Multi-codec VOD delivery over CDN

Deliver HEVC, AV1, VP9, and H.264 Live and VOD libraries through Gcore CDN

Multi-codec Live and VOD delivery

Multi-codec content delivery helps large video libraries reduce delivery traffic by serving a more efficient codec to compatible devices while keeping H.264 as a fallback. A player can request HEVC, AV1, VP9, or H.264 renditions depending on the viewer’s browser, device, and playback format.

Gcore CDN is codec- and quality-agnostic. It distributes the video files and playlists that your origin provides, including prepared multi-codec HLS CMAF or MPEG-DASH streams. If your library already has multi-codec renditions, you can deliver them through Gcore CDN.

If your library is still mostly H.264, you can create HEVC, AV1, and VP9 renditions with Gcore Video Streaming multi-codec VOD. This is useful for enterprise VOD catalogs with high traffic.

Business value

For large live broadcasts and large VOD libraries, codec choice is an ROI decision, not only a technical setting. If a major part of your audience can play HEVC, AV1, or VP9, you can reduce delivered bitrate and lower CDN bandwidth consumption.

Typical target use cases:

• Live sports broadcasts
• Live premium content
• Film and TV archives
• E-learning catalogs
• News and media archives
• Subscription or ad-supported VOD platforms
• Any library with tens of thousands of hours of watched content

Actual savings depend on your source quality, codec mix, viewer devices, bitrate ladder, geography, and playback behavior. Gcore can help evaluate expected savings before you migrate a large library.

Codec comparison

Codec	Typical bitrate reduction vs H.264	Main benefit	Typical device support	Best fit
H.264	Baseline	Maximum compatibility	All devices	Baseline playback and fallback
HEVC (H.265)	About 30-50%	Lower bitrate than H.264 at similar quality	Apple devices, many Smart TVs, newer mobile devices	Premium VOD and live-broadcast content
VP9	About 25-45%	Efficient web playback	Mostly Android-based devices, VOD libraries	Browser-heavy audiences
AV1	About 40-60%	Highest compression efficiency among modern web codecs	Newer devices and browsers, smart TVs and hardware decoders	Large catalogs where bandwidth savings justify premium processing

Device coverage and cost reduction potential

Modern codec support is already broad enough for many video services to use multi-codec delivery as a cost-reduction strategy. The player can keep H.264 as a fallback and serve HEVC, AV1, or VP9 only to compatible devices.

Codec	Global browser support	Desktop coverage signal	Mobile coverage signal	Cost reduction potential
VP9 / WebM	96.52% full or partial support	About 95.7% of desktop browser share is in browsers with VP9/WebM support: Chrome, Edge, Safari, Firefox, and Opera	About 97.8% of mobile browser share is in browsers with VP9/WebM support: Chrome, Safari, Samsung Internet, Opera, UC Browser, and Firefox	High for browser-heavy audiences, Android playback, and large catalogs that still rely mostly on H.264
AV1	94.29% full or partial support	About 89.5% of desktop browser share is in browsers with AV1 support: Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Opera. Safari adds another 6.2% with partial support	About 71.7% of mobile browser share is in browsers with AV1 support: Chrome, Samsung Internet, Opera, UC Browser, and Firefox. Safari adds another 26.0% with partial support	High where devices have AV1 decode support and the library has enough traffic to justify premium transcoding
HEVC / H.265	93.94% full or partial support	Safari has full HEVC support and represents about 6.2% of desktop browser share. Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Opera add about 89.5% with partial support that can depend on OS and hardware	iOS Safari and Samsung Internet have full HEVC support and represent about 28.9% of mobile browser share. Chrome and Firefox add about 66.2% with partial support	High for Apple-heavy audiences, Smart TVs, premium content, and high-resolution VOD

Sources: Can I use AV1, Can I use WebM/VP9, Can I use HEVC, and StatCounter browser market share for April 2026: desktop and mobile.

Codec support depends on browser version, operating system, hardware decoder, player, and delivery format. Use your own playback analytics to estimate the share of viewers who can receive each codec before migrating an entire library.

Recommended workflow for VOD

1. Review your current VOD library: hours of content, monthly traffic, top countries, device mix, and current codec.
2. Define the codec set: usually H.264 fallback plus HEVC, AV1, VP9, or a subset.
3. Choose output formats. HLS CMAF and MPEG-DASH are the main delivery paths for modern codecs.
4. Test playback on your most important devices and players.
5. Migrate the high-traffic part of your library first, then expand to the long tail if ROI is positive.

Recommended workflow for Live

1. Prepare the live encoding and packaging workflow on your origin or streaming platform.
2. Keep H.264 as the compatibility fallback for live playback.
3. Add HEVC, AV1 for device groups where you have tested playback.
4. In HLS MPEG-TS use H.264. In HLS CMAF and MPEG-DASH use H.264, HEVC, and AV1.
5. Test the full live path before launch: encoder, packager, CDN cache behavior, player, latency, and fallback logic.
6. For important broadcasts, use origin shielding to reduce origin load during audience peaks.

Advanced live multi-codec delivery depends on the ingest, packaging, player, and device path. Validate it with Gcore before using it for a production broadcast.

Delivery formats

Delivery format	Container	Multi-codec support	Notes
HLS MPEG-TS	MPEG-TS chunks	No	Supports H.264. Used for compatibility among all devices, especially legacy devices: mobile, desktop, Smart TV, STB, etc.
HLS CMAF	Fragmented MP4 (fMP4) chunks	Yes	Recommended for Apple and modern HLS playback with H.264, HEVC, and AV1. Not recommended for VP9 delivery.
MPEG-DASH	fMP4 or WebM chunks	Yes	Recommended for Android, web, Smart TVs, and advanced player workflows. Use WebM chunks for VP9.
MP4 downloads	Single MP4 file	Depends on codec	Useful for direct file access to H.264, HEVC, or AV1 versions.
WebM files	Single WebM file	VP9	Useful for direct VP9 file delivery when your workflow provides standalone WebM outputs.

For more details on playback formats, see HLS, MPEG-DASH, and MP4.