SVT-AV1 encoder
Hacker ApprovedShares rank 3 of 6 video encoders by recommenders
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.
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.
13 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 11
- criticize it
- 2
- approval share
- 85%
Recommended in 6 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 11 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 5.5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 6 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Beats x265 on quality and speed
“With the SVT-AV1 encoder you can achieve better quality in less time versus the x265 encoder.”
Comment from 5 Dec 2025 in “Netflix’s AV1 Journey: From Android to TVs and Beyond” “Intel's SVT-AV1 managed to beat both x265 and x265 at various quality/speed tradeoffs.”
Comment from 2 Jun 2026 in “Dav2d” Strong performance in human evaluations
“had extensive human evaluations to make sure they weren't accidentally being benchmaxxed”
Comment from 15 Sep 2026 in “The case against JPEG XL” “It has been showing great performance overall and is quite nice.”
Comment from 15 Sep 2026 in “The case against JPEG XL” Open development by several companies
“SVT-AV1 is also more than just open source in name only; development and discussions happen in the open”
Comment from 14 Sep 2026 in “The case against JPEG XL” “SVT-AV1 beats it. SVT-AV1 is developed by a number of companies”
Comment from 14 Sep 2026 in “The case against JPEG XL” One of the main free AV1 encoders
“The two FOSS AV1 encoders in the compo (libaom and SVT-AV1) are enough to prove this.”
Comment from 14 Sep 2026 in “The case against JPEG XL” “SVT-AV1 is the only real one we got and it doesn't”
Comment from 1 Jun 2026 in “The AV2 Video Standard Has Released (Final v1.0 Specification)” “reasonably modern encoders (libaom, SVT-AV1)”
Comment from 8 Oct 2026 in “Shipping JPEG XL in Chrome” - Comment from 13 Jan 2026 in “Chromium Has Merged JpegXL”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Locked to 4:2:0, no YUV444
“SVT-AV1 is slowly getting there thanks to enthusiasts porting x264's good stuff to it but remains locked to 4:2:0”
Comment from 25 Aug 2026 in “Firefox 157 will include JPEG XL by default on all platforms” “SVT-AV1 still doesn't do YUV444”
Comment from 31 May 2026 in “The AV2 Video Standard Has Released (Final v1.0 Specification)” “doesn't support YUV444, lel”
Comment from 31 May 2026 in “The AV2 Video Standard Has Released (Final v1.0 Specification)”
Other video encoders people recommend
The four most recommended other video encoders, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
See all 6 video encoders, rankedWhat people said
17 of the 19 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“reasonably modern encoders (libaom, SVT-AV1)”
“It has been showing great performance overall and is quite nice.”
“had extensive human evaluations to make sure they weren't accidentally being benchmaxxed”
“The two FOSS AV1 encoders in the compo (libaom and SVT-AV1) are enough to prove this.”
“with AVIF's new image tuning modes (both in libaom and SVT-AV1)”
“I can confirm it is a great project with great people who are very easy to work with.”
“SVT-AV1 is also more than just open source in name only; development and discussions happen in the open”
“SVT-AV1 beats it. SVT-AV1 is developed by a number of companies”
“SVT-AV1 is slowly getting there thanks to enthusiasts porting x264's good stuff to it but remains locked to 4:2:0”
“Intel's SVT-AV1 managed to beat both x265 and x265 at various quality/speed tradeoffs.”
“SVT-AV1 is the only real one we got and it doesn't”
“SVT-AV1 still doesn't do YUV444”
“doesn't support YUV444, lel”
“Use an encoder like aom, or svt-av1.”
“This problem is only just now starting to get solved in SVT-AV1”
“you really need to put a lot of time to figure out the correct settings for your media”
“With the SVT-AV1 encoder you can achieve better quality in less time versus the x265 encoder.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.