Audio and Video Software Industry: 2025 in Review

The year 2025 marked a decisive shift in the audio and video software industry toward infrastructure-driven innovation. Building upon the AI-assisted workflows introduced in 2024, vendors, standards bodies, and network operators focused on embedding intelligence directly into communication systems. The year was defined by advancements in next-generation codecs, the expansion of 5G standalone networks, hardware acceleration for media processing, and the formalization of standards supporting immersive, real-time communication at a global scale.

Key developments included the finalization of the AV2 video codec, widespread adoption of AI-powered media enhancement, major WebRTC specification updates, and extensive industry activity across exhibitions, conferences, and regulatory bodies.

Major Product Updates and Platform Releases

Zoom – AI Companion Expansion and Unified Workflows, December 2025

Zoom expanded its AI Companion platform with new real-time summarization, task automation, and conversational interfaces, integrating meeting data with enterprise tools such as CRM and ticketing systems. The update emphasized workflow automation directly within video conferencing sessions.

Microsoft – Teams AI Enhancements and Real-Time Interpretation, July 2025

Microsoft introduced real-time multilingual speech-to-speech interpretation for Teams, preserving speaker tone while supporting nine languages. The feature expanded Teams’ accessibility and multilingual collaboration capabilities.

Cisco – Webex RoomOS 26, October 2025

Cisco released RoomOS 26 for Webex devices, introducing AI-powered multi-camera framing, automated speaker tracking, and advanced noise isolation. The update emphasized cinematic meeting experiences without manual camera configuration.

NVIDIA – Maxine SDK R14, April 2025

NVIDIA updated its Maxine SDK with enhanced eye contact correction, gaze redirection, background replacement, and super-resolution video processing optimized for edge and broadcast systems.

Mozilla – Firefox AV1 Simulcast Support, January 2026 (year-end 2025 release cycle)

Mozilla completed Firefox’s AV1 simulcast implementation, enabling browsers to transmit multiple video resolutions simultaneously for adaptive streaming and conferencing scenarios.

QuickLink StudioEdge-1 & StudioEdge-2, July 2025

QuickLink expanded its StudioEdge product line, introducing StudioEdge-1 and StudioEdge-2 - one and two channel broadcast-quality discrete audio/video integration appliances. These units replace legacy Skype TX workflows, offering SDI-ready remote guest contributions from Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and QuickLink StudioCall.

AVer HUB30 BYOM HDMI/USB Switch, November 2025

AVer introduced the HUB30, a 4×2 “Bring Your Own Meeting” HDMI and USB switch for enterprise spaces. It supports multiple conferencing platforms, dual 4K output, 100W USB-C power delivery, wireless sharing, and deep system integration with AVer Room Management Software for device control.

Cisco Webex “Spring 2025 Release” Enhancements, 2025 Spring

• Cisco Room Bar BYOD (USB-C plug-and-play BYOD huddle space solution)
• Ceiling Microphone Pro (high-quality, adaptive microphone array)
• Workspace Designer cable visualization and shared content routing options

InfoComm 2025 Hardware Unveils, June 11–13, 2025

At InfoComm 2025 in Orlando, multiple vendors revealed non-AI-centric AV hardware including:

• HP Dimension with Google Beam, a spatial video conferencing system
• Poly Studio A2 audio solutions, scalable microphone/audio bridges
• Shure IntelliMix Foundation System and MXN-6 pendant loudspeakers supporting enterprise audio coverage

Microsoft Teams Device Updates

The official Microsoft Teams product blog documented multiple 2025 hardware/firmware releases for Teams Rooms and peripherals, including:

• Logitech Rally Board 65 + Tap IP all-in-one Teams Rooms solution
• Poly Studio V12 USB video bar for small room conferencing

Google Chrome — WebRTC ICE and QUIC Improvements

• ICE candidate handling efficiency
• QUIC-based WebTransport stability

These changes improve startup time and reduce packet loss sensitivity in WebRTC-based conferencing and streaming platforms.

Discord

• Dec 8, 2025 — Major A/V quality improvements, Discord’s December update added zoomable Go Live streams and hardware-accelerated video encoding for better quality on select devices.
• Jun 2025 — Mobile Video Quests (ads), Discord introduced optional Video Quests, a mobile ad format using opt-in video ads with rewards, signaling platform monetization of video content.

