What I Learned About Deploying AV1 from Two Deployers

Summary

I recently hosted a Streaming Media Connect panel titled “Benefits and Trade-Offs of Adopting and Implementing Codecs.” The contributors were Hassene Tmar from Meta, Behnam Kakavand from Evolution Gaming, and analyst Alex Davies from Rethink TV. The most striking information was not about future codecs. It was about what AV1 deployment looks like when real companies actually do it. You can watch the video on YouTube, here. By way of background, Evolution runs thousands of real-time, low-latency live casino channels where even small timing errors affect gameplay. Their entire workflow is software-based, built on FFmpeg, and they recently completed their first AV1 deployment using SVT AV1 for live encoding. Meta uses AV1, encoded with SVT-AV1, across its major VOD surfaces, including Reels, Stories, and Feed on Facebook and Instagram. Their work focuses on massive-scale distribution, per-region tuning, and device-capability filters that determine when AV1 can be safely delivered. Here are the key takeaways, in their own words, on encoding, decoding, and what they have seen or expect to see from their AV1 integration. Encoding Strategy Both Meta and Evolution use software SVT-AV1 encoding. Their reasons are different and revealing. Behnam Kakavand, Video R&D lead engineer at Evolution Gaming Evolution runs more than 2,000 live channels across distributed studios. Hardware did not fit their operational model. Behnam said, “Imagine for 2,000 live channels, if you want to buy hardware encoders, it’s not very feasible. Software is the easiest way to replicate the same setup everywhere in the world.” He added that some competitors use hardware-based AV1, but their early testing showed “the per-frame encoding time was too long for us.” Evolution’s AV1 pipeline is built on FFmpeg. According to Behnam, integration was trivial. “It was just a matter of adding it to a test machine first to see which machine can keep up with it, then rolling it out on our live production machines...