VP9
Also known as: vp9 codec, webm vp9, vp9 codec
VP9 is a royalty-free video codec developed by Google, typically carried in WebM or MP4 containers. It compresses roughly as efficiently as HEVC and powers much of YouTube's higher-resolution streaming, producing smaller files than the older H.264 at the same quality.
- Royalty-free Google codec, usually in a WebM container, heavily used by YouTube.
- Compresses about as well as HEVC and 30-50% smaller than H.264 at equal quality.
- Hardware-decoded on most modern Android devices; AV1 is its more efficient successor.
What VP9 is
VP9 is an open, royalty-free video codec released by Google in 2013 as the successor to VP8. Because it carries no licensing fees, it spread quickly across the web and is widely used by YouTube, which serves much of its 1080p, 4K, and HDR content as VP9. The compressed stream is usually wrapped in a WebM container, though it can also live inside MP4.
In compression efficiency VP9 is broadly comparable to HEVC (H.265): at the same visual quality it produces files roughly 30 to 50 percent smaller than H.264/AVC, at the cost of more encoding and decoding work. It supports resolutions up to 8K, 10- and 12-bit color, and HDR.
Device support and the AV1 successor
VP9 decoding is hardware-accelerated on most modern Android phones, Chromebooks, and many smart TVs, so playback is power-efficient on those devices. Apple platforms added VP9 software decode support in Safari and added hardware decode on newer chips, but Apple's own cameras and ecosystem favor HEVC rather than VP9.
VP9's spiritual successor is AV1, developed by the Alliance for Open Media (which includes Google). AV1 compresses better still but is heavier to encode; VP9 remains the practical middle ground with the widest hardware decode footprint today.
Why it matters for storage
Most footage you shoot on a phone is recorded as H.264 or HEVC, not VP9, but VP9 matters when you download or re-encode video. A clip re-encoded to VP9 can be markedly smaller than the same clip in H.264, which is useful when video dominates your storage.
When Cleanor flags large videos as your biggest space hogs, knowing the codec helps you decide what to do: streaming-downloaded WebM/VP9 files are already efficient, while old H.264 recordings are prime candidates for re-encoding to a modern codec to reclaim space.