Valve Added Its Own Pyrowave Codec to Steam Remote Play and It Uses 5 to 10 Times the Bandwidth

By Indie Kings | September 26, 2026

Updated September 26, 2026: Valve's Steam Beta includes Pyrowave, an experimental Remote Play video codec created by Hans-Kristian Arntzen. It uses the GPU to encode and decode for low latency, supports YUV 4:4:4 and HDR, and costs 5 to 10 times the bandwidth of other streaming codecs. It is off by default and requires the experimental SteamRT3 client on Linux.

Verification note: Technical details are from Valve's own explanation post as quoted by GamingOnLinux on September 22, 2026. VideoCardz separately reported the same update with an up-to-500-Mbit/s figure in its headline, which we attribute to that report rather than treating as a Valve specification.

Image: Steam Remote Play. Credit: GamingOnLinux.

What Pyrowave is and where to find it

Steam Beta has added a new Remote Play video codec called Pyrowave, according to GamingOnLinux. Valve's own explanation post describes it as a high bandwidth, low latency codec created by Hans-Kristian Arntzen.

That name is worth pausing on. Arntzen is the creator of libav, which became FFmpeg, so this is not a codec built in a game engine department. It is the codec work of the person whose encoding library most of the video pipeline runs on, which is a reasonable explanation for why it can do something unusual like GPU-side decode for a streaming path.

GamingOnLinux notes the codec had been briefly present in an earlier release before being removed, which suggests Valve now considers it ready enough for people to test properly. It is not enabled by default and has to be turned on in the Steam Remote Play advanced client settings.

The bandwidth cost, stated honestly

This is the part that will decide whether you can use it, so it goes first and it is not small.

Valve's post says the codec uses 5 to 10 times the amount of bandwidth of other streaming codecs, and the recommendation is that both computers be connected directly to the router with at least Gigabit ethernet.

That is a meaningful constraint. Remote Play's selling point is that it works across the internet and across imperfect connections, and a codec that needs 5 to 10 times the bandwidth of its alternatives is by definition the one you will not be using on a hotel wifi or a congested uplink. VideoCardz's report of the same update put an up-to-500-Mbit-s figure in its headline, which is a useful order of magnitude, though we would treat that as a reported ceiling rather than a Valve guarantee, particularly since the 5 to 10 times figure is relative to other codecs rather than an absolute number.

Why GPU encoding is the point

The latency claim is the reason the codec exists at all, and it comes from a specific implementation choice. Valve says the codec uses the GPU to encode and decode frames to achieve extremely low end to end latency with a good network.

That is the substantive difference from a software encode path, where the frame has to cross the bus, get encoded on the CPU, and then be sent. Doing it on the GPU shortens that path, and for input-latency-sensitive use the end to end figure matters more than throughput. It is also why the bandwidth cost is acceptable to Valve as a trade, since the codec is buying latency with bandwidth on purpose.

YUV 4:4:4 and HDR

The colour handling is where Remote Play has historically been criticised, and Pyrowave addresses it directly.

• YUV 4:4:4 takes slightly more bandwidth and processing time, so it is not enabled by default, but can be turned on if you are streaming your desktop or reading text on a 4K display.
• HDR is automatically selected if it is supported by both the host and the client.

The default-off reasoning for 4:4:4 is the same reasoning as the bandwidth cost, and it is the right call. Full chroma resolution matters enormously for desktop text and small UI elements and barely at all for a moving game scene, so charging everyone bandwidth for it by default would penalise the common case for the benefit of the uncommon one.

How the quality slider works

Valve explains the normal tuning behaviour, and it is worth understanding because it is not what most codecs do.

Steam will normally tune the video stream for visual quality, where each frame has a constant size designed to look good, and the higher your framerate the higher the bandwidth needed. There is a quality slider that tunes quality up and down and directly impacts bandwidth. If the network has a bandwidth limit, or you want to tune it directly, that slider is the control.

A constant frame size is a real difference from bitrate-based streaming. Under a fixed bitrate, a static desktop costs almost nothing and a fast action scene starves, so quality oscillates. A constant frame size spends the same regardless of content, which makes the quality predictable at the cost of being less efficient on easy frames.

Whether it is ready, and for whom

It is experimental, it is off by default, and on Linux it additionally requires an experimental client. So this is a testing invitation, not a recommendation.

The honest read is that Pyrowave is aimed at a specific situation: someone on a wired local network, or a fast link, who is streaming a desktop or a latency-sensitive game and wants the input response rather than the picture quality. On a decent gigabit LAN, a 5 to 10 times bandwidth multiplier against a codec that was previously far cheaper is a trade that could work very well. On a congested or distant connection it is the wrong codec, and the existing options remain better.

The interesting part to watch is what happens when it stops being experimental, because if the codec holds up in the wild, the bandwidth cost is the whole argument against it and that is a solvable problem with better transport, whereas the latency advantage is structural and comes from the GPU path.

FAQ

What is the Pyrowave codec in Steam Remote Play?
An experimental high bandwidth, low latency video codec created by Hans-Kristian Arntzen, added to the Steam Beta for Remote Play. It uses the GPU to encode and decode frames, and supports YUV 4:4:4 and HDR.

How do I enable Pyrowave?
It is off by default and has to be turned on in the Steam Remote Play advanced client settings. On desktop the toggle is in Interface settings at the bottom, and on SteamOS, Steam Deck, or Steam Machine it is in System settings. On Linux you must also enable the experimental SteamRT3 Steam Client.

Why does Pyrowave use so much bandwidth?
Valve says it uses 5 to 10 times the amount of bandwidth of other streaming codecs, and recommends connecting both computers directly to the router with at least Gigabit ethernet. That makes it a poor fit for congested or long-distance connections.

Does Pyrowave support HDR and 4:4:4 chroma?
Yes to both, with different defaults. HDR is selected automatically when the host and client both support it. YUV 4:4:4 is off by default because it costs slightly more bandwidth and processing time, and is worth turning on when streaming a desktop or reading text on a 4K display.

Is Pyrowave on Steam Link for mobile yet?
Not yet. Valve's post says it is coming soon to the Steam Link app for mobile devices. It is currently available in Steam beta on macOS and Windows, and on Linux with the experimental SteamRT3 client.

How does the quality slider work?
Steam normally tunes the stream so each frame has a constant size designed to look good, and higher framerates need more bandwidth. The quality slider tunes quality up and down and directly impacts bandwidth, which is the control to use if your network is the limiting factor.

Bottom Line

Pyrowave is Valve buying latency with bandwidth, and the trade is only legible once you know that. Five to ten times the bandwidth of other streaming codecs sounds disqualifying until you realise what it buys, which is GPU-side encoding and decoding for very low end to end latency. On a wired local network that is a good trade and probably a good experience. Across a congested or distant connection it is the wrong tool and the existing codecs remain better. The colour handling is a genuine improvement, with HDR automatic and 4:4:4 available when you are actually streaming a desktop, which is exactly the case where full chroma matters. The constant frame size is a deliberate departure from fixed bitrate streaming and trades efficiency for predictability. The constraint to remember before testing is the experimental SteamRT3 client on Linux, which is the part that will stop most people. Worth trying on a LAN if you stream games or desktops at all, and worth watching if the bandwidth cost ever comes down.

Source: GamingOnLinux, Steam Beta adds experimental new Pyrowave video codec for Remote Play, by Liam Squires-Hand, September 22, 2026, quoting Valve's explanation post