Vimeo, the online video platform, has announced support for a new royalty-free video codec, AV1. The AV1 codec enables HD and UHD video content to be streamed to audiences at a reduced bitrate without compromising visual quality.

“AV1 is setting a new standard for video compression and delivery over the web, and will greatly improve the quality and availability of content streamed on our platform to global audiences,” said Naren Venkataraman, SVP of Technology at Vimeo. “This launch is a major step forward in Vimeo’s ongoing commitment to providing the best video experiences to our creators, and a significant milestone in AV1 becoming ubiquitous across the industry.”

In launching support for AV1, Vimeo collaborated with Mozilla, one of the founding members of the Alliance for Open Media. Vimeo leveraged and contributed to Mozilla’s open source encoder, rav1e.

“We’re proud to contribute to the development of the rav1e encoder and to join Mozilla’s efforts for free and open video. Together, we’re building a strong foundation for the next generation video codec,” added Vittorio Giovara, Lead Engineer, Encoding at Vimeo. Nathan Egge, Head of Codec Engineering at Mozilla. “Historically, the best encoders have come from open collaboration. With the help and participation of partners like Vimeo, we’re fostering a positive community for rav1e and accelerating the rapidly growing adoption of AV1.”

At launch, recent videos in the Vimeo Staff Picks channel will be delivered using the AV1 codec on supported platforms.