Valve released a fresh Steam Beta for all platforms which now includes their own experimental new Pyrowave video codec for Remote Play. This was briefly added in a previous release a while back, then removed - seems they feel it's actually now ready enough for people to test it.
On Linux systems, you need to use the experimental SteamRT3 Steam Client.
On Desktop it's a toggle in Interface at the bottom:
On SteamOS (Steam Deck / Steam Machine) it's in the System settings:
From the more in-depth explanation post on it:
"The current Steam beta has a new Remote Play video codec, Pyrowave!
It is available now in Steam beta on macOS and Windows. It's available in Steam beta on Linux if you enable the experimental SteamRT3 Steam Client, available in System Settings. This is coming soon to the Steam Link app for mobile devices.
This is a high bandwidth, low latency video codec created by Hans-Kristian Arntzen, with some unique characteristics that make it an interesting option for Steam Remote Play.
High Bandwidth
This codec uses 5-10 times the amount of bandwidth of other streaming codecs, so you'll want to have your computers connected directly to your router with at least Gigabit ethernet.
Low Latency
This codec uses the GPU to encode and decode frames to achieve extremely low end to end latency with a good network.
Supports YUV 4:4:4 and HDR
This codec has options to encode colors with more precision. HDR is automatically selected if supported by both the host and the client. YUV 4:4:4 takes slightly more bandwidth and processing time, so it's not enabled by default, but can be turned on if you're streaming your desktop or reading text on a 4K display.
Enabling the Codec
Pyrowave isn't enabled by default, but you can turn it on in the Steam Remote Play advanced client settings.
Steam will normally tune the video stream for visual quality. Each frame will have a constant size designed to look good, and the higher your framerate, the higher the bandwidth needed. There is a quality slider which you can use to tune the quality up and down, directly impacting the bandwidth.
If your network has a bandwidth limit, or you want to directly tune it, you can turn off automatic bitrate and set a specific bitrate, in the range of 100 Mbit/s to 500 Mbit/s.
The total latency of your video stream is the time for encode + network + decode + display. You can visualize this by turning on the performance graph in the Remote Play settings while you're streaming.
Because the total latency is the combination of video codec and network latency, your particular setup may or may not benefit from the new codec, but feel free to give it a try and let us know how it works for you!"
In a follow-up comment, one of Valve's developer clarified this is not for Steam Link VR, only for flat streaming via Remote Play.
As for the rest of the Steam Beta update for September 21st:
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.Big Picture Mode
- Using a physical mouse to click on text input will no longer bring up the On-Screen Keyboard.
Steam Input
- Fixed showing doubled Xbox style controllers on Windows.
- Fixed showing doubled Steam Controllers on macOS.
- Fixed regression with rumble on 3rd party SteamOS Handhelds.
- Improved the styling of multibinding rows in the configuration mapping screen.
Remote Play
- Added an experimental video codec, Pyrowave, which allows high bandwidth, low latency video streaming. You can find out more on the Steam Remote Play discussion group.
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hardpenguin 22 Sep 2026
Would be neat to enable that setting and ideally to also somehow have the SteamPlay function automatically selecting the best Proton Version for each game(at least for the ones rated compatible).
Quoting: anthHans-Kristian Arntzen published a blog post about creating PyroWave (External Link: You need to be logged in to view this.) last year, and the PyroWave source (External Link: You need to be logged in to view this.) is available under the MIT Licence.I didn't know he had a blog. It's very good; thanks for sharing.
Liam Squires-Hand 22 Sep 2026
Quoting: NicknameWhen will they finally allow us show SteamMachine Compatibility just like you can currently with "SteamDeck compatibility".When they get around to not just bundling everything under "Steam Deck" compatibility on the Steam store page I guess 😆😅
Would be neat to enable that setting and ideally to also somehow have the SteamPlay function automatically selecting the best Proton Version for each game(at least for the ones rated compatible).
Philadelphus 22 Sep 2026
Quoting: talking_mudcrabHas anyone tested if YUV 4:4:4 works on Steam Deck? I believe Moonlight did not allow YUV 4:4:4 because AMD chips do not support decoding YUV 4:4:4 in HEVC.That's a limitation of the AMD hardware implementation of HVEC. The author implemented this one (External Link: You need to be logged in to view this.) directly in vulkan.
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