Okay, so what? Each and every console already pays a patent for devs to decode videos for free, cool?

Unless that demands devs to code a different video decoder for each platforms because each of them has a different way to use that special chip. That's a lot of work, and really sucks.

April 09, 2026 - 18:43 UTC

2
0
8
So as a gamedev, you generally end up looking for a video codec that you could use on ALL platforms with the same code, but you can't use those special chips. So that means using a codec only on the CPU.

Long story short, no codec reliably can, and even 1080p can be a big problem.
1
0
8
So you either do like Godot and stick to sucky codec like theora, because that works everywhere (but really sucks, think 2000 divx with limited resolution)...

or you go AV1 that will work only on high-end PC (but clearly not consoles unless you down sample a lot).
1
0
9
Genuine good faith question: why CANT devs use ffmpeg to transcode to different formats for each platform? Do the platforms not provide a way to play their blessed format? Why are devs having to write decoders?
1
0
0
ffmpeg is not a decoder, it's a wrapper around existing decoders. For example, you don't need ffmpeg and its gazillion dependencies when you can just use dav1d directly to decode AV1 (which ffmpeg is a wrapper of). It doesn't make things faster (just slightly slower and much bigger).
1
0
1