Synamedia: Low-latency Live Video Streaming with AV1

Synamedia, a leading end-to-end video software provider, has achieved significant milestones, including pioneering 8K real-time encoding without quality compromises and integrating AI-driven traffic management in its Edge CDN for enhanced streaming efficiency. We spoke to Marc Baillavoine, CTO of Video Network for Synamedia and Jan De Cock, their Director of Codec Development, about how AV1 benefits their business.

The AV1 Advantage: The Power of Community

One major strength of AV1 is the ongoing support from its development community. Baillavoine explained, “One example is how we see far more open source initiatives in AV1 than in other codec developments. Open source plays a key role in driving adoption and spreading the technology.”

De Cock agreed. “AV1 has been standardized for a couple of years, but soon after finalization, we saw the first deployments. The contributions from key players working on open source software really accelerated adoption.”

Synamedia focuses on live broadcasting rather than video on demand (VOD), which brings unique technical challenges — particularly the need to process massive amounts of data in real time with minimal latency. Reliability and near 100% uptime are non-negotiable.

“We’re just at the start of a long love story with AV1,” said Baillavoine. “We integrated AV1 into our flagship products about a year and a half ago and have a few live AV1 channels. Many of our customers are traditional pay TV broadcasters who have a whole ecosystem to upgrade before they can introduce a new video codec, which takes time. But we’re seeing more of them moving to AV1 this year.”

De Cock emphasized that educating clients is crucial to driving adoption. “We’re at an exciting stage right now. But with live streaming, the stakes are high — viewers can’t restart a live event. We’ve been demonstrating that AV1 works reliably for live broadcasts. Once customers see it delivers high-quality video while cutting bandwidth costs, confidence grows and deployment follows.”

Baillavoine added, “Many people underestimate the added complexity of live streaming. In VOD, if CPU usage spikes, it just takes longer to transcode the file. In live, everything happens in real time, and failure isn't an option.”

AV1 is integrated into vDCM, Synamedia’s video digital content manager. vDCM, one of Synamedia’s longest-standing products, is widely deployed for live video compression by customers like TDF, SportsMax, beIN, and Türk Telekom, which uses it across 170 channels, including 4K. Now fully software-based, vDCM offers flexible deployment options.

Supporting the AV1 Ecosystem

Baillavoine acknowledged that while major broadcasters adopted AV1 early on and some niche players are using it, wider adoption among smaller companies will take time. “If you control the whole delivery chain — from encoding to playback — you can adapt quickly. Smaller players don’t always have that flexibility. But as more companies like us adopt AV1, we’ll see it spread throughout the ecosystem.”

He also pointed to growing device support. “Studies show you can now decode 720p30 for eight hours in software on a low-end device. Device compatibility isn’t the main blocker anymore — multi-vendor environments just take time to adapt.”

De Cock added, “Big tech players like Meta are demonstrating AV1’s compression efficiency and proving that many devices can handle it. That’s a powerful endorsement.”

The Value of AV1 Community Involvement

Synamedia is part of AOMedia, which helps the company stay connected to AV1’s latest developments. Baillavoine explained, “Our expertise is important, but being part of AOMedia helps validate it. We’re also excited to contribute to the next generation codec’s development.”

Synamedia also values the opportunity to give back to the community.

“The existing encoders mostly target VOD,” De Cock said. “We’re focused on helping the ecosystem adopt AV1 for live streaming. Our technology and expertise can make a real difference, complementing what companies like Netflix and YouTube are doing.”