AV1 is a fast-emerging codec that is touted as lightweight enough in terms of resource demand to, for example, enable YouTube playback on mobile devices at 4K/60fps with ease. The latest version of the popular editing app Da Vinci Resolve (17.2) adds support for the codec in Windows, as well as a plethora of other new features and upgrades.
https://www.notebookcheck.net/Blackmagicdesign-updates-Da-Vinci-Resolve-17-with-support-for-AV1-decoding-in-Windows.539454.0.html
AV1 isn't really "emerging" more than it "has emerged and since been ignored"...until now? There's still a sore lack of hardware decoding support though.
Deirdre, sweetheart; AV1 is NOT lightweight, neither is it touted as such. It's more of a "hey mom, see how hard I can compress this thing!"
SSE2 torture test for thee, 20% saved bandwidth for me (e.g., Google). Yay!!