In the time since then, low-performance devices with the Android platform have become so widespread that today they are rarely slow. Still, we find some room for growth, and Google diligently implements these improvements, especially in the video.
Google’s main objective is to push the limits of the AV1 codec on budget Android devices, even if the hardware doesn’t provide the capability. The multiplexer is going to move from the libgav1 AV1 software decoder designed by the Libav project to the more efficient libdav1d decoder by VideoLAN. It is noteworthy that such a situation seems quite positive.
Through AV-1, it is possible to take advantage of many benefits such as more efficient compression, lower data usage, and consistent quality. AV1 has been maintained by tech giant Google for the past few years, boasting its excellent compression efficiency and the fact that it has no licensing costs. As of now, its acceptance in the media industry is continuously increasing, with some major streaming services like Netflix and YouTube also adopting this codec.
Right now, most hardware support for AV1 is found in high-end devices, but Google plans to reintroduce this capability to more affordable devices. This is their major plan which will include the replacement of the VideoLAN codec for an update and very likely improved speed performance of video playback. First tested on a Pixel 3 XL revealed that playback was at 25 FPS, which is faster than before when it was at 10 FPS.
These enhancements are planned to be introduced in the ‘Play System Update’ which will be rolled out in March 2024. This addition may, perhaps, affect devices running Android-10- and newer versions of Odrift, with support even limited to Android-10-14-version devices. In the final lines of this initiative, its goal is to take advantage of the improved AV1 codec so that a wide range of pocket-friendly devices can take advantage of its improved performance in a shorter period.
