rav1e is an open-source implementation of an encoder for the AV1 video codec, developed in Rust (with some assembly) by the community around Xiph Foundation. Its design philosophy is to start from a correct, minimal, and fast AV1 encoder — sacrificing some encoding speed/efficiency of reference encoders in exchange for simplicity, stability, and compilability across platforms — and then gradually improve. This makes rav1e particularly attractive for scenarios where you need AV1 encoding but care about build-time, portability, and maintenance overhead, or where the full-featured reference encoder might be prohibitively slow. Despite aiming for simplicity, rav1e supports a wide range of AV1 features: different bit depths, chroma subsampling formats, prediction and transform modes, and block partitioning options, which means it can produce reasonably efficient compressed video.
Features
- Rust-based AV1 encoder with support for intra- and inter-frames and full AV1 superblock/block structure
- Support for multiple bit-depths (8, 10, 12 bits) and varied chroma sampling (4:2:0, 4:2:2, 4:4:4) depending on profile/configuration
- Configurable encoding parameters including block size, prediction/transform modes, speed vs quality presets
- Simple and safe API (Config → Context → send frames → receive packets) making integration into pipelines or custom tools straightforward
- Cross-platform compilation and distribution — works on Linux, macOS, Windows, and multiple CPU architectures
- Suitable for use in embedded or resource-constrained environments where a lighter AV1 encoder is desired (compared to heavier reference encoders)
Project Samples
