# xiph/rav1e

The fastest and safest AV1 encoder.

Repository: https://github.com/xiph/rav1e
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/rav1e
Language: Assembly
License: BSD-2-Clause
License Family: permissive
Topics: av1, av1-encoder, hacktoberfest
Last push: 2026-08-26T11:18:13+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 79/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 40, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 3265, "days_push": 7, "days_rel": 443, "gap_med": 20, "n_releases_24m": 2}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 4145, forks 289 (observed 2026-08-28T04:08:36.354781+00:00)

## What it is
rav1e is an open-source AV1 video encoder written in Rust with assembly optimizations, developed by Xiph.Org. It offers a CLI binary and a C API, supporting intra/inter frames, 8-12 bit depth, multiple chroma samplings, and 11 speed presets from exhaustive to near real-time.

## Use cases
- encode video files to AV1 format
- compress video with better quality than libaom at higher speed
- transcode video archives to a royalty-free modern codec
- encode AV1 still pictures
- integrate an AV1 encoder into a C/C++ application via C API
- run near real-time AV1 encoding on multi-core machines

## When to choose
- you need AV1 encoding and libaom is too slow
- you want a memory-safe Rust encoder with a C API
- you need flexible rate control (constant quantizer or single/multi-pass bitrate)
- you require 10/12-bit or 4:2:2/4:4:4 chroma support

## When to avoid
- you need the absolute fastest AV1 encoding regardless of quality (SVT-AV1 may be faster)
- you need a decoder rather than an encoder (use dav1d)
- you need hardware-accelerated encoding
- you need a stable 1.0 API - the C API is still evolving

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: active
- function: video-processing, cli, sdk
- domain: media, developer-tools
- platform: windows, cross-platform, rust, cpp
- tags: av1, video-encoder, codec, rust, xiph, video-compression, video, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- xiph/rav1e (main) score 79

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:08:36.354781+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T18:22:57.073321+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/xiph/rav1e (fetched 2026-08-28T04:08:36.354781+00:00, sha 4f02039e2692)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.