Please find full information about the update with screenshots of enhancements on KVS forum: KVS 7.0.0 update.

Whats new in KVS 7.0.0:

1. We are starting a new branch. Version 7.0.x will be the last version that supports PHP 7. Starting from KVS 7.1, updating will require PHP 8.1. This update cannot be skipped due to migration to newer PHP versions. Among the major system changes, KVS is also switching to InnoDB tables in the database and UTF8MB4 encoding. This will allow storing any emoji in the database (titles, comments, etc.). There will be no forced migration for now - we will test and migrate optionally, and later provide a plugin for one-time migration for old projects. The main issue here is with high-load projects: the site will need to be taken offline during database migration to reduce load.
2. We are pleased to introduce our new service — KVS Conversion Cloud, fully integrated into KVS, allowing you to use our conversion power on your projects. Prices are several times lower than similar services, and the cloud enables fast conversion into modern video codecs (H265, AV1). Unlike the main KVS conversion engine, the cloud does not use FFmpeg options directly but instead uses quality presets to determine bitrate. This allows dynamic bitrate selection for input videos and avoids producing output files significantly larger than the source, which does not improve quality anyway. At this early stage, we recommend contacting our support team for help with configuration, as some aspects of quality selection may not be obvious. More self-service documentation will be provided in the future.
3. KVS now supports modern video codecs H265 and AV1 at both engine and player levels. Until 2026, it seemed necessary to store many formats to ensure playback compatibility across all devices. However, Apple has started adding AV1 support to its newer devices, making H265 nearly obsolete. H265 is widely supported by Apple but is a proprietary (paid) codec requiring licensing fees. AV1 is a free codec and has long been supported across other platforms (Android, Windows, Linux). Additionally, AV1 offers more advanced compression (up to 45% better than H264, while H265 offers up to 30%). However, a key drawback of AV1 is that it cannot be encoded efficiently on standard CPU-based servers within reasonable time. As of 2026, the web is moving toward full AV1 adoption, potentially reducing storage and bandwidth costs by nearly 50%. Based on real project tests, current AV1 support is around 75–80%, though it varies by country: regions dominated by Apple devices show lower support, while Android-heavy regions can reach up to 95%. These numbers are expected to grow, and eventually AV1 will replace both H265 and H264. For now, we recommend using AV1 for new high-resolution videos (1080p+), while keeping lower resolutions in H264 for compatibility. This is especially important for projects paying CDN costs for storage and traffic, as expenses can be nearly halved. Once AV1 support reaches 95%+, only 480p can remain in H264, with all other formats in AV1.
4. To help analyze cost optimization and evaluate the relevance of switching to AV1, we have improved the content statistics plugin. It now provides detailed breakdowns by resolution, total file size, bitrate, bitrate per pixel, etc. Player statistics also now show the percentage of AV1/H265 support in your traffic (columns may need to be enabled in table settings).
5. To reduce traffic costs, we have added the ability in player settings to manage video formats by country. For example, you can disable 1080p and 4K formats for low-monetization regions to reduce bandwidth usage.
6. Content filtering capabilities for satellites have been improved. First, a dedicated settings page has been added to display all available filtering options (read-only; actual configuration is done via setup.php due to its impact on behavior). Second, filtering and delaying by publishing date has been added - allowing satellites to show only newer content and adjust publishing dates relative to the main project. This improves SEO, as gradual content publishing leads to better indexing. Additionally, satellite export feeds now apply all configured filtering rules (use feed URLs via the satellite domain).
7. Added the AI GPT Text Processor plugin for full support of text-based neural networks in KVS. This plugin allows using several supported models to rewrite titles, generate descriptions, translate into multiple languages, and perform synonymization for satellites. It supports both videos and albums, as well as translation of tags and categories.
8. Video format groups can now automatically select formats based on video type: vertical, short, or long. This allows more flexible configuration - for example, sending all short videos to a "shorts" group and vertical videos to a "vertical" group, each with different format sets and settings.
9. Added support for posts localization.
10. AgeVerif settings now support aliases, as the service requires different access keys for different domains.
11. Grabber settings now allow assigning a channel for all imported videos (previously only content source was supported).
12. The category auto-selection plugin now has an option to remove tags if categories with the same name were assigned, preventing duplicate tagging.
13. Advertising settings now support special tokens for passing categories or tags into ad code for improved targeting.
14. Optimization of totals in categorization has been improved, which should reduce database load during background operations.
15. Mass editing now includes the ability to reset categorization for the selected videos and albums.
16. Screenshot rotator settings now include an option to disable rotation for videos with manually uploaded screenshots.

Bugs that have been fixed:

1. [MEDIUM]: In some cases, users who uploaded videos or albums could not access them if they were not yet activated.
2. [MINOR]: Disabled collecting player errors from known bots to reduce fake errors in stats.
3. [MINOR]: Model auto-selection plugin did not account for dots in aliases.
4. [MINOR]: Admin panel notifications hidden via settings no longer appear on the start page.
5. [MINOR]: Import will now send a referer header when downloading screenshots, as required by some grabbers.
6. [MINOR]: Email validation has been standardized across KVS to follow PHP's built-in validation rules.
7. [MINOR]: Fixed duplicate spaces when adding new tags.