Versatile Video Coding (VVC) is the latest video coding standard developed by the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). VVC offers improved compression efficiency and a rich toolset that allows broadcasters and streaming service providers to optimize their coding workflows.
This year, the Interoperability Working Group at the Media Coding Industry Forum (MC-IF) created the Guidelines and Best Practices for Implementing the VVC standard.
We sat down with Lukasz Litwic, a research leader at Ericsson and the chair of the Interoperability Working Group at MCIF, to learn more about VVC and the guidelines. This is what he had to say:
First of all, thank you for taking the time to chat. Let me start by asking, why were the “Guidelines and Best Practices for Implementing VVC for Next-Gen Video Experiences” created?
Lukasz Litwic: The guidelines were created to provide broadcasters and streaming service providers with a reference point for understanding how VVC can be applied to their specific situations. The guidelines are designed to help industry professionals optimize their coding workflows and deliver high-quality video content to consumers.
A full description of how VVC can be implemented in broadcast and streaming applications was released last year with all that functionality and features that are designed to deliver key benefits — including the ability to reduce the cost of deployment and simplify interoperability.
Having said that, the MC-IF Interoperability Working Group wanted to further emphasize aspects of that rich functionality and tool set and describe how it can be tailored for streaming and broadcast environments to provide guidance of how different settings or different configurations can benefit these applications.
The purpose of the implementation guidelines for broadcasters and streaming service providers is to provide clear and practical guidance on how to integrate and implement VVC technology into their operations.
The guidelines demystify VVC and demonstrate its viability by outlining the necessary steps for adopting and incorporating VVC into their roadmap.
What is different about VVC compared to previous video codec standards?
Litwic: VVC offers state-of-the-art compression efficiency that surpasses previous generation standards like AVC and HEVC. What sets VVC apart from its predecessors is its rich functionality and toolset, which provides a wide range of features and capabilities, including:
- Improved compression efficiency: VVC provides substantial compression improvements over legacy codecs, allowing for better video quality at lower bitrates. This allows streaming service providers to deliver high-quality video content with reduced bandwidth requirements, resulting in cost savings and improved streaming performance.
- Versatility and flexibility: VVC provides built-in support for various video formats, such as UHD 4K resolution, high dynamic range (HDR), wide color gamut, and high frame rates. This versatility allows streaming service providers to deliver immersive and high-quality video experiences to their audiences.
- Flexible resolution coding: VVC introduces a more flexible way to handle resolution coding. It enables the encoding and decoding of videos at different resolutions within a single-layer stream. This flexibility is particularly useful for adaptive streaming, where videos can be streamed at different resolutions based on the viewer’s device and network conditions.
- Enhanced support for new video formats: VVC supports new video formats like UHD 4K resolution, high dynamic range (HDR), wide color gamut, and high frame rates, delivering more immersive experiences to viewers.
- Low Latency Capabilities: VVC introduces tools and techniques to reduce encoding and decoding latency, making it suitable for real-time applications such as live streaming and video conferencing. This ensures minimal delay between the source video and its playback.
- Future-proof solution: VVC is designed to support emerging technologies like virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), making it a future-proof solution for delivering immersive content.
- Simplified deployment and interoperability: VVC follows a similar architecture to previous codecs, making it easier to integrate into existing workflows and reducing deployment costs.
VVC, in short, significantly improves compression efficiency, video quality, flexibility, and scalability compared to previous video codec standards.
There has been a lot of talk over the past few months about rising demand for immersive experiences. Does VVC enhance virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR)?
Litwic: While not explicitly covered in the current guideline, VVC does support emerging immersive formats like VR and AR applications.
The compression efficiency of VVC allows for the economical delivery of immersive experiences with high-quality visuals, which is crucial for VR and AR applications. Additionally, VVC offers additional functionality and optimizations that can enhance the delivery of these formats to audiences.
While these applications may not be widely available in the market yet, VVC provides a future-proof solution that can be utilized for these formats.
By offering substantial compression improvements over legacy codex and additional functionality — new hooks so to speak — that enhance these applications better experiences can be delivered to the audiences. This should have a positive impact on the demand side of the equation.
How can broadcasters and streaming service providers utilize the VVC Technical Guidelines?
Litwic: The guidelines should be utilized as a point of reference. They clearly illustrate how VVC can be applied to different applications and offer evidence of how VVC can optimize coding performance and deliver better-quality pictures.
These guidelines extract the most relevant elements from the VVC specification and provide direction on how to implement VVC in specific settings and configurations. By following these guidelines, broadcasters and streaming service providers can make informed decisions about how to integrate VVC into their operations and take advantage of its benefits.
They also highlight the strategic importance of VVC and emphasize the urgency of its implementation in order to keep up with evolving consumer expectations and technological advancements in the video streaming industry.
The guidelines are free on the MC-IF website and we heartily encourage everyone to join us at MCIF as we work together to shape how video coding technologies, like VVC, can be used to deliver exciting applications for the future.
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Editor’s Note: Click here to listen to the full interview with Lukasz Litwic Research Leader at Ericsson and Chair of the Interoperability Working Group at MC-IF