Industry Trends and Infrastructure Developments

5G Standalone (SA) Network Expansion, June 2025

Telecom operators accelerated deployment of 5G standalone networks, enabling network slicing, deterministic latency control, and improved uplink reliability — key for professional-grade video conferencing, telemedicine, and live broadcasting.

Transparent and MicroLED Display Technologies, February 2025

At Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) 2025, manufacturers showcased transparent MicroLED displays capable of switching between window-like transparency and high-brightness digital signage, aimed at enterprise collaboration and architectural integration.

Unified UCaaS and CCaaS Platforms, April 2025

Vendors continued merging unified communications (UCaaS) and contact center (CCaaS) platforms into single AI-managed hubs, enabling shared analytics, unified routing, and integrated customer engagement workflows.

AI in Audio and Video Systems

Microsoft Edge-Based Super Resolution, August 2025

Microsoft introduced NPU-powered real-time video upscaling in Teams, enabling higher perceived video quality during degraded network conditions without additional bandwidth usage.

Cisco AI-Based Audio Zoning, October 2025

Cisco introduced digital “audio exclusion zones” in Webex devices, allowing AI to selectively suppress noise originating from defined physical spaces.

NVIDIA Local AI Media Processing, June 2025

Hardware manufacturers increasingly deployed integrated NPUs and GPUs capable of real-time denoising, echo cancellation, gaze correction, and video enhancement directly on endpoints, reducing cloud dependency and improving latency.

HONOR AI Voice Cloning Detection Update, December 2025

HONOR announced that its Magic8 Pro smartphones will receive an update adding an AI voice cloning detection feature, intended to identify and warn users about calls that may involve synthesized voices — a direct consumer-facing response to rising AI scam tactics.

Microsoft AI Deployment Examples (Voice + Speech), July 2025

Microsoft highlighted more than 1,000 real-world enterprise use cases of its AI platform (including voice and speech automation) being adopted across industries. While not voice-only news, many of these cases involve speech recognition, voice agent implementation, and enterprise voice workflows.

Microsoft – VibeVoice-1.5B Text-to-Speech Model, August 2025

In August 2025, Microsoft released VibeVoice-1.5B, an open-source TTS model able to generate up to 90 minutes of continuous, natural-sounding speech with support for up to four distinct voices. It’s positioned for use in long-form audio, conversational agents, and cross-lingual synthesis.

Microsoft Azure AI Speech Text-to-Speech Update, February 2025

Microsoft announced a major update to Azure AI Speech, introducing 13 upgraded HD neural voices with improved expressiveness and emotion-aware intonation. These voices enhance naturalness and multilingual support in speech generation, enabling more engaging TTS applications for enterprise and consumer use.

AI-Media LEXI Voice for Real-Time Translation (NAB 2025)

At NAB Show 2025 (April), AI-Media announced LEXI Voice, a live AI voice translation tool capable of converting spoken audio into multiple languages in real time while preserving timing and tone — a significant step for broadcast and live communications.

Neosapience – ElevenLabs Major 2025 Releases

Several key updates came from ElevenLabs in 2025:

• Eleven v3 TTS model supporting 70+ languages with expressive dialogue. - as of Feb 18, 2026, generally available
• New audiobook creation platform via Reader app enabling authors to publish AI-generated narrated content.
• Eleven Music — AI-based music generator aimed at commercial use.

These collectively broaden the role of voice AI from basic TTS toward multilingual expressive generation and creative media production.

Google Cloud Generative AI Use Cases, October 2025

Google Cloud published a roundup of real-world applications of generative AI — including several involving speech generation, audio assistants, and voice-enabled workflows, reflecting broader adoption of voice AI across industries.

Voices Data Solution Launch for Responsible Voice AI, July 2025

In July 2025, Voices announced a new voice data solution designed to ethically source and license voice data for AI builders — aiming to standardize responsible data pipelines for voice tech development.

Kruti – Indian Agentic Voice Assistant Launch, June 2025

Ola’s AI assistant Kruti launched in, featuring text and voice interaction across 13 Indian languages, agentic task execution, and system integration for smartphone contexts — a localized voice AI advancement.

Amazon Nova Sonic Conversational Voice Model, April 2025

Amazon introduced Nova Sonic, a new unified voice AI model on its Bedrock platform designed for real-time conversational voice interactions. Unlike traditional speech systems that chain separate models for recognition and synthesis, Nova Sonic uses a single architecture to more fluidly generate context-aware responses and detect subtle tone cues in user interactions.

