Ladies and gentlemen, we have our first US only update! Microsoft has released an update for the Windows Subsystem for Android for the month of July. And interestingly, it is only available in the United States.
Insiders in all channels have access to it, but only if they reside in the country.
The prime highlight of this update is official support for AV1.
This is one of the most important codecs out there, offering notable savings in bitrate and bandwidth for video. Depending on content, anywhere from 30% to 50% smaller file sizes can be achieved compared to current standards like HEVC.
This open and royalty free standard is already in use across the industry, with several companies offering support for it, including popular browser makers as well as sites YouTube and Netflix.
And now, Microsoft has also jumped in, baking support for this new multimedia technology in WSA.
Read up on the blog post announcing this release for the full details.
The update in question is version 2205.4000.14.0, and along with AV1 support, it also refreshes the Settings app with new options and offers advanced networking that enables app access to local devices for ARM computers.
Also enabled is IPv6 and VPN connectivity to enhance the networking functionalities in the subsystem.
This latest release also comes with a known issue that you might want to take a look at before you deploy it on your test system for a run.
