Complexity and Coding Efficiency Assessment of AOMedia Video 1

AOMedia Video 1 (AV1) achieves high compression rates through the use of novel complex tools and flexible frame partitioning structures. Understanding which are the most time-consuming tools and techniques is essential for proposing energy-aware VLSI designs that will allow a wide deployment of AV1 codecs in different devices. This work presents a detailed assessment of AV1 video coding divided into four analyses: (i) a complexity profiling of baseline AV1 tools, (ii) a complexity analysis of the AV1 block partitioning decision, (iii) an analysis on the fast partitioning heuristics implemented in the AV1 reference encoder, and (iv) an analysis on the effects of limited block partitioning. The analyses point out the main sources of complexity in AV1, discussing potential strategies that can be followed for complexity and energy consumption reduction.