New VVC video format reduces file size by half when compared to the current H.265/HEVC

Fraunhofer HHI along with its partners including Apple, Ericsson, Intel, Huawei, Microsoft, Qualcomm, and Sony today announced the new H.266/Versatile Video Coding (VVC) video format. This new video format offers better compression without decreasing the visual quality. According to Fraunhofer, H.266/Versatile Video Coding (VVC) reduces data requirements by around 50% of the bit rate when compared to the current H.265/High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) standard.

The previous standard H.265/HEVC requires 10 gigabytes of data to transmit a 90-min UHD video. With this new technology, only 5 gigabytes of data are required to achieve the same quality.

“After dedicating almost three years toward this standard, we are proud to have been instrumental in developing H.266/VVC,” says Benjamin Bross, head of the Video Coding Systems group at Fraunhofer HHI and editor of the +500-page standard specification of H.266/VVC. “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.”

This new H.266/ VVC video format will be available for companies under a uniform and transparent licensing model based on the FRAND principle. The first software (for both encoder and decoder) to support H.266/VVC will be released later this year.

Source: Fraunhofer