VP9
Hacker ApprovedRanked 2 of 6 video encoders by recommenders
Royalty-free video codec that people use for uploads and calls, with wide hardware support. Critics say it trails H.265 and AV1 in quality.
Royalty-free video codec that people use for uploads and calls, with wide hardware support. Critics say it trails H.265 and AV1 in quality.
17 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 12
- criticize it
- 5
- approval share
- 71%
Recommended in 6 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 12 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 2.4 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
Better than H.264 in quality
“Even VP09 has often seemed better.”
Comment from 6 Dec 2025 in “Netflix’s AV1 Journey: From Android to TVs and Beyond” “VP9 is somewhat better than H.264”
Comment from 24 Dec 2025 in “We replaced H.264 streaming with JPEG screenshots (and it worked better)” Good for uploads and calls
“yeah I use vp9 with opus for uploads by choice, it's great!”
Comment from 2 Jul 2026 in “FFmpeg 9.1's new AAC encoder” “improve the quality of calls quite a lot when used right”
Comment from 3 Jun 2026 in “The AV2 Video Standard Has Released (Final v1.0 Specification)” Widely hardware-supported
“VP9 works well too and more supported”
Comment from 3 Apr 2026 in “H.264 Streaming Fees: What Changed, Who's Affected, and What It Means” “almost universally hardware-supported”
Comment from 3 Apr 2026 in “H.264 Streaming Fees: What Changed, Who's Affected, and What It Means”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Falls short of H.265 and AV1
“VP9 could beat H.264 but not H.265 or AV1”
Comment from 21 Nov 2025 in “HP and Dell disable HEVC support built into their laptops' CPUs” “VP9 isn't H.265 level. That is the marketing spin of AOM.”
Comment from 5 Dec 2025 in “Netflix’s AV1 Journey: From Android to TVs and Beyond” Worse than x264-encoded H.264
“which was honestly worse than H264 done with a good encoder like x264”
Comment from 2 Jul 2026 in “FFmpeg 9.1's new AAC encoder” Has its own patent pool
“VP9 and AV1 have their own patent pool for that very reason”
Comment from 3 Apr 2026 in “Firm boosts H.264 streaming license fees from $100k up to staggering $4.5M”
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.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AV1 | 48 | 22 | 69% | 12 | — | Approved |
| VP9This page | 12 | 5 | 71% | 6 | — | Approved |
| x264 | 11 | 3 | 79% | 8 | — | Approved |
| SVT-AV1 encoder | 11 | 2 | 85% | 6 | — | Approved |
| x265 | 7 | 1 | 88% | 6 | — | — |
What people said
14 of the 18 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“HEVC and AV1 and VP9 are all also very cool”
“yeah I use vp9 with opus for uploads by choice, it's great!”
“which was honestly worse than H264 done with a good encoder like x264”
“improve the quality of calls quite a lot when used right”
“VP9 and AV1 have their own patent pool for that very reason”
“They have been created with the express purpose of avoiding incidents like this.”
“almost universally hardware-supported”
“VP9 works well too and more supported”
“VP9 is somewhat better than H.264”
“Even VP09 has often seemed better.”
“VP9 isn't H.265 level. That is the marketing spin of AOM.”
“focus on royalty-free video formats like VP9, AV1, and the future AV2”
“pretty much on par with HEVC”
“VP9 could beat H.264 but not H.265 or AV1”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.