Since 2015, an association of companies have been working to develop a video codec capable of compressing files around 50% compared to the current size of an h.264. Little by little the main technology companies have joined, since any medium is interested in the amount of information collected in a video requiring the least possible space, either to store it or to send it through the networks.
At first, Apple and other companies, including Facebook, did not sign up, waiting to see the development of it, or as in the case of Apple, finish developing its own codec known as HEVC, and implement it. on their operating systems and networks.
This alliance, known as Open Media Alliance, the following objectives are set, as described on its website:
Define and develop media codecs, media formats, and related technologies to address market demand for open source video compression and delivery over the web.
But the development that arouses the most expectation is the development of an open source codec, called AOMedia Video 1 (AV1). Its main function is the compression of video, before being stored, or sent over the network.
This is the reason why, not only software companies like Microsoft or Apple are interested. Anyone who stores content supports this project, as it saves time when transmitting information. As well as, storage cost, by reducing the space on your servers. With today's cloud services, offered in one way or another by any technology company, it makes this new codec an essential piece for any organization.
The other relevant part of this codec is the universality of it. At least for now any platform accepts it. Therefore, the involvement of each one of them is important. It seems that the work is more advanced than we expected. It is expected to launch a first version on a date not yet specified, but indicating that in the "near future".
The alliance has such prominent members as: Amazon, Cisco, Facebook, ARM, Google, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Mozilla, Netflix, Hulu, NVIDIA, among others.
