Reviewed answer
Should I export AV1, VP9, or H.264 video?
Choose H.264 when broad playback compatibility is the priority. VP9 and AV1 can provide better compression, but encoding support, playback hardware, editing software, and the destination platform must all be checked first.
Claims reviewed 2026-10-16.
H.264 remains a pragmatic delivery choice because it is widely supported. VP9 is commonly paired with WebM and offers better compression than H.264 at comparable quality.
AV1 can improve quality per bit further, but it is more computationally expensive to encode and its practical support depends on the exact browser and device. Test the full publishing workflow before standardising on it.