The Problem No One Talks About Enough
Storage costs are growing. Camera counts are increasing. Resolutions are climbing. Yet most organizations are still running on the same compression technology they deployed five or ten years ago.
The codec handling your video footage directly determines how much bandwidth it consumes, how much storage it requires, and how clearly your analytics engines can interpret it. Most security teams do not give it much thought until a storage system reaches capacity or a network slows down under the load.
The AV1 codec changes that equation. It is not a feature update. It is a fundamental shift in how video is compressed, stored, and delivered. And the infrastructure impact is immediate.
What AV1 Is and Where It Comes From
The AV1 codec is an open-source, royalty-free video codec developed by the Alliance for Open Media, a consortium founded by Amazon, Cisco, Google, Intel, Microsoft, Mozilla, and Netflix. These are organizations that process more video than anyone else on the planet. They built it because the previous generation of codecs was no longer sufficient at scale.
It was designed specifically to outperform H.265/HEVC in compression efficiency while eliminating the licensing fees that H.265 carries. It is already the dominant codec in consumer video streaming. Enterprise security is the next frontier.
Crucially, the AV1 codec is natively supported by Chrome and Edge, and by Safari on compatible Apple hardware. No plugins. No additional codecs. No configuration overhead.
AV1 vs. H.265 vs. H.264: A Direct Comparison
The performance gap between the AV1 codec and its predecessors is measurable and significant.
| Codec | Compression vs. H.264 | Royalty-Free | Native Browser Support |
| H.264 | Baseline | Yes | Yes |
| H.265 / HEVC | ~40% better | No | Hardware-Dependent |
| AV1 | 30-50% better than H.265 | Yes | Yes (Chrome, Edge, Safari) |
The AV1 codec delivers compression rates 30 to 50% better than H.265 at equivalent visual quality. Compared to H.264, the gains are even greater. The codec achieves this by using more advanced encoding techniques, resulting in smaller file sizes without a reduction in image clarity.
One caveat is that it requires more processing power to decode than older codecs. Modern hardware from camera manufacturers and server vendors handles this without issue.
What a 30 to 50% Reduction in File Size Actually Means
Compression ratios are easy to quote. The real-world implications are what matter.
If your current system retains 30 days of high-resolution footage across 100 cameras, the AV1 codec could extend that to 45 to 60 days on the exact same storage infrastructure. That is not a theoretical projection. It follows directly from the confirmed compression improvement.
The downstream effects are significant. Organizations can delay storage hardware upgrades, reduce cloud storage costs, or reallocate their budget toward expanding camera coverage. The total cost of ownership for your storage environment decreases from the moment the AV1 codec is in the pipeline.
For cloud-based deployments, the impact is equally direct. The AV1 codec’s smaller file sizes reduce the volume of data transferred to and stored in the cloud, which translates to lower cloud storage fees and reduced data transfer costs over time. Whether your infrastructure is on-premises, cloud-based, or a hybrid of both, the savings are measurable across the board.
Sharper Footage, Smarter Analytics
The AV1 codec does not just reduce file sizes. It preserves image quality at lower bitrates. That distinction matters enormously for video analytics.
4K video can now stream over existing network infrastructure without introducing latency or degradation. The cleaner the input, the more accurately analytics engines can detect, classify, and respond. Facial recognition, object detection, and behavioral analysis all depend on source footage quality. It raises the ceiling on what your analytics investment can actually deliver.
For organizations running Perspective AI, this translates directly to more accurate detections and broader application of AI capabilities across their camera network.
Native Browser Support: Why It Matters for Web-Based VMS
Browser compatibility is a practical issue that rarely gets treated as one. Security teams managing remote access, multi-site deployments, or operator stations across different devices need to know their VMS will work without friction.
The codec is natively supported in Chrome and Edge, and in Safari on compatible Apple hardware. No additional plugins or browser extensions are required. For operators using Perspective VMS, SMOC, and LINC through a browser-based interface, this means cleaner access and fewer compatibility issues to manage. IT departments spend less time on configuration. Operators spend more time on what matters
AV1 Support Across Perspective VMS, SMOC, and LINC
LENSEC is among the first VMS vendors to implement AV1 codec support across its product suite. This is not an isolated feature. It is integrated across the platform.
- Perspective VMS handles video recording, live streaming, and playback with full AV1 codec support, bringing all compression and quality benefits directly into the VMS interface.
- SMOC, the Security Management Orchestration Center, benefits from improved stream quality and reduced bandwidth demands across integrated security operations.
- LINC, the LENSEC Integrated Node Connector, supports the AV1 codec at the IoT gateway level, ensuring the efficiency gains carry through to connected devices and edge deployments.
The result is an end-to-end infrastructure that is leaner, faster, and better equipped for the demands of modern security operations.
AV1-Ready Hardware Partners
The AV1 codec gains its full value in surveillance when the hardware itself supports it. Axis, Sunell, and Ikegawa are among the camera manufacturers that have already built AV1 encoding directly into their devices, enabling AV1 streams at the source. This means that when paired with LENSEC’s software, the entire pipeline from camera to platform operates on the same standard.
As more manufacturers adopt the AV1 codec standard, the ecosystem will continue to expand, and LENSEC’s platform is built to keep pace.
The Infrastructure Gap Is Taking Shape
The AV1 codec is not coming. It is here. Organizations that adopt it now gain immediate, measurable benefits: lower storage costs, higher image quality, better analytics performance, and a codec standard that will remain relevant for years to come.
LENSEC’s support for the AV1 codec across Perspective VMS, SMOC, and LINC is a deliberate product decision, not a feature addition. It reflects a commitment to giving security teams technology that works harder, costs less to maintain, and scales with their operations.
See how Perspective VMS, SMOC, and LINC handle the AV1 codec in a live demo.