Steam's New Pyrowave Codec Cuts Remote Play Lag - Here's the Catch

Steam has a new video codec for Remote Play, and it trades a lot of network bandwidth for almost no lag.

It's called Pyrowave, it landed in the Steam client beta on 21 September 2026, and it stays switched off until you turn it on.

The short version: if both devices sit on wired Gigabit Ethernet it's worth a try, and if you stream over older Wi-Fi or across the internet, it isn't for you yet.

Here's what it does differently, how to switch it on, and how to check in ten seconds whether your network can take it.

What Pyrowave Actually Does

When you stream a game with Steam Remote Play, your gaming PC turns every frame into video, sends it over your network, and the other device unpacks it.

Normally that job goes to the same kind of codec your video files use, such as H.264 or HEVC. Those codecs are brilliant at making video small, but the squeezing takes time on every single frame.

Pyrowave flips the priority. It compresses each frame on its own, never looking back at the previous one, using a maths technique called a wavelet transform - the same family JPEG 2000 belongs to. Think of it as sending a very fast stream of high-quality photos instead of a cleverly packed movie.

The payoff is speed. In the developer's own tests, encoding a 1080p frame took around a tenth of a millisecond on a recent graphics card, and decoding was quicker still. One frame at 60fps lasts about 16.7 milliseconds, so the codec's share of the delay all but disappears.

It was written by Hans-Kristian Arntzen, a graphics programmer known for his work on RetroArch and VKD3D-Proton, and it's open source under the MIT licence. It runs on your graphics card through Vulkan, so the graphics chip does the work rather than your processor.

It's the second story this week about handing video work to the graphics chip - Firefox 157 now decodes AV1 video calls on the graphics chip too.

The Catch: It Eats Bandwidth

Skipping the clever compression means far more data. Valve says Pyrowave uses 5 to 10 times the bandwidth of the usual streaming codecs.

You can leave the bitrate on automatic or set it yourself, from 100 megabits per second up to a full gigabit since the 1 October beta. Tom's Hardware measured about 210 megabits per second on a Lenovo Legion Go S - about 26 megabytes every second.

So Valve asks for Gigabit Ethernet, with both computers plugged straight into the router. Some owners report good results on fast Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7, but that isn't the official requirement.

Don't max it out. A 1 Gbit/s setting fills a Gigabit link on its own, leaving nothing for anything else on your network. Valve's own release note warns that more bandwidth increases latency.

What You Get in Return

• Less lag. Encoding and decoding stop being a real part of the delay, so the controls feel closer to playing on the PC itself.
• Sharper colour and text. An optional YUV 4:4:4 mode keeps full colour detail, which helps small text and game HUDs - at the cost of even more bandwidth.
• HDR. It switches on automatically when both devices support it.
• Gentler glitches. A lost network packet becomes a tiny blur in one spot, rather than a smear that hangs around for several frames.

How to Turn On Pyrowave

1. Join the Steam beta. In Steam, open Settings, then Interface, and set Client Beta Participation to the Steam Beta Update. Restart Steam when it asks.
2. Do the same on the other device. Both ends need to be running the beta.
3. Switch on Pyrowave. Open Settings, then Remote Play, then the advanced client options, and turn Pyrowave on.
4. Leave the bitrate on automatic. It's the default again since the 1 October beta, and it now aims for a sharper picture. If you set your own number, start low and stay well below 1 Gbit/s.

On Linux you also need the experimental SteamRT3 client, which you enable in the Interface settings. On SteamOS the switch sits in System settings instead.

Phones and tablets have to wait - Valve's beta announcement says support in the Steam Link app is coming soon.

What Changed in the 1 October Beta

Valve's first big Pyrowave update arrived in the Steam client beta on 1 October 2026. The higher limit grabbed the headlines, but the fixes matter more for most people.

• Your bitrate was reset. Every Pyrowave bitrate went back to automatic, so if you picked your own number, check it again.
• A higher limit, with a warning. You can now set up to 1 Gbit/s by hand, but Valve's note says more bandwidth increases latency.
• A smarter automatic setting. The automatic bitrate was reworked to give better picture quality.
• Fewer hiccups. Lag no longer creeps up over time on slower connections, and audio drops out less often.
• A way back. If your network can't keep up, Steam now offers a recovery dialog instead of leaving you stuck.

The full list is in GamingOnLinux's write-up of the beta notes. Pyrowave is still a beta feature, and still off by default.

Who Should Skip It for Now

If either device is on Wi-Fi 5 or older, a powerline adapter or a mesh satellite, Pyrowave will likely stutter or drop out. The same goes for streaming away from home, where your upload speed becomes the limit.

The new recovery dialog makes a failed attempt less painful, but it can't make a slow network faster. For those setups the standard codecs are still the right choice, and leaving Pyrowave off costs you nothing.

Is This a Codec You Need to Install?

No. Pyrowave lives inside Steam and only handles the live stream between two of your own devices, so there's no file format to download and nothing for your media player to open.

If what you're really after is smooth playback of your own videos, the codecs that matter are the ones inside your files. Our AV1 vs H.265 comparison explains which one your devices handle best.

On Windows, the free AV1 codec for Windows covers AV1 files, and HEVC Video Extensions from Device Manufacturer covers H.265. Both are free Microsoft decoders.

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