Google Enhances Android with dav1d Decoder for Superior AV1 Playback

Google has announced an important update for Android's video playback capabilities, signaling a significant shift away from its proprietary libgav1 decoder in favor of the dav1d decoder, developed by VideoLAN for the popular VLC media player. This move is poised to enhance performance and reduce power consumption for AV1 video decoding on Android devices, especially if the hardware supports AV1 hardware acceleration.

The dav1d decoder is an open-source software decoder designed for AV1 video formats. Google's decision to embed the dav1d software decoder into the Android operating system marks a pivotal change, making it the default software decoder in upcoming updates. This means that devices without AV1 hardware decoding capabilities will instead utilize dav1d for software decoding.

Google's tests have shown that switching to the dav1d software decoder can result in a performance increase of up to 300% compared to traditional AV1 decoders. This significant improvement is expected to deliver higher-quality AV1 video playback on a broader range of devices, particularly benefiting mid-range and lower-end smartphones.

By enhancing software decoding performance, Google aims to further promote the adoption of the AV1 format across the Android ecosystem. While replacing established codecs like H.264/H.265 may take time, the increasing number of video platforms adopting AV1 underscores its growing importance.

This update is not exclusive to Android 15; Google plans to roll it out to Android versions 11 through 14 as well. Unfortunately, devices running Android 10 or earlier versions may not receive this enhancement.