If the common hardware customers already have fails when you attempt to use a newer codec (but works fine otherwise), that can't be said to be a mainstream codec yet.

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Dylan16807 6 hours ago | parent [-]

Your particular model is not representative of "the common hardware" as a whole. And it can be mainstream even when a significant fraction of devices can't use it. AV1 is a third of Netflix streams and most YouTube streams, that's more than enough to qualify as mainstream.

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GeekyBear 5 hours ago | parent [-]

It's on most of YouTube streams because Google forces it on devices that lack hardware support, even if it breaks the functionality of the device.

Mainstream support doesn't have to be forced.

	▲	Dylan16807 4 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Even if half the devices were broken, it would still be more than a third of streams and mainstream. A lot less than half of devices are broken when playing YouTube, I assure you. If they stopped forcing it, it would still be the best choice most of the time. It doesn't "have to be" forced to be a major choice. The forcing changes the exact percentage but not the overall picture.