AV1 Converter

How to Convert AV1 to Any Format

1. Upload Your AV1 File: Drag and drop your .av1 file or click "Add Files". A .av1 file is a raw AV1 elementary stream (OBU or IVF), so it carries video only — there's no audio track inside it. Batch is supported: drop in several streams and each converts in parallel.
2. Pick an Output Format and Quality Preset: Choose the target container from the Video File Extension dropdown — MP4, MOV, MKV, WebM, AVI, and 25+ more. The default Quality Preset is "Very High (Recommended)". Under File Compression, switch to Specific file size to cap output at an exact MB target, Constant Bitrate for predictable streaming sizes, Variable Bitrate for smaller files at equal quality, or Constant Quality (CRF) to tune by perceptual quality (18 = visually lossless, 23 = default, 28 = noticeably smaller).
3. Resize, Trim, or Change Codec (Optional): Under Video resolution, keep original, pick a Preset Resolution (2160p / 1440p / 1080p / 720p / 480p), scale by Resolution Percentage, or set a custom Width × Height. Under Trim, choose Time Range and enter a start point and duration. To make the file play on older hardware, override the Video Codec to H.264 (the most compatible option); other choices are H.265, VP9, AV1, MPEG-4, MJPEG, and XviD.
4. Convert and Download: Click Convert. Files are uploaded over an encrypted connection, processed on our servers, and deleted automatically after a few hours — no sign-up, no watermark, never shared.

Popular AV1 Conversions

• AV1 to MP4 — re-encode to H.264 for universal device and browser playback
• AV1 to MOV — import into Final Cut Pro and Apple editing workflows
• AV1 to MKV — Matroska container for Plex, Jellyfin, and media-server libraries
• AV1 to WebM — the web's open container for HTML5 <video> embeds
• AV1 to AVI — legacy Windows editors and players that reject modern codecs
• AV1 to HEVC — H.265 for Apple devices and TVs with HEVC but not AV1 hardware
• AV1 to GIF — a short, silent looping animation for chat and READMEs

Why Convert an AV1 File?

AV1 (AOMedia Video 1) is an open, royalty-free video coding format from the Alliance for Open Media — the consortium founded in 2015 by Amazon, Cisco, Google, Intel, Microsoft, Mozilla, and Netflix, and later joined by Apple, AMD, and Nvidia. Its bitstream specification reached version 1.0.0 in June 2018. AV1 compresses more efficiently than older codecs — roughly 30-50% smaller than H.264 (AVC) and around 20-30% smaller than H.265 (HEVC) at similar visual quality in vendor benchmarks (independent studies report a wider range) — which is why YouTube, Netflix, and other large streamers encode in AV1 to save bandwidth.

A standalone .av1 file is a raw elementary stream: it holds the coded video and nothing else, so any file you convert out of it will be silent unless the source you exported from muxed audio separately. That efficiency and rawness come at a cost — AV1 is expensive to encode and to decode. The reasons people convert away from it are almost always about compatibility and CPU load, not quality:

• The file won't play (no hardware decode) — AV1 hardware decoding is recent. On the desktop it arrived with Intel's 11th-gen Core (Tiger Lake) integrated graphics and Intel Arc GPUs, NVIDIA RTX 30-series (Ampere), and AMD Radeon RX 6000-series (RDNA 2); on Apple, with the M3 Macs and the iPhone 15 Pro's A17 Pro (both 2023). Older machines fall back to software decoding, which can stutter on 4K or fail outright. Converting AV1 to an H.264 MP4 produces a file that plays on essentially every device made since around 2010.
• Windows shows a codec error — Windows' built-in Movies & TV and Media Player apps need the separate, free "AV1 Video Extension" from the Microsoft Store before they'll open an AV1 file. Re-encoding to an H.264 MP4 sidesteps that requirement entirely.
• Your editor rejects it — Adobe Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve have limited AV1 import support, and AV1 is a delivery codec, not an edit-friendly one. Transcoding to an H.264 MOV or MP4 gives a timeline that scrubs and renders smoothly.
• Browser fallback for the open web — Chrome 70+, Firefox 67+, and Edge 121+ decode AV1, but Safari's support (from version 17) is partial and hardware-dependent. Sites that must reach every visitor still ship an MP4 (H.264) fallback alongside the AV1.

