Learn abut AV1 from codec and encoding experts at Bitmovin and Mozilla - the two companies behind the world's first AV1 playback with HTML5 - as we discover the cool new video tools in this royalty-free video codec from the Alliance for Open Media. This webinar covers: + A bit about the history that led to AV1 and the current state of the codec + Discover the cool new tools in AV1 brings and compare performance relative to other codecs + Review what's already possible and what to expect next

1. An Introduction to AV1
The Next-Gen Royalty-Free Codec
From the Alliance for Open Media

2. Who are we? Martin Smole
Encoding Engineering Director, Bitmovin
@smole3
Nathan Egge
Senior Research Engineer, Mozilla
@nathanegge
Kieran Farr
VP Marketing
@kfarr

4. 1100+ Employees Worldwide
Firefox Quantum
Open Standards
● W3C, IETF, WHATWG, EMCA, Kronos
Policy Advocacy
● Net Neutrality, Let’s Encrypt
Mozilla Research
● Rust, WASM, WebVR, Deep Speech, Codecs
Our mission is to ensure the
Internet is a global public
resource, open and accessible to
all. An Internet that truly puts
people first, where individuals
can shape their own experience
and are empowered, safe and
independent.

5. Webinar Agenda
● Introductions
● Who are you?
● What is the history of codecs that leads us to AV1?
● What’s the big deal with royalties?
● What is the state of AV1? Is it done yet?
● How does AV1 perform? Are there improvements?
● What does this mean for me? What are the next steps?
● Questions?

6. Registration survey results

7. North America Internet Traffic

8. ● Opus Audio Codec (started in 2007)
○ Originally designed for web use cases
■ Low latency, high quality music
○ Collaboration with Skype added speech
○ Published at IETF as RFC 6716
● Daala Video Codec (started in 2012)
○ RF by design
○ Revisit fundamental video coding choices
● NETVC Working Group (formed Spring 2015)
○ “Replicate the success of the CODEC WG in producing the Opus audio codec.“
○ Daala (Mozilla) and Thor (Cisco) candidate codecs
● Alliance for Open Media (formed Fall 2015)
○ Contribute Daala technologies to AV1
Mozilla and Royalty Free Codecs

9. Goals of the Alliance:
● Produce a video codec for a broad set of industry use cases
○ Video on Demand / Streaming
○ Video Conferencing
○ Screen sharing
○ Video game streaming
○ Broadcast
● Open Source and Royalty Free
● Widely supported and adopted
● At least 30% better than current generation video codecs
Alliance for Open Media (AOM)

10. AOM Members

11. AOM Members / Hardware

12. AOM Members / Software

13. AOM Members / Content Producers

14. AOM Members / Stream Content

15. AOM Members / Real-Time Conferencing

16. AOM Members / Browsers

17. ● New high-level syntax
○ Easily parsed sequence header, frame header, tile header, etc
● New adaptive multi-symbol entropy coding
○ Up to 16 possible values per symbol
● New coefficient coder
○ LV-MAP exploits multi-symbol arithmetic coder
● More block sizes
○ Prediction blocks from 128x128 down to 4x4
■ Rectangular blocks
● 1:2 and 2:1 ratios (4x8, 8x4, etc)
● 1:4 and 4:1 ratios (4x16, 16x4, etc)
○ Transform sizes from 64x64 down to 4x4
■ Includes rectangular transforms 1:2, 2:1 and 1:4, 4:1 ratios
● More transform types
○ 16 possible transform types
■ Row and column chosen from: IDTX, DCT, DST, ADST
● More references
○ Up to 7 per frame (out of a store of 8)
● Spatial and temporal scalability
● Lossless mode
● Chroma subsampling
○ 4:4:4, 4:2:2, 4:2:0, monochrome
AV1 Coding Tools Overview
● More prediction modes
○ Intra
■ 8 main directions plus delta for up to 56 directions
■ Smooth HV modes interpolate across block
■ Palette mode with index map up to 8 colors
■ Chroma from luma intra predictor
■ Intra Block Copy
○ Inter
■ Expanded reference list (up to 7 per frame)
■ Allow ZEROMV predictor, which isn’t always (0,0)
■ Compound mode
● Inter-Intra prediction
○ Depends on difference between pixel prediction
○ Smooth blending limited to certain intra modes
● Wedge codebook (Inter-Inter, or Inter-Intra)
■ Warped motion local affine model with neighbors
■ Global motion affine model across entire frame
● Loop filtering
○ Deblocking filter
○ Constrained Directional Enhancement Filter
○ Loop restoration
● Film grain synthesis
Full AV1 Specification: https://aomediacodec.github.io/av1-spec/

