Consider H264 as default codec for video

[ndren]

Your use case

What would you like to do?

Replace VP8 with H264 as the default video codec.

Why would you like to do it?

This will reduce the CPU/power consumption and bitrate of video transmission in element call, especially on devices without hardware VP8 encoding/decoding, but also other devices as H264 is well-standardised and optimised as an older standard.

How would you like to achieve it?

Replace this in https://github.com/element-hq/element-call/blob/livekit/src/livekit/options.ts

Have you considered any alternatives?

Keep VP8 or use some other codec.

Additional context

Sending video is the highest difference in CPU usage (2x total usage, from 30% to over 60%) when using element-call for me, receiving video is negligible.

VP8 is not hardware decoded on my laptop according to about:support. I'm almost certain it's not hardware encoded either.

[toger5]

Looking at:
https://livekit.io/webrtc/bitrate-guide

-	H.264	VP8	VP9	AV1
1920x1080	2.70Mbps	2.00Mbps	1.20Mbps	900kbps
1280x720	1.25Mbps	1.00Mbps	700kbps	550kbps
960x540	700kbps	600kbps	450kbps	350kbps
640x360	400kbps	400kbps	270kbps	190kbps
384x216	170kbps	180kbps	120kbps	90kbps
320x180	140kbps	160kbps	90kbps	70kbps
160x90	50kbps	90kbps	35kbps	30kbps

At the resolutions we are using vp8 is better bandwidth wise then H.264. For lower resolutions it is not however.

Dependent on the hardware h264 might be less resource intensive. Thanks for the ticket so we have a place to discuss this.

[Quackdoc]

What bitrate is being? I have found that x264 is far better pretty much across the board then libvpx is, which I presume the apps are using when no hardware acceleration is being used. Different encoders can differ greatly but even hwenc h264 are probably better then libvpx is.

This guide is fairly lackluster in general, but more often then not, h264 will be far better quality at a given bitrate, even really low ones.

as a related sidenote, Can we get a toggle in the web app/clients to swap between codecs? If we can swap between h264, vp8, vp9, and av1 that would be greatly appreciated. Maybe as an "advanced room" this would also help users provide feedback as to what codec is the best for default.

Personally I would love to be able to use AV1 on all of my devices for 720p or even 1080p since it can give massively better quality. at lower bitrates