took about 18 times longer to encode than x264.

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Part 4: FAQ: Does YouTube use AV1 or VP9?

YouTube Expertise Pathway: Choosing Between Standard Studio and Beta

YouTube Creator Studio vs. YouTube Studio (Beta): Which One is Better?

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

In 2017, YouTube revealed YouTube Studio Beta , a video management and analytics dashboard that will replace the classic Creator Studio that most YouTubers are familiar with by 2021.

In this article, we will look at the new features YouTube Studio Beta has, what we can expect from it in the future, and why YouTube will eventually phase out the older YouTube Creator Studio… and whether that change will be an improvement.

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Why YouTube Is Getting Rid of Classic Creator Studio?

Data-driven YouTubers have long loved the YouTube Creator Studio. It has supplied so much information that it took this comprehensive post about Analytics to highlight all the insights. So why would YouTube change it?

Change to a popular social media platform is always worrisome to content creators because it means there will be a new learning phase forced upon them. While the Classic YouTube Creator Studio has a lot of features and functionality, the data was often hard to interpret and inconvenient to find. Many creators weren’t sure where their data was located or how to use the information presented to them.

YouTube Studio was designed to be a friendly management and analysis tool. YouTube also offers more guidance, showcasing the key metrics the algorithm uses to evaluate the success of a video more prominently. Additionally, the graphs presented offer more clarity, shortening the time a creator spends finding the information they need.

Undoubtedly, YouTube updated its Creator Studio to offer a tool that enables its users to better understand their video performance and make better content that serves YouTube’s requirements.

Intro to YouTube Studio (Beta)

YouTube Studio (Beta), for many YouTubers, is now the default. However, for the time being, creators can still switch back to the Classic view (as some of the features are still being built). YouTube’s objective is to receive data of their own by understanding how creators are using the new Studio and gaining feedback to improve upon it.

If you have any feedback, simply click on this button on the bottom left menu of the YouTube Studio (Beta) and send YouTube your thoughts.

In addition to the new layout of the tools and dashboards, YouTube Studio (Beta) will also debut 3 metrics for creators:

1. Impressions: See the total reach of all your videos or each individual video. Each time your video thumbnail and title are visible to the user counts as an impression.

2. Click-through rate: Determine how click-worthy your thumbnails and titles are, by seeing the percentage of people who click into your video.

3. Unique viewers: Know how many different people have watched your videos. This data can be used to compare the size of your subscriber base to the actual number of your audience.

Tips for Using YouTube Studio Beta Features

Now that you are more familiar with the new YouTube Studio (Beta), let us dive into what you can accomplish with all the new features.

1. Optimization Tips

In the past, there has been a lot of speculations about how creators should treat their video titles and descriptions. Well, now YouTube is letting you know exactly which area to focus on. Simply hover over any “?” icon to see the advice and click “Learn More” to go to YouTube Creator Academy to get more details.

2. Recent Video Data

See data and improvement tips for your latest video. If YouTube identifies a notable issue with your video, they will help you by offering tips, which you can click “Tell Me More” to look into.

YouTube wants you to know how your videos are performing in the first few days. In order for YouTube to determine whether your content is worth sharing, it wants to know how your audience is responding to it right away. This means, the launch of your video matters.

3. Video Analysis

In the Classic Creator Studio, you couldn’t get an aggregated view of all the important video data on one dashboard. You would have to click to each set of analytics individually and then dive deeper. This ate up your precious content creation time and made it hard to combine insights. Now with Studio Beta, you can see all the critical data in one spot. Right away, you can see how that video is performing through different factors. This will let you know where audience retention is dropping off or which traffic source is supplying most of the views.

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4. Watch Time Funnel

The objective is to increase watch time, the metric YouTube puts the most weight on. With the new Watch Time Funnel, which you can find in the Analytics section under the Reach Viewer dashboard, you can see exactly at which level of your channel or wherein an individual video you will need to improve.

If the impression numbers are low, that means you need to improve how your video is being discovered by doing more research to understand what your viewers are searching for.

If the click-through rate (CTR) is low, then you will have to improve your thumbnail and title. This will better entice your audience to click. According to Google, half of all videos have an average CTR of 2-10%.

If the average view duration is not up to your standards, then you will have to improve your content itself. While it is most ideal to have all your viewers watch all the way to the end of all your videos, that is certainly unrealistic. However, 60-70% is a great number to aim towards.

5. Traffic Sources

YouTube now presents all the different traffic sources in one easy-to-find page in the Reach Viewer tab, so creators no longer have to click between them to analyze where their traffic is coming from. This new design is far less intimidating and messy. At a glance, you can now see where the majority of your audiences are coming from.

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YouTube has always put a lot of value into its analytic tools, and with YouTube Studio Beta the features and design are continuously improving. Having better data and understanding of how an individual video or an entire channel is performing will help creators succeed on this ever more competitive platform.

Have you tried the new YouTube Studio (Beta)? What are your thoughts? Please let us know in the comments below.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

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