Steam Remote Play is Getting The Pyrowave Codec For Ultra Low-Latency Streaming

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If you're used to game streaming over services like Steam Remote Play or Parsec, you might have heard of codecs like H.264 and H.265, but Valve is experimenting with a brand new codec known as Pyrowave that's designed to decrease the amount of latency experienced.

How does Pyrowave decrease the amount of latency? Well, there are some trade-offs. Essentially, Pyrowave dismisses the idea of being efficient with bandwidth, and instead prioritizes quality and processing. So while your hardware has less compression and processing to do, it does mean that your network has to work much harder, with Valve recommending at least a 1 Gigabit wired network to use this codec on Steam Remote Play.

This means that using this new codec over a WiFi network is probably not a good idea; this is strictly built for a high-quality, low-latency stream over a wired network, to something like a Steam Machine or docked handheld (such as a Steam Deck). In Steam Remote Play tests run by Digital Foundry to a docked ROG Xbox Ally X, they reported latency of around 10-15ms at 1080p, depending on the framerate they were running at. It does seem lower than previous codecs, but the difference is marginal and might not be noticed by more casual players.

HDR is also supported, although that is the case on other codecs used by Steam Remote Play too. What is new is support for YUV 4:4:4, which will improve text readability and give you more defined lines, especially at higher resolutions like 4K. But again, it comes with a bandwidth cost. Because of the lack of compression/processing, certain scenes that other codecs struggle with may display better on Pyrowave also, such as heavy/cluttered scenes.

Valve states that this technology is not meant to be used with VR devices, and is strictly for "flat screen" gaming, which makes sense seeing as VR devices do not use Ethernet connections.

If you want to try out the codec yourselves, you can follow the instructions laid out by Valve. Feel free to let us know in the comments the results you're getting from trying it out on Steam Remote Play!

Source: Steam, Digital Foundry

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