The Alliance for Open Media is an open-source project that has put together technology companies to figure out how to create the next-generation of video format.
According to its website, it was formed to "define and develop media codecs, media formats, and related technologies to address marketplace demand for an open standard for video compression and delivery over the web." As streaming video becomes more popular and ubiquitous on every platform, the Alliance's goal is to put some standard for scalability across devices and bandwidth.
And it has included Apple as a founding (board) member.
What this means, Apple is joining other founding members that include Amazon, Arm, Cisco, Facebook, Google, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Mozilla, Netfilx and Nvidia.
Among lower-level partners in the Alliance include Adobe, AMD, Hulu, and VLC maker VideoLAN.
The Alliance has been developing a royalty-free video codec known as AOMedia Video 1, or AV1.
First announced in April 2017. the first video-streaming standard from the group uses a codec to compress video to up to 25 to 35 percent versus H.265 and Google's VP9, before it is sent over the network. This makes the video smaller in file size.
This should make AV1 appeal to people using mobile devices, especially those with a data plan.
Mozilla supports an early version of AV1, and it said that it's an advantage if compared to H.265.
But AV1's better compression does come with a problem: longer times to compress video and a greater resources needed for computing that affect memory and battery life.
The Alliance's work in developing compression technology is useful only when it's widely supported, and Apple was a major holdout when it opted for H.264 and H.265 across its platforms. That decision has made the company obligated to patent holders wanting royalty payments.
This is because anyone that wants to use H.264 and H.265 in products like operating systems, video software, cameras, processors, phones, Blu-ray players or TV networks, must reckon with three separate HEVC patent licensing groups.
But with Apple quietly joining the Alliance, things are changing.
The Cupertino-based company is starting to support AV1, which could potentially free the company from obligations to patent holders.
However, the company's interest to join the Alliance is more than just avoiding royalties. With the launch of the Apple TV 4K, the company has also begun hosting 4K video on iTunes, which can consume huge amounts of bandwidth and storage for both Apple and viewers.