Google is said to be mandating all new Android TVs must support the AV1 codec from the end of March.
AV1, which was first launch in 2018, is a royalty-free codec that claims to have a 50 per cent bit-rate efficiency edge over HEVC.
Google is already using AV1 on the latest YouTube app for Android TVs. Netflix also added the codec to its Android app in 2020.
According to XDA, Google has told all its Android TV partners that their products running Android 10 or 11 must support AV1 video decoding by 31st March 2021.
It’s believed Sony has already confirmed all of its new 4K and 8K Google TVs set for release in 2021 will support AV1.
