Who this course is for:

This course was created for:

  • Encoding professionals producing AV1 with FFmpeg/Libaom-AV1 or SVT-AV1 who need to optimize the quality and encoding efficiency of their command strings

  • Encoding professionals who need to understand idiosyncratic AV1 configuration options like auto-alt-ref, row-mt, tile columns/tile rows, and lag-in-frames

  • Streaming producers who need to understand what AV1 is, why it exists, where it plays, what it costs, and how to produce it

Overview

The AV1 codec is a complicated technology with many unique and idiosyncratic parameters like auto-alt-ref, lag-in-frames, and tile/columns that can dramatically impact encoding time and quality, and incomplete and sometimes incorrect documentation. Those new to AV1 encoding can waste hours of research and testing and still not produce optimal quality in the lowest possible encoding time. In this course, you will learn:

  • An overview of the AV1 codec, including where AV1 plays and royalty status.

  • How the two open-source AV1 codecs (FFmpeg/Libaom-AV1 and SVT-AV1) compare in terms of quality and encoding time.

  • The optimized command strings to use when producing AV1 video with these encoders, including the best preset for meeting your quality/encoding time targets, and how to configure key AV1 encoding parameters for optimal performance.

  • Research and testing-based recommendations for all key parameters

  • Testing-based recommendations for choosing the optimal instance for cloud-based encoding

Social proof: reviews

5 star rating

A gem if you're looking to fast-learn how to tune AV1!

Guendalina Cobianchi

I took this course with a bunch of collegues with the goal of QUICKLY getting up to speed with AV1 tuning, having spent significant time working with x264/x2...

Read More

I took this course with a bunch of collegues with the goal of QUICKLY getting up to speed with AV1 tuning, having spent significant time working with x264/x265, but being a total newby on liboam. This is very important for us at V-Nova to calibrate our smoking-fresh LCEVC AV1 implementation. Within 2-3 hours, I got a comprehensive view of what are the key parameters I should tweak to improve quality, with a good quality/performace trade-off, and Jan offered his precious recommendations on suggested default settings. Knowing AV1 is not very fast... he saved me hours and hours of testing time!

Read Less
star rating

Read Less

Identify the Impact of Key AV1 Encoding Parameters

To determine the optimal configuration for each encoder, we analyzed the key AV1 encoding parameters for each, encoding in multiple configurations and measuring encoding time, average quality, low-frame quality (to identify transient quality issues) and VMAF standard deviation (to measure quality consistency). This testing took weeks of time but enables you to choose the optimal configuration for your encodes in minutes.

Choose the Right Preset for Your Encoding Requirements

Presets control the quality/encoding time tradeoff for each encoder. It's tempting to just dial in the highest quality but that could increase your encoding time by 10X with minimal quality improvement. For each encoder, we present and discuss a chart like this that identifies the encoding time, average quality, and transient quality for each preset. To produce these charts, we encoded 16 test files to all presets using all encoders and compiled the results. Again, this took weeks of time to produce but allows you to choose the best preset for your needs in minutes.

Instructor(s)

Instructor

Jan Ozer

Jan is a recognized expert in streaming media who has tested codecs since 1993 (not a misprint) and has taught in-person and online courses on video and streaming production since 1995.

As an author, Jan has been a contributing editor to Streaming Media Magazine since 2008, where he tests and reports on codecs, encoders, and related products and services. Jan is the author of multiple books on streaming production, including Video Encoding by the Numbers: Eliminate the Guesswork from your Streaming Video, and Learn to Produce Video with FFmpeg in 30 Minutes or Less.

In addition to his courses on the Streaming Learning Center, Ozer teaches workshops at Streaming Media online and in-person events. Via these on-demand courses, the Streaming Learning Center has served over 2500 students from some of the biggest names in streaming video.

Course curriculum

  • 1

    Introduction

    • Thank You and Greetings
  • 2

    Meet the AV1 Codec

    • AV1 Codec 2022
  • 3

    Choosing the Best AV1 Codec

    • SVT-AV1 vs. Libaom-AV1 - August 2022

    • Comparing Aomenc, Libaom, Aurora1, and SVT-AV1

    • Codec Evaluation Test Description

    • Analyzing the Test Results
  • 4

    Encoding with FFmpeg and Libaom-AV1

    • Introduction to Encoding with FFmpeg and Libaom-AV1

    • Overview

    • Encoding basics

    • One or Two Passes

    • Choosing a Preset

    • Auto-Alt-Ref

    • Thread Count

    • Tile columns/tile rows

    • Row-MT

    • Lag-in-Frames

    • Final Command String
  • 5

    Encoding with SVT-AV1

    • Introduction to Encoding with SVT-AV1

    • SVT-AV1 Overview

    • SVT-AV1 Encoding Basics

    • SVT-AV1 Single vs. Multiple Pass

    • SVT-AV1 Lookahead

    • SVT-AV1 Choosing a Preset

    • SVT-AV1 Choosing the Number of Logical Processors

    • SVT-AV1 Tile columns Tile Rows

    • SVT-AV1 Alt Reference Frames

    • SVT-AV1 Final Command String

    • SVT-AV1 Overview
  • 6

    Encoding to the AV1 Format - Other Encoders

    • Encoding with AOMedia aomenc Standalone Encoder

    • Exploring the Quality of aomenc Command Strings from Prominent Third Parties

    • Encoding with Visionular Aurora1 Codec

Buy Now

Efficiently produce top-quality AV1 video while saving hours of testing and experimentation.

Buy now - $99.95