Science & Tech · Big Tech & Internet · 4 hrs ago
Steam Remote Play’s Pyrowave codec improves one gamer’s stream quality
A gamer switched from Moonlight and Parsec to Steam Remote Play for streaming games around his home.
He says the change improved picture quality, especially on large, high-resolution screens and during fast action.
Steam Remote Play now includes Pyrowave, a codec designed to compress each frame on its own rather than use motion predictions from earlier frames.
Valve says Pyrowave uses five to ten times more bandwidth than the service’s other codecs.
The gamer tested it at 4K and 120Hz, with a 500Mbps bitrate, on a wired connection between his desktop and a couch setup.
He says the stream looked more consistent, with less smearing when the image changed quickly.
The trade-off may suit a strong home network, but the account does not establish that every setup or game will benefit.
A XDA writer says Steam Remote Play’s Pyrowave codec produced more consistent game-stream quality than Moonlight and Parsec on his setup.
He tested it at 4K and 120Hz with a 500Mbps bitrate, streaming from an RTX 5080 desktop to other devices.
Pyrowave compresses each frame independently and uses five to ten times the bandwidth of Steam Remote Play’s other codecs, according to Valve.
The writer says fast-moving scenes showed less smearing, particularly on larger displays.
Valve cautions that Pyrowave will not benefit every scenario.
- Who
- XDA writer Ty tested the codec; Pyrowave was designed by Hans-Kristian Arntzen.
- What
- The writer reported improved consistency and image quality using Pyrowave with Steam Remote Play.
- When
- The article was published on October 11, 2026.
- Where
- The writer streamed from an RTX 5080 desktop to a wired couch rig and laptops on a 5GHz wireless band.
- Why
- Pyrowave compresses each frame independently, aiming to preserve image quality in fast-moving scenes; it uses substantially more bandwidth.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
Consistency is the word that came to mind immediately after trying Pyrowave for the first time.
On a wired network, though, efficiency isn’t really what I'm aiming for, and the bandwidth trade-off here is more than worth it, especially for a large display.
The writer used Moonlight paired with Sunshine for in-home game streaming.
The writer says the limits of the Moonlight and Sunshine setup became more noticeable.
The writer streamed at 4K and 120Hz with a 500Mbps bitrate.
- Test resolution and refresh rate
- 4K at 120Hz
- Test bitrate
- 500Mbps
- Bandwidth use
- Valve says Pyrowave uses five to ten times the bandwidth of Remote Play’s other codecs.
- Test hardware
- RTX 5080 desktop
- Wireless connection
- 5GHz band
Sources
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