May 31, 2026
Smaller files, bigger meltdown
Dav2d
VideoLAN drops AV2’s new decoder and the comments instantly panic about speed, patents, and pain
TLDR: VideoLAN launched dav2d, an early decoder for the new AV2 video format, hoping to make the next wave of internet video usable in real apps. Commenters immediately split into camps over one scary tradeoff: better compression versus much heavier decoding, plus fresh worries about patents and programming-language choices.
VideoLAN has unveiled dav2d, its new open-source decoder for AV2, the next-gen video format meant to squeeze files smaller than AV1. On paper, that sounds like a win for everyone: better-looking video, less bandwidth, and a team with serious credibility after dav1d became the go-to AV1 decoder in apps like VLC, browsers, and operating systems. But in the comments, the mood was less “congrats” and more “uh, should we be terrified?”
The biggest gasp came from one brutal comparison in the post itself: AV2 may bring around 25% better compression, but decoding it is said to be about five times harder than AV1. That set off immediate confusion and dread. One commenter basically asked, “Are these numbers even worth it together?” while another predicted future benchmarks could be either impressive or “mortifying.” In plain English: people are wondering whether this shiny new format saves data only by making your device sweat to death.
Then came the legal anxiety. One of the sharpest reactions wasn’t about performance at all, but whether AV2 can really stay “royalty-free” after AV1’s messy patent drama. That turned the thread from engineering update into trust issues: the sequel. And of course, the language-war side quest arrived right on time, with one commenter asking why anyone would still build something this complicated in C/ASM instead of Rust. Add in requests for low-bitrate comparisons, and the vibe is clear: the community isn’t just asking if dav2d works — they want to know whether AV2 is genius, overkill, or the beginning of another codec headache.
Key Points
- •VideoLAN announced dav2d, a fast software decoder for the AV2 video codec, and said development began publicly a few weeks before the announcement.
- •The project is positioned as a continuation of dav1d, VideoLAN’s AV1 decoder, with the goal of being small, fast, portable and correct for production use.
- •AV2 has reached its first official specification release and is described as the successor to AV1 from the Alliance for Open Media.
- •The article says AV2 commonly shows about 25% compression-efficiency improvement over AV1, but decoding is roughly five times more complex.
- •VideoLAN says its experience with dav1d showed the need for a production-quality software decoder before hardware decoding becomes widespread, and cites broad dav1d deployment across major apps, browsers and operating systems.