New video coding standard promises to halve data requirements

Versatile Video Coding (VVC) could revolutionise the video streaming and telecoms industry by massively reducing the file size of encoded video.

Once more we have German firm Fraunhofer to thank for this cleverness, which is the successor to its High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) standard. According to the Fraunhofer announcement VVC reduces data requirements by around 50% of the bit rate relative to HEVC. In other words, video files can be transmitted twice as fast and higher definition video becomes much more practical for mobile streaming.

“After dedicating almost three years toward this standard, we are proud to have been instrumental in developing H.266/VVC,” said Benjamin Bross, head of the Video Coding Systems group at Fraunhofer HHI. “Because of the quantum leap in coding efficiency offered by H.266/VVC, the use of video will increase further worldwide. Moreover, the increased versatility of H.266/VVC makes its use more attractive for a broader range of applications related to the transmission and storage of video.”

“If you consider that Fraunhofer HHI already played a key role in the development of the previous video coding standards H.264/AVC and H.265/HEVC, then we are happy with the fact that more than 50% of the bits on the Internet are generated by a Fraunhofer HHI technology,” said Dr. Detlev Marpe, head of the Video Coding and Analytics department at Fraunhofer HHI.

It will take a while for this tech to percolate through to video files and devices, assuming there is demand for it. Fraunhofer stressed the licensing will be done along FRAND principles, overseen by the Media Coding Industry Forum. Since the vast majority of all mobile network traffic is video, this could have a profound effect on capacity planning for the industry.