Adding another big name to those that are getting behind the emerging AV1 video codec, Facebook has joined the Alliance for Open Media (AOMedia) as a founding member and has secured a spot on the organization’s board.
Other companies that are on that level at the organization include ARM, Cisco Systems, Google, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Mozilla, Netflix and nVidia.
Facebook is joining the org and gaining influence on the direction of the AV1 standard as video becomes an increasingly vital component of the social media giant’s business strategy.
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AV1 is being billed as a bandwidth-efficient, royalty-free video codec that is optimized for the internet and compete with or complement others that are trying to drive down the bit-rate requirements for OTT video.
“For very large OTT companies, it's a potential competitor. For most other sites, it's looking more and more like the next generation,” Jan Ozer, video producer and consultant, explained in this AV1 status update in the September issue of Streaming Media.
AOMedia was launched in 2015, and announced the public avaialbity of its source code in April 2016.
“As the amount of video being watched and shared online continues to grow, we are committed to making the video experience even better,” Mike Coward, engineering director at Facebook, said in a statement. “By joining the Alliance for Open Media at the highest level, Facebook can directly participate in the advancement of technologies to help achieve this mission.”
