Steam adds Pyrowave codec to Remote Play: better image, 5-10x more bandwidth

Valve has added the Pyrowave codec, created by libretro developer Hans-Kristian Arntzen for in-home game streaming, to the Steam beta client. It delivers low latency and 4:4:4 quality but uses 5-10 times more bandwidth than other codecs — about 210 Mbps in Tom's Hardware's test.

• Pyrowave uses discrete wavelet transforms and intra-frame encoding instead of DCT
• Bandwidth use is 5-10x higher than other codecs — about 210 Mbps in testing
• The codec runs on GPU shaders and is available in the Steam beta client for Windows, macOS and Linux
• At least Gigabit Ethernet is required; mobile Steam Link support is promised later