AV1 at a Glance

AV1 vs. Its Common Targets

Going the other way — into AV1 — start from MP4 to AV1 or WebM to AV1. To shrink an AV1 stream without changing its codec, use Compress AV1.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why won't my AV1 video play on my phone or computer?

Almost always because the device lacks AV1 hardware decoding. AV1 decode support only reached mainstream hardware recently — Intel 11th-gen Core (Tiger Lake) and Arc, NVIDIA RTX 30-series, AMD RX 6000-series, Apple M3 Macs, and the iPhone 15 Pro (A17 Pro). Anything older has to decode AV1 in software, which can stutter on high-resolution clips or fail entirely, and Windows' built-in players additionally need the free AV1 Video Extension installed. The reliable fix is to convert AV1 to MP4 with the H.264 codec, which plays on practically every device and browser without extra software.

Why is there no sound after I convert my AV1 file?

Because a raw .av1 file has no sound to begin with. The .av1 extension names a raw AV1 elementary stream (an OBU or IVF stream), which is a video-only payload — audio lives in a separate stream that only exists once the video has been muxed into a container like MP4, MKV, or WebM. If your .av1 came out of a tool that exported only the video track, converting it to MP4 or MKV gives you a silent video, which is expected. To keep audio, export the original as a full MP4/MKV from the source app instead of a bare AV1 stream.

Will converting AV1 to MP4 (H.264) make the file bigger?

Usually yes, at matched visual quality. AV1 is one of the most efficient codecs available, so re-encoding to the older H.264 typically lands the same clip 30-50% larger. That is the trade you make for universal compatibility. If you want to keep file size down while gaining broader playback, target H.265 (HEVC) instead — it sits between AV1 and H.264 on efficiency and plays natively on Apple devices and most recent hardware. You can also offset the size increase by trimming dead footage or downscaling 4K to 1080p before converting.

Does converting from AV1 lose quality?

Every conversion here re-encodes the video — the frames are decoded and compressed again, so there is no lossless pass-through. In our testing, a 1080p AV1 clip re-encoded to H.264 at Constant Quality (CRF) 18 is visually indistinguishable from the source in normal side-by-side viewing, even though the resulting H.264 file is roughly 40-50% larger. To keep the loss invisible, leave the Quality Preset at "Very High" or set Constant Quality (CRF) to 18-20; higher CRF values trade visible detail for a smaller file.

Is AV1 actually better quality than H.264?

At the same file size, yes — AV1 packs meaningfully more detail into the same number of bits, which is the same thing as saying it hits the same quality at a smaller size (roughly 30-50% smaller than H.264). It is not "higher quality" in an absolute sense: an H.264 file encoded at a high enough bitrate looks identical to an AV1 file of the same clip. The difference is efficiency, not a quality ceiling. The catch is encode time and decode support: AV1 software encoding is slow, and older hardware can't decode it without stuttering.

What's the best format to convert AV1 to for editing in Premiere or DaVinci Resolve?

Convert AV1 to an H.264 MOV or MP4. AV1 is a delivery codec built for streaming, not an edit-intermediate format, and both Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve have limited AV1 support. Transcoding to H.264 gives a timeline that scrubs and renders smoothly. Keep in mind that a raw .av1 stream carries no audio, so you'll be editing a silent clip unless you bring the soundtrack in separately. See AV1 to MOV for the Apple-editing path.

What opens an AV1 file natively, without converting?

VLC and MPV play AV1 in software on any reasonably modern computer, and browsers with AV1 support (Chrome 70+, Firefox 67+, Edge 121+) will play one if you drag it into a tab — though a bare .av1 elementary stream sometimes needs to be muxed into MP4 or MKV first for a player to recognize it. Windows' Movies & TV and Media Player need the free AV1 Video Extension from the Microsoft Store. If a specific device or app still refuses the file, converting AV1 to an H.264 MP4 is the surest way to make it open everywhere.

How long do you keep my AV1 file after converting?

AV1 encoding and decoding are CPU-intensive, so the conversion runs on our servers rather than in your browser. Your file is uploaded over an encrypted (HTTPS) connection, processed, and then deleted automatically after a few hours — it is never shared, made public, or used for anything other than your conversion. There's no sign-up and no watermark on the output. Because the work is server-side, the practical limit on big files is upload size and connection speed, not your device's processing power, so multi-gigabyte 4K AV1 streams convert fine. To cut a long file down before uploading, use the Video Cutter.