# How VP9 delivers value for Twitch's esports live streaming

DevFeed: [How VP9 delivers value for Twitch's esports live streaming](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/how-vp9-delivers-value-for-twitch-s-esports-live-streaming-20450.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://medium.com/twitch-news/how-does-vp9-deliver-value-for-twitchs-esports-live-streaming-35db26f6322f?source=rss----3ae745429979--engineering>)

Author: Yueshi Shen

Published: 2018-12-19T21:12:17Z

Content type: article

Language: en

Sources: [Twitch](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/twitch.md>)

Topics: [Twitch](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/twitch.md>), [Compression](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/compression.md>), [fpga](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/fpga.md>), [Streaming](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/streaming.md>), [Hardware](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/hardware.md>), [browsers](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/browsers.md>), [Playback](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/playback.md>)

Tags: [browsers](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/browsers.md>), [compression](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/compression.md>), [decoding](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/decoding.md>), [encoding](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/encoding.md>), [engineering](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/engineering.md>), [fpga](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/fpga.md>), [h-264](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/h-264.md>), [live-streaming](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/live-streaming.md>), [streaming](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/streaming.md>), [twitch](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/twitch.md>), [videos](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/videos.md>), [vp9](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/vp9.md>)

## AI overview

This article explains how Twitch selected FPGA hardware for real-time VP9 encoding of premium esports and partner live streams. It discusses VP9's compression advantages and implementation challenges, and reports at least 25% bitrate savings compared with the highest-quality H.264 encoders used in Twitch's production.

## Source excerpt

By: Akrum Elkhazin, Video Algorithm Architect, NGCodec, akrum.elkhazin@ngcodec.com Avinash Ramachandran, Video Software Architect, NGCodec, avinash.ramachandran@ngcodec.com Roshan Baliga, Product Manager, Google, rdb@google.com Jai Krishnan, Product Manager, Google, jaikk@google.com Tarek Amara, Senior Video Specialist, Twitch, amatarek@twitch.tv Alex Converse, Senior Software Engineer, Twitch, alexconv@twitch.tv Yueshi Shen, Principal Research Engineer, Twitch, yshen@twitch.tv Summary: VP9 will soon help Twitch offer a better viewing experience for premium esports and partner channels Video compression is the key to successful delivery of digital video across various applications like broadcast, teleconference, surveillance, and online streaming services. Since 2003 (i.e., 15 years ago), H.264 has been the state-of-the-art video compression format and has enabled HDTV, Blu-ray Disc, Internet video websites (e.g., YouTube, Twitch), and so on. Nevertheless, according to Twitch's recent analysis, H.264 has reached its compression performance limit, particularly for real-time encoding of gaming content at the HD resolution (1080p60). On the other hand, newer-generation video standards, namely VP9, HEVC, and AV1, show significant compression gain, which can bring considerable commercial benefits to content platforms (e.g., offering viewers better video quality, reducing the video loading time and the buffering rate, increasing the customer reach, decreasing the IP transit cost). Currently, although decoding and playback of VP9 video are widely supported on devices and browsers used by Twitch's audience, encoding gaming video content with a high efficiency and real-time performance is a substantial challenge due to the high complexity of VP9. Through a rigorous feasibility study, we have eventually selected FPGA as the hardware platform for real-time VP9 encoding and are deploying it to broadcast our premium eSports and partner channels in the near future (please watch t