AV1 is already available for decoding in all major browsers (Short of Safari, of course, because Apple), and major video decoders. There's even an available playlist on Youtube, with AV1 encoded clips, for testing purposes. So preliminary support is already rolled out, and we are currently in Phase 2 of the AV1 release schedule:
Version 1.0.0 of the AV1 specifications was made available in June, this year, so now we are really only waiting on hardware support, which will take more time. Practically all vendors are already behind it, so we will *finally* see a universal media codec!
As it is stands now, 2020 is where most hardware units will have hardware decode support:
As for you, the end user, h.264 is the most widely used standard we currently have, and one that is fully supported, and will remain fully supported by Apple for many years to come. So no need to reencode everything you have done now. Also, AV1 is not targeting low resolution sources anyway, so the space saved by doing AV1 encodes of DVD material, would be miniscule anyway. Even going h.265, which you would be able to decode and play on most of your stuff now, would only save you about ~10% space.
TLDR; So be happy, enjoy your h.264 content, as it will still play on your hardware 10 years from now. And it is likely anyway, that you'll toss the discs and encodes in 5 years anyway, and go all in on streaming, as it just is more convenient and physical discs are on the way out (Despite them still being the superior format when it comes to quality - In a few years, we will be streaming 5.1 HD audio and higher video bitrates and then it will be good enough for the vast majority of people. And then we only need good availability of movie extras..).
Very exciting times!!!
