Valve Introduces Pyrowave Video Codec In Beta For Low Latency Streaming

Valve's Steam client beta today introduced Pyrowave as an experimental video codec for high bandwidth, low-latency video streaming. Following rumors over the summer of Valve working on a new "Pyrowave" video encoding method for Steam Linux, today it's rolled out in beta/experimental form for streaming. Pyrowave is available with today's Steam beta on Windows and macOS as well as Linux, for Linux if using the experimental SteamRT3 Steam client. This high bandwidth, low-latency video codec was developed by Hans-Kristian Arntzen of VKD3D-Proton fame. Pyrowave is said to use 5~10x the bandwidth of other streaming codecs and thus geared for LAN usage with at least Gigabit Ethernet. Pyrowave makes use of the Vulkan API and designed for extremely low latency, and capable of HDR and YUV 4:4:4. With today's Steam client beta, Pyrowave can be enabled via the Steam Remote Play advanced client settings. More details for those interested in the Pyrowave support with today's Steam beta drop can find the information via SteamCommunity.com.