Amazon Echo spatial audio hardware, September 2025

Amazon revealed an updated Echo Studio smart speaker with advanced spatial audio, Dolby Atmos support, and an Alexa Home Theater feature to create surround sound with compatible Fire TV devices.

Meta (AR/AI glasses), September 2025

Meta announced Meta Ray-Ban Display, a new class of AI glasses with integrated display, visual messaging, live video calling, and real-time translation capabilities built into the right lens.

Eclipsa Audio initiative (Google & Samsung)

Google and Samsung collaborated on a new spatial audio format meant to rival Dolby Atmos and enable 3D audio across compatible devices and media.

Exhibitions, Conferences, and Industry Events

Events

Demuxed 2025, October 29-30, London, UK

Demuxed remains the go-to conference for video engineers, bringing together experts from Netflix, Meta, Dolby, and other industry leaders. It featured deep engineering talks across video delivery, encoding, real-time and adaptive streaming, AI-assisted processing, and media pipelines. Examples include smart adaptive bitrate, AI-augmented media workflows, live sports tracking, and next-generation client-side processing. TestDevLab was also represented at the event, with Nikolajs Varlamovs, Filip Mudulis and Adrians Miņins in attendance.

CES 2025, January 7–10, Las Vegas, USA

CES is one of the world’s largest consumer technology events, covering hardware, software, and emerging technologies across multiple industries. In 2025, the show featured audio and video hardware, display technologies, AI-enabled devices, and home and enterprise communication systems. Major announcements traditionally include consumer electronics, media devices, and collaboration hardware.

Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2025, February 24–27, Barcelona, Spain

MWC is a global event focused on mobile communications, network infrastructure, and telecommunications technology. The conference brings together mobile operators, equipment vendors, and software providers to present developments in 5G, network services, cloud communications, and real-time media delivery. Audio and video technologies are commonly showcased in the context of low-latency communication and network-enabled services.

NAB Show 2025, April 6–9, Las Vegas, USA

The NAB Show is a major exhibition dedicated to broadcast, media production, and content delivery technologies. It covers professional audio and video production tools, streaming platforms, codecs, and media infrastructure. The event is widely used for announcing new cameras, production software, live streaming solutions, and broadcast standards. 

IBC 2025, September 12–15, Amsterdam, Netherlands

IBC is an international conference and exhibition focused on broadcast, media, and entertainment technology. It brings together professionals working in content creation, processing, distribution, and delivery. The event regularly features developments in video compression, cloud-based media workflows, and real-time broadcasting technologies.

Exhibitions

Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) 2025, February 4–7, Barcelona, Spain

Integrated Systems Europe is a major exhibition focused on professional audiovisual and systems integration technologies. The event covers enterprise collaboration systems, digital signage, broadcast AV, control systems, and large-scale display technologies. It serves as a key launch platform for audio and video hardware used in corporate, public, and entertainment environments.

InfoComm 2025, June 7–13, Orlando, USA

InfoComm is an international trade show dedicated to professional audiovisual technology and integrated experience solutions. The exhibition includes products and platforms for conferencing, collaboration, digital signage, streaming, and control systems. It is commonly used by vendors to introduce enterprise AV hardware and software.

NAMM Show 2025, United States, January

Taipei Game Show 2025, Taiwan, January 23–24

Beijing InfoComm China 2025, China, April 16–18

CEDIA Expo 2025, United States, September 4-6

IFA 2025, Germany, September 5–9

InfoComm India 2025, India, September 7–9

IBC 2025, Netherlands, September 11–15

Tokyo Game Show 2025, Japan, September 25–28

InfoComm América Latina 2025, Mexico, October 22–24

Audio Video Show 2025 (Warsaw), Poland, October 24–26

AVX — Rocky Mountain Audio Video Expo 2025, United States, November 13–14

BRIDGE Summit 2025, United Arab Emirates, December 8–10

Conferences

WebRTC Global Summit 2025, May 14–15, Online

Integrated Systems Europe is a major exhibition focused on professional audiovisual and systems integration technologies. The event covers enterprise collaboration systems, digital signage, broadcast AV, control systems, and large-scale display technologies. It serves as a key launch platform for audio and video hardware used in corporate, public, and entertainment environments.

