Apple Acquires WaveOne Startup Working on AI-Powered Video Compression

Apple recently acquired WaveOne, a California-based startup that was developing AI algorithms for video compression, according to TechCrunch.

WaveOne Apple
Apple did not confirm the acquisition, but former WaveOne executive Bob Stankosh said a "sale of the company to Apple" was finalized earlier this year. In addition, the report notes that WaveOne's website was taken offline around January and that several of the company's employees now work at Apple on various machine learning teams.

WaveOne was working on "content-aware" video compression and decompression algorithms to reduce the size of video files, according to the report:

Leveraging AI-powered scene and object detection, the startup's technology could essentially "understand" a video frame — allowing it to, for example, prioritize faces at the expense of other elements within a scene to save bandwidth.

It's unclear how much Apple paid for WaveOne or when the startup's technologies might be integrated into Apple's software platforms.

Popular Stories

airpods pro 3 purple

New, Higher End AirPods Pro Coming This Year

Tuesday January 20, 2026 9:05 am PST by
Apple is planning to debut a high-end secondary version of AirPods Pro 3 this year, sitting in the lineup alongside the current model, reports suggest. Back in September 2025, supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reported that Apple is planning to introduce a successor to the AirPods Pro 3 in 2026. This would be somewhat unusual since Apple normally waits around three years to make major...
iOS 27 Mock Quick

iOS 27 Will Add These 8 New Features to Your iPhone

Sunday January 18, 2026 3:51 pm PST by
iOS 27 is still many months away, but there are already plenty of rumors about new features that will be included in the software update. The first beta of iOS 27 will be released during WWDC 2026 in June, and the update should be released to all users with a compatible iPhone in September. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that iOS 27 will be similar to Mac OS X Snow Leopard, in the sense...
14 inch MacBook Pro Keyboard

MacBook Pro Buyers Now Facing Up to a Two-Month Wait Ahead of New Models

Sunday January 18, 2026 6:50 pm PST by
MacBook Pro availability is tightening on Apple's online store, with select configurations facing up to a two-month delivery timeframe in the United States. A few 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro configurations with an M4 Pro chip are not facing any shipping delay, but estimated delivery dates for many configurations with an M4 Max chip range from February 6 to February 24 or even later. At...
smaller dynamic island iphone 18 pro Filip Vabrous%CC%8Cek

iPhone 18 Pro Leak: Smaller Dynamic Island, No Top-Left Camera Cutout

Tuesday January 20, 2026 2:34 am PST by
Over the last few months, rumors around the iPhone 18 Pro's front-panel design have been conflicted, with some supply-chain leaks pointing to under-display Face ID, reports suggesting a top-left hole-punch camera, and debate over whether the familiar Dynamic Island will shrink, shift, or disappear entirely. Today, Weibo-based leaker Instant Digital shared new details that appear to clarify the ...
iPhone Top Left Hole Punch Face ID Feature Purple

iPhone 18 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 12 New Features

Thursday January 15, 2026 10:56 am PST by
While the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are not expected to launch for another eight months, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we have recapped 12 features rumored for the iPhone 18 Pro models, as of January 2026: The same overall design is expected, with 6.3-inch and 6.9-inch display sizes, and a "plateau" housing three rear cameras Under-screen Face ID...

Top Rated Comments

markfc Avatar
37 months ago
Middle out compression here we come! ?
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
kenny911 Avatar
37 months ago
Someone finally acquired Pied Piper
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Vol Braakzakje Avatar
37 months ago
They should invest in AI to improve Siri instead of more compression...
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
bankshot Avatar
37 months ago
If this is prioritizing faces over other scene elements, it sounds like the primary application will be for FaceTime over very low bandwidth connections. Doesn't sound like anything that would be used for general compression of video files or for streaming like TV+.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
WestonHarvey1 Avatar
37 months ago

Middle out compression here we come! ?
I hope it has a high D2F ratio
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Adoniram Avatar
37 months ago
Interesting… AI-based upscaling programs have come a long way (see: Topaz VEAI) and I use them with varied success.

If you could use a known compression algorithm, and train an upscaling (or decompression) algorithm based SOLELY on that known compression, I could see truly remarkable results. Platforms like YouTube would really benefit, especially if the decompression algorithm became a standardized part of various OSes or apps.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)