CAVS to AV1 Converter

Convert CAVS to AV1 Online

A .cavs file is a raw Chinese AVS (AVS1) video elementary stream — a regional codec from China's Audio Video Coding Standard that almost no Western player or browser decodes natively. This converter re-encodes that stream to AV1, the royalty-free AOMedia codec, so the picture survives in a modern format that Chrome, Firefox, and Edge play and that compresses roughly 30% smaller than HEVC at the same quality.

One honest caveat: a bare .cavs stream carries video only, with no audio track. The AV1 output is therefore silent — there is no audio to lose, but none to gain either. If you want a file that drops straight into a player or editor, pick an MP4 or WebM container target instead (see below); a raw .av1 elementary stream is a bare OBU bitstream meant for muxing, not double-click playback.

How to Convert CAVS to AV1

1. Upload Your CAVS File: Drag and drop your .cavs file onto the page or click "+ Add Files." You can queue several streams at once and convert them with the same settings.
2. Pick a Quality Preset: Open Advanced Options and set the Preset dropdown — it defaults to "Very High (Recommended)." Drop to a lower preset to shrink the file, or hold it high to keep maximum detail.
3. Set Resolution or Trim (Optional): Under Video resolution choose Keep original, a preset resolution, or a Width x Height; under Trim switch from Unchanged to a Time Range to keep only a clip.
4. Convert and Download: Click "Convert" and download your AV1 file. No sign-up, no watermark.

CAVS vs AV1 at a Glance

For a file you can actually play back, convert to CAVS to MP4 instead, which wraps the video in a container most players and editors open.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will my AV1 file have sound after converting from CAVS?

No, and that is expected. A raw .cavs file is a video-only elementary stream — it carries no audio track — so there is nothing to map into the AV1 output. The result is a silent video. If your source originally had separate audio, you would need to mux that audio in afterward; this converter only transcodes the video stream it receives.

Why is my output a raw .av1 file instead of a normal video?

Selecting AV1 as the output produces a bare AV1 OBU elementary stream, the same kind of unwrapped bitstream a .cavs source is. That is correct for muxing pipelines but awkward to play, because most players expect a container. For a double-click-playable result, convert to an MP4 or WebM AV1 instead — for example CAVS to MP4.

Why convert CAVS to AV1 instead of H.264?

AV1 is royalty-free and compresses roughly 30% more efficiently than HEVC (and more than H.264) at equivalent quality, so you get a smaller, future-proof file. The tradeoff is encoding time: AV1 is slower to encode and not yet hardware-accelerated everywhere. If you need the widest possible device compatibility today, H.264 in an MP4 is the safer pick; if you want the smallest modern file, AV1 wins.

Which browsers and devices can play AV1?

Roughly 93% of tracked users have AV1 support. It plays natively in Chrome 70+, Firefox 67+, Edge, Opera, and Samsung Internet. Safari added partial AV1 support from version 17.0 on recent Apple hardware. Older devices without an AV1 decoder fall back to software decoding, which can be CPU-heavy on long or high-resolution clips.

Will I lose quality converting CAVS to AV1?

Any re-encode between two lossy codecs is generationally lossy, but AV1 is efficient enough that visible loss is minimal at the "Very High" preset. In our testing, a standard-definition CAVS clip re-encoded at the default preset stayed visually indistinguishable from the source while landing a noticeably smaller file than an equivalent H.264 export. Lower presets trade detail for size, so keep the preset high if fidelity matters more than file size.

Can I resize or trim the video during the conversion?

Yes. Under Video resolution you can keep the original dimensions, apply a preset resolution, scale by percentage, or set an explicit Width x Height with aspect ratio locked. Under Trim, switch from Unchanged to a Time Range to export only a segment instead of the whole clip.

Is it safe to upload my CAVS file here?

Files are uploaded over an encrypted connection, processed on our servers, and deleted automatically after a few hours. There is no sign-up, no watermark, and your files are never shared or made public.