# SVT-AV1 encoder

Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/svt-av1/

7 people recommended SVT-AV1 encoder in Hacker News comments, 3 had mixed feelings and 1 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 5 of 12 months, in 5 threads. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule.

4 of the 7 people who recommend it commented in one thread, “The case against JPEG XL”.

**Verdict:** Open-source AV1 video encoder that people find beats x265 on quality versus speed; caveat: it only supports 4:2:0 color and needs careful tuning.

Summary written by Claude from 17 comments.

## Why people recommend it

- One of the main free AV1 encoders (3 comments in the sample): "The two FOSS AV1 encoders in the compo (libaom and SVT-AV1) are enough to prove this." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49699606)) "reasonably modern encoders (libaom, SVT-AV1" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50001367)) "Use an encoder like aom, or svt-av1." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46602310))
- Beats x265 on quality and speed (2 comments in the sample): "With the SVT-AV1 encoder you can achieve better quality in less time versus the x265 encoder." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46156292)) "Intel's SVT-AV1 managed to beat both x265 and x265 at various quality/speed tradeoffs." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48368101))
- Strong performance in human evaluations (2 comments in the sample): "had extensive human evaluations to make sure they weren't accidentally being benchmaxxed" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49706914)) "It has been showing great performance overall and is quite nice." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49719798))
- Open development by several companies (2 comments in the sample): "SVT-AV1 is also more than just open source in name only; development and discussions happen in the open" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49690935)) "SVT-AV1 beats it. SVT-AV1 is developed by a number of companies" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49690847))

## What people warn about

- Locked to 4:2:0, no YUV444 (3 comments in the sample): "SVT-AV1 is slowly getting there thanks to enthusiasts porting x264's good stuff to it but remains locked to 4:2:0" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49439461)) "SVT-AV1 still doesn't do YUV444" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48345514)) "doesn't support YUV444, lel" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48344810))

## Other video encoders people recommend

- [AV1](https://hackerapproved.com/p/av1-video-codec/): 38 recommend, 8 mixed, 20 criticize
- [VP9](https://hackerapproved.com/p/vp9/): 11 recommend, 1 mixed, 4 criticize
- [x264](https://hackerapproved.com/p/x264/): 10 recommend, 1 mixed, 3 criticize
- [x265](https://hackerapproved.com/p/x265/): 5 recommend, 2 mixed, 1 criticize

## The badge

A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged.

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "SVT-AV1 encoder", https://hackerapproved.com/p/svt-av1/ (7 recommend, 3 mixed, 1 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026).

Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.