Streaming Media Connect 2025, March 18–19, Online

InfoComm is an international trade show dedicated to professional audiovisual technology and integrated experience solutions. The exhibition includes products and platforms for conferencing, collaboration, digital signage, streaming, and control systems. It is commonly used by vendors to introduce enterprise AV hardware and software.

Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) 2025, February 4-7, Barcelona 

The world's largest AV and systems integration show, focusing on commercial and residential AV, digital signage, and unified communications.

AES Latin American Convention, August 15-17, Mexico City 

A premier event for audio engineering professionals in the region.

SET EXPO 2025, August 19-21, São Paulo, Brazil 

Largest broadcast and new media conference in Latin America, focusing on hybrid production.

ACM Multimedia 2025, October 27-31, Dublin, Ireland 

Focuses on advanced research in video, audio, AI, and virtual/augmented reality.

Standards and Protocol Developments

AV2 Video Codec Finalization, December 2025

Organization: Alliance for Open Media

The AV2 specification reached final release, delivering approximately 40% bitrate reduction over AV1 while improving performance for HDR, screen content, and immersive video.

W3C WebRTC Recommendation Update, March 2025

W3C published updated WebRTC recommendations, refining APIs to improve low-latency transport, AI-assisted session handling, and real-time data synchronization.

3GPP Release 19 (5G Advanced), September–December 2025

Release 19 introduced AI-native radio scheduling, ultra-reliable low-latency communication enhancements, and integrated sensing capabilities, directly impacting next-generation real-time media services.

MPEG Immersive Media Standards, April 2025

MPEG advanced immersive audio, volumetric video compression, and low-latency streaming standards, supporting extended reality, telepresence, and spatial communication systems.

HDMI 2.2 Specification

HDMI 2.2 represents the next major leap in the dominant physical A/V connection standard. The specification increases maximum bandwidth up to 96 Gbps, enabling extremely high resolutions and frame rates such as 4K at 480 Hz and 8K at 240 Hz. 

It also introduces the Latency Indication Protocol (LIP), aimed at improving synchronization in increasingly complex A/V chains involving gaming consoles, AV receivers, and displays. Given HDMI’s near-universal presence in consumer electronics, this upgrade will shape hardware design for years to come.

IPMX (Internet Protocol Media Experience) - First Product Certification in 2025

IPMX (Internet Protocol Media Experience) reached a critical milestone in 2025: the first formal product testing and certification events. Built on existing open standards such as SMPTE ST 2110 and AES67, IPMX is tailored for professional AV environments outside traditional broadcast.

Security and Compliance

AI-Driven Media Authentication, November 2025

Telecommunications vendors and standards organizations introduced real-time biometric voice verification systems designed to combat synthetic media fraud, deepfake impersonation, and voice phishing attacks.

Cybersecurity Mesh Architectures, 2025

Security models evolved toward distributed endpoint-level protection, treating each camera, microphone, and conferencing endpoint as a separate trust boundary.

Secure Media Transport Over QUIC Goes From Draft to Deployment

Standards Body: IETF - Internet Engineering Task Force

Protocol Base: QUIC

In 2025, secure low-latency media delivery over QUIC matured significantly in real-world deployment, especially for live streaming and RTC environments.

SIPCORE — RFC 9475 (SIP Digest Update) Adoption in 2025 Deployments

Date: Deployment Wave in 2025

Source: IETF RFC 9475

While published earlier, 2025 saw broader adoption of RFC 9475, which updates SIP Digest Authentication.

IEEE Events

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a global organization committed to advancing technology for humanity's benefit. With members from diverse technical disciplines, including electrical engineering, computer science, and electronics, IEEE publishes influential literature, develops industry standards, and hosts conferences, webinars, lectures, and forums to foster knowledge sharing and collaboration.

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Looking ahead

As we move into 2026, the momentum from 2025 continues to drive the industry forward. AI embedded directly into communication infrastructure, the finalized AV2 codec, and the expansion of 5G standalone networks are reshaping how audio and video is delivered and experienced. Technologies that were emerging just a year ago—from edge AI processing to immersive spatial audio—are now becoming standard expectations.

With major conferences and new standards initiatives already on the horizon, 2026 is set to build on one of the most infrastructure-defining years the industry has seen. Whether through continued advances in real-time communication, smarter endpoints, or the next generation of media codecs, the industry shows no signs of slowing down.

Stay tuned as we continue tracking the evolution of audio and video technology in the year to come.