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How to Get AV1 Codec on Android

There is no AV1 codec to download on Android. There is only a player that already has one, and a phone that may or may not help it along.

Playing AV1 video on an Android phone

Android has no codec packs, and nothing you install will add AV1 to the system the way an extension does on Windows.

What you install instead is a player that carries its own decoder.

Two of them are free, take a minute, and will play the file you are stuck on right now.

The Two-Minute Answer

VLC for Android is the safest recommendation. It bundles dav1d, the same AV1 decoder most other players use, and asks nothing of you afterwards.

Update VLC for Android if you already have it, since AV1 handling has improved considerably across recent releases.

mpv for Android is the better pick if you want the least clutter. It is open source, has no ads, and plays AV1, 10-bit HEVC, DTS and EAC3 straight out of the box.

You do not need to sideload mpv. It is on the Play Store and on F-Droid, so it can update itself. The APK here is for devices that have neither, and our Play Store Check tool will tell you whether an app needs Play services at all.

MX Player also decodes AV1 in its stock build, so download MX Player if you prefer its gestures. The free version carries ads.

Where AV1 Decoding Actually Comes From

This is worth two minutes, because it explains why one phone plays a file and another does not.

Isometric diagram of three stacked layers on a phone, showing the chip, the Android system and the player app, with the app layer carrying its own decoder

There are three layers, and only one of them is under your control.

Layer What it decides
The chip Whether AV1 decodes in hardware, which means smooth 4K and less battery drain
Android itself Whether a system decoder exists at all, which apps using the system player rely on
The player app Whether it brought its own decoder and can ignore the two layers below

VLC and mpv sit in that third row. They ship dav1d inside the app, so they play AV1 on phones whose system has no AV1 decoder whatsoever.

That is why installing a player fixes this and installing anything else does not.

Does Your Android Version Matter?

Less than you would think, and less than most guides claim.

Android has carried an AV1 software decoder in its source since Android 10, but Google did not require manufacturers to actually ship one until Android 14. A phone on Android 11 might have one and might not, entirely depending on who made it.

Hardware decoding is a separate question again and comes down to the chip rather than the operating system. If you are unsure which Android version you are on, it is under Settings and then About Phone.

None of this stops VLC or mpv working, because they are not asking Android for permission.

How to Check What Your Phone Can Do

If AV1 plays but stutters on 4K, you are software decoding and the processor is struggling.

Codec Info lists every encoder and decoder your device exposes, so you can see whether an AV1 hardware decoder is present rather than guessing from the model name.

For a file rather than a phone, our Codec Finder reads what is actually inside it in the browser - plenty of videos people believe are AV1 turn out to be HEVC.

Where there is no hardware decoder, a 1080p copy will play smoothly on hardware that cannot manage the 4K version.

What Not to Bother With

One thing sends people in circles, so it is worth naming.

NOT AN AV1 FIX

The MX Player Custom Codec does not add AV1. It restores AC3, EAC3, DTS, MLP and TrueHD audio, which MX Player cannot bundle for licensing reasons. Install it when a video plays with no sound - not when it will not play at all.

If you do need it for a silent Blu-ray rip, take the neon64 build rather than the ARMv7 one. Current MX Player releases need a 64-bit processor, which every phone sold in years has.

There is also no codec pack for Android, no system-wide extension, and nothing on the Play Store that adds AV1 to apps that lack it. Anything advertising itself that way is worth avoiding.

If It Still Will Not Play

  1. Try VLC before anything else. If VLC fails too, the file itself is the problem rather than the codec.
  2. Check what is inside the file, since a silent video usually means an unsupported audio track rather than an AV1 fault.
  3. Confirm the download finished. A truncated file plays for a few seconds and stops.
  4. Read our guide on what to do when a codec is not supported, which covers the container-level causes.

If you are sideloading APKs at any point, our APK Checker reads a package and its signature before you install it, and the walkthrough on installing an APK safely covers the habits worth having.

Other Players Worth Knowing

KMPlayer for Android leans on cloud streaming, and Kodi for Android is a full media centre with a library rather than a file player.

On a TV box the priorities shift, and our comparison of the best video player for Android TV weighs them up on the big screen.

Everything else is in the Android APK section, and if VLC is new to you there is a walkthrough on getting started with VLC for Android.

On a desktop the situation is different, and our guide on how to play AV1 on Windows covers the extension you do genuinely install there.

Quick questions

Can I download an AV1 codec for Android?

No, and nothing that claims to is worth installing. Android has no codec pack system, so you install a player that already carries an AV1 decoder instead.

Does the MX Player Custom Codec add AV1?

No. It restores AC3, EAC3, DTS, MLP and TrueHD audio. AV1 decoding is already in MX Player's stock build, so the custom codec fixes silent video rather than video that will not play.

Do I need Android 10 or newer?

Not if you use VLC or mpv, because they bring their own decoders. Android only became guaranteed to include an AV1 decoder with Android 14, so the player matters far more than the version.

Why does AV1 stutter on my phone?

Your chip is probably decoding it in software. Check with Codec Info whether a hardware AV1 decoder exists, and drop to a 1080p copy if it does not.

Is mpv only available as a sideloaded APK?

No, it is on both the Play Store and F-Droid. The APK download here is for devices that have neither store available.

The video plays but there is no sound. Is that AV1?

No, that is an audio problem. The track is usually AC3, EAC3 or DTS, which is exactly what the MX Player Custom Codec exists to fix, or use VLC and mpv which include those decoders already.

Install VLC or mpv, and the AV1 file you could not open will play on the phone you already have.

Get VLC for Android and try that file again, or tell us what happened if it still will not play.

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