18. ● New high-level syntax
○ Easily parsed sequence header, frame header, tile header, etc
● New adaptive multi-symbol entropy coding
○ Up to 16 possible values per symbol
● New coefficient coder
○ LV-MAP exploits multi-symbol arithmetic coder
● More block sizes
○ Prediction blocks from 128x128 down to 4x4
■ Rectangular blocks
● 1:2 and 2:1 ratios (4x8, 8x4, etc)
● 1:4 and 4:1 ratios (4x16, 16x4, etc)
○ Transform sizes from 64x64 down to 4x4
■ Includes rectangular transforms 1:2, 2:1 and 1:4, 4:1 ratios
● More transform types
○ 16 possible transform types
■ Row and column chosen from: IDTX, DCT, DST, ADST
● More references
○ Up to 7 per frame (out of a store of 8)
● Spatial and temporal scalability
● Lossless mode
● Chroma subsampling
○ 4:4:4, 4:2:2, 4:2:0, monochrome
AV1 Coding Tools Overview
● More prediction modes
○ Intra
■ 8 main directions plus delta for up to 56 directions
■ Smooth HV modes interpolate across block
■ Palette mode with index map up to 8 colors
■ Chroma from luma intra predictor
■ Intra Block Copy
○ Inter
■ Expanded reference list (up to 7 per frame)
■ Allow ZEROMV predictor, which isn’t always (0,0)
■ Compound mode
● Inter-Intra prediction
○ Depends on difference between pixel prediction
○ Smooth blending limited to certain intra modes
● Wedge codebook (Inter-Inter, or Inter-Intra)
■ Warped motion local affine model with neighbors
■ Global motion affine model across entire frame
● Loop filtering
○ Deblocking filter
○ Constrained Directional Enhancement Filter
○ Loop restoration
● Film grain synthesis
Full AV1 Specification: https://aomediacodec.github.io/av1-spec/

19. ● Arithmetic Range Coder
● Code both binary symbols and multi-symbols
○ Alphabet sizes up to 16
● Improve EC throughput with high rate streams
○ Instead of 1 bit per cycle, decode up to 4
Multi-Symbol Entropy Coder
A DB
10 N = 0.4
C
A 0/1
0/1
B 0/1
C D
0 1
0 1
0 1

20. ● Predict chroma channel based on decoded luma
○ Encoder signals best correlation constants: αcb and αcr
● Good for screen content or scenes with fast motion
Chroma from Luma Intra Prediction
αCb-αCb
αcr
-αcr

21. ● Merge of Daala’s directional deringing filter (DERING) and Thor’s constrained lowpass filter (CLPF)
○ Both encoder and decoder search for the direction that best matches
○ Primary filter run along direction, and secondary conditional replacement filter run orthogonally
○ Strength is signaled in the bitstream
● Results exceed both DERING and CLPF alone, as well as applying DERING + CLPF sequentially
Constrained Directional Enhancement Filter (CDEF)

22. http://www.compression.ru/video/codec_comparison/hevc_2017/MSU_HEVC_comparison_2017_P5_HQ_encoders.pdf
Moscow State University (SSIM - June 2017)

23. HEVC Licensing Environment
http://blog.chiariglione.org/2018/01/ - Leonardo Chiariglione, Chairman and Co-Founder of Motion Picture Experts Group (MPEG)
● The MPEG business model is broken:
○ Create technology first, figure out
the licensing later
● Guarantees a patent-encumbered mess
● Subject to gaming
○ 30 years of MPEG to figure out how
○ Non-Practicing Entities (NPEs) have
become more aggressive over the years
● Vulnerable to patent holdup
○ Individuals want more than the technology is worth, because they know you have to pay
○ Many companies cannot afford to use the technology they helped create

24. Video Codec License Terms
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Efficiency_Video_Coding#Patent_license_terms
Video
Format
Licensor Codec Royalties Codec Royalty
Exemptions
Codec Royalty
Annual Cap
Content
Distribution Fee
HEVC
MPEG LA US $0.20 / unit First 100k units / year US $25 million US $0
HEVC Advance Region 1:
- US $0.40 (mobile)
- US $0.80 (PC)
- US $1.20 (TV)
Region 2:
- US $0.20 (mobile)
- US $0.40 (PC)
- US $0.60 (TV)
US $25,000 / year US $40 million Content free to users:
- US $0
Paid by title model:
- US $0.025 / paid title
Paid subscriber model:
- US $0.005 / month / subscriber
- US $25M cap / year / business model
Technicolor Tailor-made agreements US $0
Velos Media ??? ??? ??? ???
others AT&T, Microsoft, Motorola,
Nokia, Cisco, … ??? ??? ??? ???
AVC
MPEG LA End Users + OEM (not PC OS):
- US $0.20: 100k+ units / year
- US $0.10: 5M+ units /year
Branded OEM for PC OS:
- US $0.20: 100k+ units / year
- US $0.10: 5M+ units / year
End Users + OEM (not PC OS):
- First 100k units / year
Branded OEM for PC OS:
- First 100k units / year
End Users + OEM (not PC OS):
- US $9.75M
Branded OEM for PC OS:
- US $9.75M
Free television:
- One time US $2,500 / encode
- Or US $2,500 - $10,000 annual fee
Internet broadcast: US $0
Paid subscriber model:
- US $0 / yr : 0k to 100k users
- US $25k / yr : 100k to 250k users
- US $50k / yr : 250k to 500k users
- US $75k / yr : 500k to 1M users
- US $100k / yr : 1M+ users
Maximum Annual Content Royalty
- US $8.125 million
others Nokia, Qualcomm, Broadcom,
Blackberry, TI, MIT ??? ??? ??? ???
AV1 Alliance for Open Media US $0 N/A N/A US $0

