Every year new video formats are released, offering up improvements and new capabilities. Not all new video formats supplant the more popular older video formats however, which is why going into 2019 there are a mix of old and new formats that you need to know about.
AV1
The new kid on the block, AV1 was released earlier in 2018 and has been rapidly rolled out and adopted by browsers and online platforms. It was designed by the AOMedia consortium as an open source and royalty-free alternative to HEVC (H.265) that also provides better compression rates.
While still new it is expected that devices will start to support AV1 in their hardware from 2019, which is when it will become clearer whether or not it can supplant HEVC and H.264 completely. In short AV1 is the format to keep an eye on, considering it is backed by AOMedia members that include Microsoft, Netflix, Amazon, Apple (News - Alert), Google, Mozilla, and many others.
HEVC (H.265)
Although HEVC was eventually expected to replace its predecessor H.264, its adoption has been slow, mostly due to numerous issues involving its licensing and royalty structure. It did make significant progress in 2018 however, and enters 2019 with more widespread support than ever before.
That being said HEVC will face stiff competition from AV1 that has a transparent licensing structure, is royalty-free, and provides better compression. Unless issues surface with AV1, HEVC may find it difficult to compete against it.
MP4 with H.264
Currently the most widely-used and supported video format, MP4 with H.264 looks to continue to be relevant in 2019. However it may very well be on the tail-end of its popularity as it is now not only up against competition from HEVC, but also AV1.
It is likely that MP4 with H.264 will not be phased out in 2019 and will remain the most ‘universally compatible’ format for video. However it will probably be gradually be supplanted by AV1, especially for online video.
MPEG-2
Despite being venerably old at this stage, MPEG-2 is still a format you need to know about due to it being the default format for DVD video. Although some newer DVD players support other formats of video natively, the waning popularity of DVD in general have made them slow to catch on.
In short if you are going to be burning a video DVD in 2019, you’re going to still want to use MPEG-2 to ensure it can be played on most DVD players.
Final Words
It will be some time before AV1 starts to be adopted by video converters, but HEVC is already supported by some such as Convertio. Between the formats listed above, you should be able to reliably convert videos into the right format throughout 2019.
Although there may be new formats that are released in the coming year, it will be some time before they roll out to the point where they become relevant. Still if you manage or produce videos, it is worth keeping tabs on any developments that take place.
