> "Patents on h264, h265, and even mp3 have been holding the industry back for decades. Imagine what we might have if their iron grip on codecs was broken."

Has AV1 solved this, to some extent? Although there are patent claims against it (patents for technologies that are fundamental to all the modern video codecs), it still seems better than the patent & licensing situation for h264 / h265.

The power of H264 and H265 comes from pirates, and since AV1 team don't work with pirates then it will always be inferior to H265.

Just check pirated releases of TV shows and movies.