25. History of Codecs

26. The Alliance for Open Media (AOM)
Goals of the Alliance
● Video codec for the web with
state of the art compression efficiency
● Open source & royalty-fee
● Widely supported and adopted
● Develop and deploy faster than industry standard

27. The State of AV1
● Currently 94 Experiments/Tools adopted
● Bitstream will freeze “soon”
● Software decoding workflows first
● YouTube will adopt AV1 soon after bitstream freeze
● Netflix will be an early adopter
● First Hardware will follow in 1 - 2 years

28. Bitmovin AV1 Milestones
● NAB 2017
○ Bitmovin presented world’s first AV1 live stream on a 200-cores cluster
○ Bitmovin receives best of NAB Award for the AV1 live stream
● IBC 2017
○ Bitmovin optimized AV1 codec to stream 1.5 Mbps 1080p@30fps live on 32-cores
● November 2017
○ Proof of concept - AV1 Bitmovin encoding + Firefox Nightly decoding
● NAB 2018
○ Release first commercial AV1 encoder

29. Mozilla/Bitmovin AV1

30. Mozilla/Bitmovin AV1

31. AV1 Relative Quality Vs VP9
Source: Multi-Codec DASH Dataset, An Evaluation of AV1, AVC, HEVC and VP9 (https://bitmovin.com/multi-codec-dash-dataset)

32. AV1 Relative Quality Vs HEVC
Source: Multi-Codec DASH Dataset, An Evaluation of AV1, AVC, HEVC and VP9 (https://bitmovin.com/multi-codec-dash-dataset)

33. Encoding Performance
● Reference encoder currently 2500 - 3000 times slower
than VP9
● After bitstream freeze optimizing the encoder will
become a priority
● Bitmovin Encoding Service can reach realtime and faster
encoding speeds today

34. Why is AV1 encoding so slow?
● Early days.
● Current target it to get the bitstream done not
performance.
● CPU is expensive, but bandwidth is even moreso!

35. Why is AV1 a net improvement for users?
● Increase video quality, especially in regions with
bandwidth constraints
● Enabling new technologies like 4K, 8K, HFR, HDR, etc.
● Reduces rebuffering events
● Decrease time to first frame

36. How do I get started?
● Meet us at NAB to learn more: bitmovin.com/nab
○ April 9 - April 10 in Las Vegas Booth SU9901 CM
○ Live demos all week
○ AOMedia Happy Hour Monday April 9
○ Mozilla “pop-up” AV1 booth Tuesday April 10
● Learn more on your own and try encoding & decoding for yourself:
○ AOMedia.org
○ hacks.mozilla.org/2017/11/d
○ aomedia.googlesource.com/aom/

37. Q&A
March 22, 2018

38. ● Multi-symbol Arithmetic Coder
○ Multi-symbol CDF adaptation
○ HW performance improvements
● Chroma-from-Luma Intra Prediction
● Constrained Directional Enhancement Filter (CDEF)
○ Merge of Daala’s directional deringing filter and Thor’s constrained low-pass filter
○ CDEF single-pass algorithm
● Implicit Frame Context Signalling
● Spatial Segmentation
● Daala Distortion Metric (encoder only)
AV1 Tools Contributed by Mozilla

39. AreWeCompressedYet.com

40. AV1 Stream Analyzer

41. objective-1-fast [1]:
[1] https://arewecompressedyet.com/?job=debargha-vp9-11152017-2%402018-01-13T20%3A09%3A28.783Z&job=av1_8bit_s1_0306
PSNR PSNR HVS SSIM CIEDE PSNR Cb PSNR Cr MS SSIM
Average -27.08 -26.10 -26.19 -28.73 -29.79 -31.06 -25.37
1080p -27.12 -26.73 -25.14 -28.82 -31.49 -31.35 -25.35
1080p-screen -31.17 -25.06 -31.57 -38.95 -42.95 -38.39 -27.96
720p -25.99 -25.22 -26.27 -25.63 -24.42 -30.92 -24.77
360p -25.99 -26.52 -24.81 -25.86 -24.71 -26.50 -24.51
AV1 vs VP9 (as of March 3rd, 2018)