Pyrowave is an experimental, opt-in codec for Steam Remote Play that aims to reduce the time spent encoding and decoding video—not to guarantee 1 ms latency from a game host to your screen. Valve says the codec uses 5–10 times the bandwidth of other streaming codecs, so it is most compelling on a fast, stable wired network. The feature was available in Steam’s beta on Windows and macOS, with Linux support requiring the experimental SteamRT3 client, according to Valve’s September 21, 2026 announcement.
What Pyrowave is—and what “1 ms latency” means
Pyrowave is a low-latency video codec created by Hans-Kristian Arntzen and added as an experimental option to Steam Remote Play. Remote Play sends a game’s video from a host computer to a client device; Pyrowave handles the video compression and decompression stages along that path.
The title’s “1 ms” should not be read as a promise of one-millisecond end-to-end streaming. Valve defines total video-stream latency as “the time for encode + network + decode + display.” Pyrowave targets the encode and decode portions. Network transit, the client and host hardware, and display processing remain part of the result. Valve recommends using Remote Play’s performance graph to inspect the latency components on your own setup. Valve’s announcement
Why the codec prioritizes speed
Arntzen describes Pyrowave as an intra-only design: it avoids motion prediction, a technique that can make conventional video compression more efficient by using information from neighboring frames. He also explains that omitting entropy coding helps parallelize codec work on the GPU. In broad terms, these choices favor fast, predictable processing over reducing the amount of data sent across the network.
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That trade-off is visible in Valve’s guidance: Pyrowave uses 5–10 times the bandwidth of other streaming codecs. It is therefore not automatically the better choice for every Remote Play setup. Faster codec stages can help only if the network can carry the stream reliably and the rest of the pipeline does not dominate delay.
What the published timing measurements show
Arntzen’s measurements are codec-stage timings from specific tests, not end-to-end Remote Play results. In his 2025 technical article, he reported encoding a 1080p 4:2:0 Expedition 33 sample in 0.13 ms on an RX 9070 XT using RADV, with decoding under 100 microseconds. He also reported an 80-microsecond encode on more typical game material and a 0.25 ms encode for a 4K ParkJoy example. These are developer-reported figures under the stated test conditions, not independent benchmarks or a guarantee for other hardware, games, networks, or displays. Arntzen’s technical article
Network requirements and bitrate controls
Valve recommends connecting both the host and client computers directly to the router with at least Gigabit Ethernet. A wired connection is a sensible starting point given Pyrowave’s bandwidth demand; the announcement does not say Wi-Fi cannot work, but a congested or inconsistent link may offset any reduction in codec processing time.
When automatic bitrate is turned off, Valve lists manual controls from 100 Mbit/s to 500 Mbit/s. The quality slider affects bandwidth, so raising quality can increase the load on the network. The available sources do not establish a single bitrate that will suit every resolution, game, or home network. Watch Remote Play’s in-stream performance graph as you adjust settings rather than assuming the codec alone determines the result.
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How to enable Pyrowave and choose relevant options
- Join the Steam client beta on a supported system, then open Steam Remote Play’s advanced client settings. Valve says Pyrowave is an opt-in setting and is not enabled by default.
- Enable Pyrowave in the advanced client settings. On Linux, Valve’s September 21, 2026 announcement said the experimental SteamRT3 Steam Client option must also be enabled in System Settings.
- Start a Remote Play stream and check the performance graph. Use it to see whether encode, network, decode, or display time is the main contributor to your latency.
- If automatic bitrate is disabled, adjust the manual bitrate and quality settings to fit the stability and capacity of your connection.
At the time of Valve’s announcement, beta availability was listed for Windows and macOS, and Linux with SteamRT3 enabled. Valve said Steam Link mobile support was coming soon but gave no release date. Platform availability can change after that announcement.
HDR and YUV 4:4:4 for color and text
Valve says HDR is selected automatically when both the host and client support it. YUV 4:4:4, by contrast, is an optional setting that is off by default and uses somewhat more bandwidth and processing. Valve suggests it for desktop streaming or for reading text on a 4K display, where preserving color detail can matter more than minimizing resource use.
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When Pyrowave is worth trying
| What matters most | What the evidence indicates |
|---|---|
| Reducing codec processing delay | Pyrowave is designed to keep codec work fast; Arntzen’s published figures are codec-stage measurements on specified test material, not total stream latency. |
| Keeping bandwidth use low | Valve says Pyrowave uses 5–10 times the bandwidth of other streaming codecs, so it is a poor fit when bandwidth or network stability is limited. |
| Improving a desktop stream or text clarity | Valve says optional YUV 4:4:4 may help with desktop use or text on a 4K display, at the cost of somewhat more bandwidth and processing. |
| Getting a guaranteed end-to-end latency | The published codec timings do not establish a universal whole-stream result. Host, network, client, and display all contribute. |
| Using Steam Link on mobile | Valve described mobile Steam Link support as coming soon in its September 21, 2026 announcement; it did not give a date. |
Arntzen’s 2025 article also compares his approach with GPU vendor H.264, HEVC, and AV1 encoders under constrained test conditions. He cautions that those results are not a straightforward real-world comparison. They provide context about the design trade-offs, not proof that Pyrowave will outperform conventional codecs for every Remote Play user.
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