Valve is debuting a new video streaming codec for Steam Remote Play, which promises big improvements to streaming latency and quality. Dubbed Pyrowave, this option was developed specifically for game streaming, rather than piggybacking off existing video codecs. Initial results from my testing are nothing short of night and day compared to previous streaming, but you will need far more local network bandwidth to reap these potential benefits.
As Valve employee slokuen details in a blog post, Pyrowave is available as part of the latest Steam client beta with Linux operating systems requiring the adoption of the experimental SteamRT3 client too. You’ll need a handheld or desktop PC to access these changes, with mobile devices joining the party later down the line via a separate Steam Link app update.
Pyrowave uses your system’s GPU to encode and decode frames, in service of achieving “extremely low end-to-end latency.” In terms of visual fidelity, the codec supports YUV 4:4:4 chroma and HDR, for more accurate and vibrant colours relative to the stock implementation. You’ll need an HDR display connected to both the host and client to go beyond SDR.
Importantly, this is a bandwidth-heavy option. Valve states that Pyrowave can use “5-10 times the amount of bandwidth of other streaming codecs.” The firm recommends connecting both host and client to your router via Ethernet, but I’ve found the experience is still excellent over reliable Wi-Fi 6E on my Steam Deck OLED.
Comparing the look and feel of Pyrowave to standard Steam Remote Play options, the difference is readily clear to my eyes playing The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered on my PC. Compression artefacts are far less obvious to the eye, boosting sharpness and clarity, while colours pop all the more thanks to the HDR output.
This is to say nothing of latency, which feels so low that I might as well be playing locally. Credit where it’s due, the stock option was never poor in this regard, but Pyrowave is notably just that little bit quicker. To put it another way, I’d previously think twice about playing the likes of Elden Ring over Steam Remote Play, but this codec’s performance changes that.
Streaming from a 4K/240Hz source, downsampling to 1280×800/90Hz, the performance overlay revealed that Pyrowave was using ~192Mbps of bandwidth. That marks a 20x leap over the 11.5Mbps using NVENC H264, well over Valve’s estimates. However, as this is all over my local network, there’s no concern about hitting data caps, although my household could see my traffic-hogging affect performance elsewhere.
I’m keen to see Valve bring this feature to the stable Steam client, and to conduct further testing via the Steam Machine. It’s unclear when the feature will make the jump, but I recommend trying out Pyrowave for yourself as soon as it does.
