>
> \### Describe the bug
>
> \*\*Describe the bug\*\*
>
> VP8/VP9 codecs do not work on intel-…mac safari - they either show green screens or a still frame of the publisher on all the subscriber videos.
>
> \
>
> \
>
> In Livekit Sample app:
>
> \
>
>
> \### Reproduction
>
> \*\*To Reproduce\*\*
>
> Enter a meeting with a user using an intel-mac, on safari browser. Observe the videos.
>
>
> \### Logs
>
> \`\`\`shell
> Nothing special appear in the logs.
> \`\`\`
>
> \### System Info
>
> \`\`\`shell
> \*\*Platform information\*\*
> Whatever is in https://livekit.github.io/client-sdk-flutter/ as of today.
>
> \*\*\* IMPORTANT \*\*\*
> The issue is observable only in macs with intel chipset, when using Safari.
> \`\`\`
>
> \### Severity
>
> blocking all usage of LiveKit
>
> \### Additional Information
>
> \*\*\* IMPORTANT \*\*\*
> The issue is observable only in macs with intel chipset, when using Safari.
Mac-Intel are still very common and clients still use it a lot. Livekit wont work and will display a green screen (even in the sample application) when using Mac with intel chipset and safari with VP8 or VP9.
---
### Author:  [@darryncampbell](https://community.livekit.io/u/darryncampbell)
#### Post date: [August 26, 2026, 2:08pm UTC](https://community.livekit.io/t/6-months-since-vp8-vp9-is-broken-on-macs/1936/2 "2026-08-26T14:08:55Z")
Hi @debugChicken , reading through the latest updates on [[bug][reproductible in sample app] VP8/VP9 codecs do not work on intel-mac safari · Issue #1975 · livekit/client-sdk-js · GitHub](https://github.com/livekit/client-sdk-js/issues/1975) it feels like the issue is only on VP8 now, not VP9?
---
### Author:  [@debugChicken](https://community.livekit.io/u/debugChicken)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2026, 3:40pm UTC](https://community.livekit.io/t/6-months-since-vp8-vp9-is-broken-on-macs/1936/3 "2026-08-31T15:40:14Z")
Its both. Maybe VP9 falling back to VP8 because VP9 cannot even be run. Anyway, the big boss at my enterprise will escalate because it finally happened to a client so it should be looking into quite soon. Thanks for the answer though!
---
### Author:  [@Muhammad\_Usman\_Bashir](https://community.livekit.io/u/Muhammad_Usman_Bashir)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2026, 4:38pm UTC](https://community.livekit.io/t/6-months-since-vp8-vp9-is-broken-on-macs/1936/4 "2026-08-31T16:38:36Z")
@debugChicken, Your own stats screenshot points straight at the decode path. Audio is clean (Opus, 0 lost). Video shows `VP9/90000` at `1588 kbps`, `1280x720 25fps`, `1851 frames` received and 1851 “decoded,” yet the picture is solid green and `decoder: null`. So the stream arrives fine and the network is healthy; the browser just cannot turn those VP9 frames into an image. Solid green is the classic signature of an all-zero YUV buffer reaching the renderer, which means the decode failed silently, not the send side or the SFU.
> That localizes it: Safari on Intel Macs has no working VP8/VP9 decode here, while Apple Silicon does. It is a browser decode bug, tracked in client-sdk-js #1975, not a LiveKit encode or config fault.
The interim that unblocks your Intel-Mac users today is to publish H.264 instead of VP8/VP9. Safari decodes H.264 in hardware on Intel Macs, so it avoids the broken software VP8/VP9 path entirely. H.264 is a first-class LiveKit codec and you pick it at connect time ([codecs](https://docs.livekit.io/transport/media/advanced/)).
```auto
const room = new Room({
publishDefaults: { videoCodec: 'h264' }, // Safari decodes H.264 in hardware; sidesteps the VP8/VP9 decode bug
});
```
One thing to get right: the codec is chosen by the publisher, not the viewer. An Intel-Mac Safari client cannot fix what it receives; the clients publishing the video have to send H.264. In a symmetric room, set this on every client. Trade-off: H.264 drops the VP9/AV1 SVC layering, but it decodes reliably on Safari, which is the whole point here. Keep it until the decode fix lands in `#1975`.
---
### Author:  [@debugChicken](https://community.livekit.io/u/debugChicken)
#### Post date: [September 4, 2026, 1:57am UTC](https://community.livekit.io/t/6-months-since-vp8-vp9-is-broken-on-macs/1936/5 "2026-09-04T01:57:34Z")
h264 has many, many more bugs: audio issues, video issues, screen share issues, a whole ordeal of issues. its not worth it to support old intel macs specifically on safari to use h264 whatsoever. i already tried that. it was terrible.
---
### Author:  [@Muhammad\_Usman\_Bashir](https://community.livekit.io/u/Muhammad_Usman_Bashir)
#### Post date: [September 4, 2026, 2:53pm UTC](https://community.livekit.io/t/6-months-since-vp8-vp9-is-broken-on-macs/1936/6 "2026-09-04T14:53:05Z")
Fair enough, if `H.264` caused more problems than it solved for your stack, there is no clean client-side codec path left on Intel-Mac Safari, since that is the only one it hardware-decodes. The real fix is the decode bug itself in `#1975`..
---
### Author:  [@system](https://community.livekit.io/u/system)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2026, 2:53pm UTC](https://community.livekit.io/t/6-months-since-vp8-vp9-is-broken-on-macs/1936/7 "2026-09-19T14:53:39Z")
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