VideoLAN recently released the first update to their VLC Media Player in over a year, and the one change that affects us most is that hardware AV1 decoding is finally supported on Windows, if you have compatible hardware! AV1 has been supported since version 3.0, but it was all done in software, which requires a decently powerful CPU, compared to H264/H265/VP9.
In terms of AV1 hardware support for the PC, for GPUs:
AMD Radeon 6000/7000 series
Nvidia Geforce 3000/4000 series
Intel XE (ARC A350 and higher)
Now for Macs, neither the M1 or M2 support hardware decoding. The M3 processor, which is scheduled to be announced at the Apple Event on Oct 30th, which is 3 days away, may support AV1 decoding. We’re not 100% sure, but they MUST support it, or else they’re lagging behind their competitors, which would be a shame. The only Apple product that supports hardware decoding is the new A17 Pro, that debuted in the iPhone 15 Pro.
CPUs/IGPs:
AMD Ryzen 7000 series
Intel Core 11th gen or higher (Tiger Lake, Rocket Lake, Alder Lake, Raptor Lake)
