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Definition
VP9 is an open-source video codec developed by Google. It achieves roughly 30-40% better compression than H.264 at the same quality. VP9 is widely used on YouTube and is supported by all major browsers. It is royalty-free, unlike H.264 and H.265.
Google developed VP9 as an open, royalty-free alternative to the patent-encumbered H.265/HEVC codec. Released in 2013, VP9 is the backbone of YouTube's video delivery — most YouTube videos are served in VP9 format inside a WebM container. This alone makes VP9 one of the most-viewed video codecs in the world.
VP9 achieves roughly 30-40% better compression than H.264, meaning the same video quality at significantly smaller file sizes. It supports resolutions up to 8K, 10-bit and 12-bit color depth, and HDR content. Hardware VP9 decoding is available on most modern devices including smartphones (Snapdragon, Exynos), Intel and AMD processors, and Nvidia GPUs.
VP9's successor, AV1, offers even better compression (about 30% improvement over VP9) and is gradually replacing VP9 for new deployments. However, VP9 remains widely used due to its established infrastructure and broader hardware decoder support. The WebM container format (VP9 video + Opus audio) is the standard pairing for web video delivery.