Google Duo video calls are about to look a whole lot better

Google’s Duo video chatting app is about to get a big bump in call quality, thanks to a new video codec technology the company plans to roll out in the next week. The codec, called AV1, is the product of an industry-wide consortium called the Alliance for Open Media. AV1 is the successor to VP9 and can produce significantly higher data compression rates than prior standards, which makes it great for mobile video applications like streaming TV shows and live video calling.

Google says all Duo calls with now use AV1, making even low-bandwidth video calls appear much higher quality than before. The codec change will also help with video call stability, too. In addition to the AV1 update, Google is also releasing a new photo mode for Duo...

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