YouTube plans to start serving AV2 video on the web as soon as early 2027. The target comes from YouTube Engineering Director Des Keane, in an Alliance for Open Media (AOMedia) press release dated October 22. The web comes first. The release gives no date for the Android or iOS apps, or for TVs.
YouTube AV2 streams will be available for Web as soon as early 2027.
That’s Keane’s statement in the AOMedia release. As of March 19, 2026, over 90% of YouTube’s catalog was available in AV1, Keane says. That share is weighted by watch time.
What YouTube’s AV2 move involves
AV2 is the royalty-free successor to AV1. AOMedia published the AV2 specification in June 2026, four months before this release. The group claims about 30% better compression efficiency than AV1. It also lists multi-stream video, real-time communication, immersive apps, higher frame rates and enhanced HDR among its capabilities.
What it means for your phone and data
Better compression can mean sharper video at the same data use, or the same quality using less data. That matters if you stream on a capped mobile plan. But the early-2027 target is for the web only. Don’t expect AV2 in the YouTube app on that timeline.
The release doesn’t name any phone, chipset or hardware decoder that supports AV2. So the gains on phones depend on future chip support. Nothing in the release covers phones on sale today.
Chrome, Meta and Intel
Google says it has already demonstrated AV2 playback in Chrome, according to Jim Bankoski, VP of Engineering for Google Chrome. The release doesn’t give a date for that support. Meta says it will follow the same path with AV2 that it took with AV1. It calls AV1 the most popular delivery format for Facebook and Instagram video, but gave no AV2 timeline.
Intel points to its SVT-AV2 software work. The release doesn’t announce any hardware decoders. For other recent changes to the app, see how YouTube moved Subscriptions into Home.
Source: Alliance for Open Media
