iQIYI partners MediaTek for AV1-powered Ultra HD streaming

Friday, May 22nd, 2020
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iQIYI Partners with MediaTek to Provide AV1-powered Ultra HD Streaming Experience in 5G Era

BEIJING — iQIYI Inc. (NASDAQ: IQ) (“iQIYI” or the “Company”), an innovative market-leading online entertainment service in China, today announced that it has forged a partnership (the “Partnership”) with the global fabless semiconductor company MediaTek to support the AOMedia Video Codec 1.0 (“AV1”) video coding technology on Android devices through MediaTek Dimensity 1000 5G SoC series, becoming the first company in China to deliver the AV1 stream. The partnership will enable both sides to jointly promote the application of AV1 technology. In the future, iQIYI users will be able to enjoy a better viewing experience on 5G intelligent terminal products equipped with MediaTek Dimensity 1000 series.

AV1, the next generation open source video coding format, is being rapidly adopted by streaming platforms across the world. Compared with the current mainstream video compression standards, AV1 boasts the significant advantage of transmitting higher quality video content with less data. In comparison, users require 20% less streaming data when using AV1 for the same video quality. When using a bandwidth equivalent to the current codec, AV1 delivers superior high-definition streaming.

To further improve this new streaming format’s efficiency, iQIYI has developed a proprietary AV1 standard-based QAV1 encoder that significantly reduces the computing complexity, which avoids prolonged encoding and enhances AV1’s application efficiency. iQIYI launched AV1-powered video content on its platform at the end of April, becoming the first and the only stream service in China to support the groundbreaking format. With the continuous adoption of 5G technology, 4K and even 8K ultra HD will become popular amongst consumers, and the application of the AVI format will help them better enjoy HD and UHD content.

The MediaTek Dimensity 1000 series is the world’s first smartphone SoC to integrate an AV1 hardware video decoder, enabling it to play back AV1 video streams up to 4K resolution at 60 fps. With its improved compression efficiency, AV1 gives users incredible visual quality and smoother video experiences, while using less data.

Going forward, iQIYI will continue to explore and invest in cutting-edge technologies, and further drive the adoption of AV1 to enable enhanced video experience in the 5G era through innovation and extensive partnerships with industry participants, chip suppliers and smartphone makers.