Skip to main content

Intel Arc graphics use AV1 to improve Twitch streams

Intel has just announced that it will support AV1 video coding technology in the new Intel Arc GPUs.

The tech will offer hardware-accelerated encoding that may have a huge impact on video streaming quality, making it potentially attractive to streamers and viewers alike.

Intel's Arc AV1 demo featured two Elden Ring streams for comparison purposes.
Intel

AV1 stands for AOMedia Video 1 and is a royalty-free video coding format. It was first designed to support and improve the quality of video streams over the internet. Today, Intel announced that it will be adopting this format on its Arc GPUs, potentially giving a huge boost in video quality to streamed content.

Upon the release of Intel Arc Alchemist discrete graphics cards, AV1 is going to be Intel’s video encoding standard and will have an impact on the way content looks when streamed live. As such, considering that Intel is going to be the first in line to offer this kind of support for this technology, it could potentially make its GPUs much more interesting to streamers than they would have been otherwise. Of course, this depends on whether the technology is as good as it seems in Intel’s preview.

Intel promises to deliver up to 8K quality in both decoding and encoding in AV1. Decoding maxes out at 8K and 60 frames per second (fps) in 12-bit HDR quality, while encoding goes up to 8K resolution at 10-bit HDR. Intel refers to this as the industry-first full AV1 hardware acceleration and claims that the technology will prove to be up to 50 times faster than software encoding.

Intel's Arc AV1 demo featured two Elden Ring streams for comparison purposes.
Intel

Intel showed off a video of two separate streams of Elden Ring in order to demonstrate the power of AV1. To do so, game footage was captured via XSplit gamecaster in 1080p at 5Mbps. The first video used the H.265 advanced video coding (AVC) standard while the second video relied on Intel’s AV1.

Although at first glance, the difference in image quality may seem rather small, pausing reveals just how much more detailed the stream is when AV1 is being used. Environmental details, such as rocks, grass, and ground clutter, all have their own shape and texture. The stream on the left side, while it shows almost the exact scene from the game, is nowhere near as detailed and comes off as blurry in comparison.

The video goes on to display both background and foreground improvements, showing crisp graphics in the stream encoded in AV1 in every frame. Even individual blades of grass look much more pronounced in AV1, despite the fact that both streams are consuming the same bandwidth and are running at 1080p. The difference is definitely there, indicating that the technology shows a lot of potential when paired with Intel’s discrete GPU.

Intel Arc graphics cards are a huge milestone for Intel, marking the company’s entrance into the discrete GPU market. First found in laptops, they will be available in a desktop version later this year.

Editors' Recommendations

Monica J. White
Monica is a UK-based freelance writer and self-proclaimed geek. A firm believer in the "PC building is just like expensive…
Arc GPU drivers are getting better, but Intel says it’s challenging
Intel head of Graphics Raja Koduri explains Arc driver troubles

Intel Arc A770 and A750 graphics cards will be available to order on October 12, but Intel admitted it’s still struggling with drivers for DirectX games. Raja Koduri, Intel’s head of Accelerated Computing Systems and Graphics Group (AXG), discussed the challenges in a recent interview.

With reviews expected to start arriving today, the pressure is on Intel to either impress us with its recovery or rush to solve issues quickly. Intel has been creating graphics drivers for decades, but until this year, that has focused on integrated graphics built into the CPU, which come with much lower expectations. Koduri explained that the first generation of Arc GPUs was most difficult because programmers had to start with a completely new architecture. Pandemic challenges slowed development as well. Heading into the second generation it should be better.

Read more
Intel Arc Alchemist: specs, pricing, release date, performance
Two intel Arc graphics cards on a pink background.

Intel's first-generation Arc graphics cards are here -- codenamed Alchemist. It's a bid to shift the balance that Nvidia and AMD have maintained for decades, with modern furnishings like real-time ray tracing and AI-assisted supersampling. Arc Alchemist is gunning for the top of the best graphics card list, and it has some serious power to get there. If you want to see how much power, make sure to read our Arc A770 and A750 review.

To get you up to speed, we rounded up everything we know about Arc Alchemist's release date, price, specs, and performance.
Intel Arc Alchemist price and release date

Read more
Can I use an Intel Arc GPU with AMD Ryzen?
The Arc A770 graphics card running in a PC.

Yes, yes you can. It might seem like an incident of mass hysteria, team red and blue playing together like that, but gamers have been running Intel CPUs with AMD GPUs for years, so the fact that the reverse works just as well isn't too surprising. However, there are some caveats. Can you use an Intel Arc GPU with AMD Ryzen: yes, but you have to use the right CPU.
Which AMD CPUs can you use with Intel Arc GPUs?

In reality, any AMD CPU should work with Intel Arc GPUs, as there isn't some lock or fundamental compatibility issue that means only certain CPUs work with the new Intel cards. That said, Intel has made a big deal of how much Arc Alchemist cards benefit from Resizable BAR, a feature that is only available on Ryzen 3000 and newer CPUs.

Read more