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    Samsung released its APV codec as open source after three years of development with Samsung Research, now standardized by the IETF and shipping on Galaxy S26 Ultra

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    The codec delivers 10% better compression than competing formats while maintaining visually lossless quality through YUV 4:2:2 color sampling, targeting YouTubers and professional creators

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    UHD 30fps APV footage hits 6GB per minute, pushing Samsung to validate its portable SSDs through nine test cycles and partner across its Memory Business for thermal management

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    Galaxy S26 Ultra ships with four cinematic LUTs and a dedicated pro kit developed with camera accessory specialists, signaling Samsung’s push into professional video workflows

Samsung just released the technical playbook behind its biggest mobile video bet yet. The company’s newly developed APV (Advanced Professional Video) codec, now shipping on the Galaxy S26 Ultra launched in March, promises to turn smartphones into legitimate pro video tools by maintaining near-lossless quality through multiple editing rounds. In an exclusive interview with Samsung Newsroom, developers Sunmi Yoo and Junseang Min from Samsung’s Visual Solution Team revealed how they spent three years standardizing the codec with the Internet Engineering Task Force while quietly building an ecosystem with chipset makers, editing software companies, and even Samsung’s own Memory Business to handle data rates hitting 6GB per minute.

Samsung is making a serious play for the creator economy, and it’s betting everything on a codec most users will never know exists. The APV (Advanced Professional Video) codec debuted on the Galaxy S26 Ultra in March, but the real story is what happened behind the scenes – a three-year standardization effort that required Samsung to convince everyone from chipset manufacturers to video editing companies that mobile devices deserve professional-grade video tools.

“Conventional video codecs experience some data loss during the compression process required to reduce file size,” Sunmi Yoo from Samsung’s Visual Solution Team told Samsung Newsroom in an interview published this week. “In particular, as the repeated editing process tends to result in noticeable degradation in image quality, a new codec has been developed to fundamentally address these limitations.”

The technical specs tell the story Samsung wants heard in Hollywood. APV delivers visually lossless quality using YUV 4:2:2 color sampling – the same standard used in professional broadcast equipment. At equivalent quality levels, it shrinks file sizes by more than 10% compared to similar codecs, a crucial advantage when you’re trying to edit 8K footage on a device that fits in your pocket. Samsung worked with the Internet Engineering Task Force to get APV formally standardized, then released it as open source to accelerate adoption.