The first AV2 1.0.0 encoder is here, promising 30% better efficiency than AV1

AOMedia has quietly published the first 1.0.0 release of its AV2 encoder, spotted by users on the AV1 subreddit and picked up by Videocardz. There was no official announcement, and AOMedia's public AV2 specification page still lists the standard as a draft. The GitHub tag tells a slightly different story, confirming the AVM reference software has reached version 1.0.0 with the message "First released version of AV2."

AV2 is the successor to AV1, AOMedia's royalty-free video codec that has been slowly making its way into mainstream devices and streaming services over the past few years. Like AV1 before it, AV2 is designed for better compression efficiency across streaming, broadcasting, and real-time video conferencing, with additional improvements for AR and VR, split-screen delivery, screen content, and a wider range of visual quality. Last year, testing showed AV2 to be around 30% more efficient than AV1, meaning smaller file sizes, lower bandwidth requirements, or better image quality at the same bitrate as today's streams.

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That said, this 1.0.0 release is very much a starting point rather than a finish line. The AVM reference software is designed to help define and test the codec, not to replace the optimized encoders used in real video workflows. The current build is slow, not ready for broad use, and users testing it report that detail retention and encoding speed are still issues, with the encoder performing best only at very low bitrates for now.

AV1 itself took a long time to go from specification to widespread GPU support and streaming service adoption, and many platforms still rely on older codecs for compatibility reasons. AV2 will follow a similar path. Whether AOMedia plans a proper announcement remains unclear, but Computex 2026 would be a logical stage for an official reveal given the timing. For now, the GitHub tag is all there is.