toger5
commented
1 month ago | Looking at: https://livekit.io/webrtc/bitrate-guide - | H.264 | VP8 | VP9 | AV1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1920x1080 | 2.70Mbps | 2.00Mbps | 1.20Mbps | 900kbps |
| 1280x720 | 1.25Mbps | 1.00Mbps | 700kbps | 550kbps |
| 960x540 | 700kbps | 600kbps | 450kbps | 350kbps |
| 640x360 | 400kbps | 400kbps | 270kbps | 190kbps |
| 384x216 | 170kbps | 180kbps | 120kbps | 90kbps |
| 320x180 | 140kbps | 160kbps | 90kbps | 70kbps |
| 160x90 | 50kbps | 90kbps | 35kbps | 30kbps |
At the resolutions we are using vp8 is better bandwidth wise then H.264. For lower resolutions it is not however.
Dependent on the hardware h264 might be less resource intensive. Thanks for the ticket so we have a place to discuss this.
Your use case
What would you like to do?
Replace VP8 with H264 as the default video codec.
Why would you like to do it?
This will reduce the CPU/power consumption and bitrate of video transmission in element call, especially on devices without hardware VP8 encoding/decoding, but also other devices as H264 is well-standardised and optimised as an older standard.
How would you like to achieve it?
Replace this in https://github.com/element-hq/element-call/blob/livekit/src/livekit/options.ts
Have you considered any alternatives?
Keep VP8 or use some other codec.
Additional context
Sending video is the highest difference in CPU usage (2x total usage, from 30% to over 60%) when using element-call for me, receiving video is negligible.
VP8 is not hardware decoded on my laptop according to about:support. I'm almost certain it's not hardware encoded either.