Discord will soon release an update that will add AV1 support to the platform. This allows users with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 40 GPU to use the media codec to stream gameplay footage to other users.
Discord will start rolling out the AV1 encoding update for RTX 40 GPUs this week, reports Gerardo Delgado, product line manager of Nvidia’s content creator division. The function should slowly but surely become available to all users from then on. The update will allow Discord users with a Nitro subscription to stream 4k60 footage at a bit rate of 8Mbit/s, Delgado reports. AV1 can also be used without Nitro, but at a lower resolution.
According to Delgado Discord currently only supports RTX 40 GPUs for live streaming AV1 images. AMD’s Radeon RX 7000 series and Intel’s Arc graphics cards also have an AV1 encoder, but it can’t yet be used for live streaming on Discord. It is not known when support for those GPUs will be added.
Streaming with AV1 does not limit who can watch a stream, according to Delgado. According to the Nvidia employee, Discord automatically checks whether viewers can decode AV1 footage. That is supported on video cards from other manufacturers. AMD’s RX 6000 and 7000 GPUs and Intel Arc video cards, among others, can decode AV1 images, in addition to recent processors from AMD and Intel and Nvidia’s RTX 30 and 40 video cards. If one or more viewers do not have a GPU that can decode AV1 images, the service will automatically switch to H.264.
