Analysis of Emerging Video Codecs: Coding Tools, Compression Efficiency

Metadata

Publisher: SMPTE — White Plains, NY, USA
Doc Type: Journal Article
Content Type: Original Research
Abbreviated Title: SMPTE Mot. Imag. J
Volume: 128, No. 10, pp. 14–24
Abstract: The video compression community, from technologists to customers, is affected by the competition between two lines of development for future video compression technology beyond high-efficiency video coding (HEVC): AV1, as developed by the industry-driven Alliance for Open Media (AOM), and Versatile Video Coding (VVC), as developed and studied by the Joint Video Experts Team (JVET) on Future Video Coding of ITU-T Video Coding Expert Group (VCEG) and International Organization for Standardization (ISO)/International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) Motion Picture Experts Group (MPEG). Both groups have asserted that their respective codecs, AV1 and VVC, outperform the state-of-the-art HEVC. However, in many cases, related studies are evaluating video codec performances based on different test conditions, scenarios, or codec implementations, which makes comparisons sometimes unfair and at least difficult to interpret. This paper provides a neutral and well-balanced evaluation of compression and runtime performance for both AV1 and VVC codecs, using their respective reference models, in comparison to two HEVC codec implementations: HEVC Test Model (HM) as the HEVC standard reference model and x265 as a well-known open-source HEVC codec implementation. Comparison of differentiating features of AV1 and VVC over HEVC is also reported. Our main findings show that, based on an objective analysis, AV1 allows bitrate reduction of 10% in comparison to HM for the same peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) and Structural SIMilarity (SSIM) quality scores while increasing encoding runtime by 55.5x. However, we show that this objective advantage in coding efficiency does not necessarily translate into gain in terms of subjective quality assessment. Overall, objective results show VVC to be the best candidate for compression technology beyond HEVC.
Publication Date: 2019-11-01
DOI: 10.5594/JMI.2019.2937736
ISSN: Print: 1545-0279 | Electronic: 2160-2492
Link: https://doi.org/10.5594/JMI.2019.2937736
Author(s): Julien Le Tanou
bio
Julien Le Tanou is a principal engineer at MediaKind, Saint-Jacques-de-la-Lande, France, formerly Ericsson Media Solutions. In this role, he is responsible for leading research and software development into video processing, compression and associated technologies. Since 2012, he has also been with Envivio, Saint-Jacques-de-la-Lande, where he has been in charge of research and algorithms design for Envivio’s SW video encoding solutions. Prior to Envivio, he was with Orange Labs, France, and Dolby Laboratories, U.S., where he conducted research and development for the next generation of video coding standards. He received an MS degree in signal and image processing from Telecom ParisTech, Paris, France, in 2010, and an MSc degree in computer and electrical engineering from the Institut Superieure d’Electronique de Paris, Paris, in 2008.
Médéric Blestel
bio
Médéric Blestel is a principal video compression engineer at MediaKind, Saint-Jacques-de-la-Lande, France. He joined the Envivio compression team based in Rennes, France, in 2011. As an experienced leader, his research interests focus on various aspects of image and video processing research. He has been heavily involved in various encoding projects and now mainly focuses on new technical trends in the video compression area. Prior to Mediakind, Blestel contributed to JPEG and Motion Picture Experts Group (MPEG) standardization within the Institute of Electronics and Telecommunications of Rennes (IETR) Laboratory. Blestel received an MEng from the Institut national des sciences appliquées de Rennes, Rennes, in 2006.
Keyword(s): AV1, Coding Tools, Complexity, Coding Efficiency, Future Video Codecs, HEVC, HEVC Test Model (HM), Joint Exploratory Test Model (JEM), Performance Evaluation, Versatile Test Model (VTM), Versatile Video Coding, X265
Copyright: © 2019 SMPTE

Bibliographic Reference(s)

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Julien Le Tanou and Médéric Blestel; Analysis of Emerging Video Codecs: Coding Tools, Compression Efficiency, SMPTE Motion Imaging Journal ( Volume: 128, Issue: 10, 2019); SMPTE, 2019. Available at https://doi.org/10.5594/JMI.2019.2937736

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Julien Le Tanou and Médéric Blestel; Analysis of Emerging Video Codecs: Coding Tools, Compression Efficiency, SMPTE Motion Imaging Journal ( Volume: 128, Issue: 10, 2019); SMPTE, 2019. Available at https://doi.org/10.5594/JMI.2019.2937736

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<span class="citation">Julien Le Tanou and Médéric Blestel; <cite>Analysis of Emerging Video Codecs: Coding Tools, Compression Efficiency</cite>, SMPTE Motion Imaging Journal ( Volume: 128, Issue: 10, 2019); SMPTE, 2019. Available at <a href="https://doi.org/10.5594/JMI.2019.2937736" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://doi.org/10.5594/JMI.2019.2937736</a></span>

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Julien Le Tanou and Médéric Blestel; Analysis of Emerging Video Codecs: Coding Tools, Compression Efficiency, SMPTE Motion Imaging Journal ( Volume: 128, Issue: 10, 2019); SMPTE, 2019
doi: 10.5594/JMI.2019.2937736
url: https://doi.org/10.5594/JMI.2019.2937736

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Julien Le Tanou and Médéric Blestel; <cite id="bib-10-5594-jmi-2019-2937736">Analysis of Emerging Video Codecs: Coding Tools, Compression Efficiency</cite>, SMPTE Motion Imaging Journal ( Volume: 128, Issue: 10, 2019); SMPTE, 2019
<span class="doi">10.5594/JMI.2019.2937736</span>
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