April 2026 monthly summary for libsdl-org/aom focusing on performance optimization in the decoder motion vector prediction path to improve speed and efficiency. Delivered a feature-level improvement with measurable impact on decoding throughput and resource usage.

Monthly performance summary for 2026-03 (libsdl-org/aom). This period focused on enabling and validating a low-complexity decode path for HD resolution, delivering measurable performance improvements while maintaining perceptual quality. Key features delivered: - HD Decode Performance Optimization (Low-Complexity Mode) enabled in libsdl-org/aom. The change extends speed features to support HD streams with lower complexity decoding, facilitating more efficient runtime on a broad range of hardware. Major bugs fixed / stability improvements: - Stats tracking and signaling updated for the low-complexity decode path (STATS_CHANGED) to ensure accurate monitoring and regression detection; Change-Id prepared to streamline code review and merge. Overall impact and accomplishments: - Achieved concrete decode-time improvements in HD streams (e.g., observed reductions from ~19.057 to ~16.925 in test configurations across CPU cores), with BD-rate loss around 1.22%–1.38% and preserved perceptual quality metrics (PSNR/SSIM/VMAF). - Demonstrated end-to-end efficiency gains that translate to lower compute usage and energy, enabling better user experiences on lower-spec hardware without compromising video quality. - Established a reusable, benchmark-driven path for future HD-enabled optimizations in the AOM codec library. Technologies/skills demonstrated: - C/C++-level codec optimization, feature flagging, and integration with existing AOM codebase. - Performance benchmarking, per-core scaling analysis, and qualitative/quantitative quality metrics (PSNR, SSIM, VMAF). - Change management practices, including STATS_CHANGED signaling and Change-Id readiness for review.