As wireless and video technologies continue to converge, one of the most consequential intersections is video coding efficiency. Video is now the dominant form of data delivered over wireless networks, and its quality and accessibility hinge on how efficiently we can compress and transmit it.
The continued evolution of video codecs is central to a high quality and immersive future. From the earliest mobile video streams to today’s immersive 8K experiences, coding efficiency has made it possible to deliver rich, high-quality video across diverse devices and bandwidth constraints. Here’s why video coding efficiency is more critical than ever.
1. AVC/H.264: The Codec That Shaped the Mobile Video Era
First published in 2004, Advanced Video Coding (AVC/H.264) remains the most widely adopted video codec in consumer electronics today. It set a new benchmark in flexibility and compression efficiency, enabling applications across streaming, mobile, and broadcast. At that time, mobile video was still in its infancy – smartphones hadn’t yet joined the mainstream, and on-the-go HD video was barely conceivable.
By dramatically reducing the bitrate required for acceptable visual quality, AVC unlocked an entire ecosystem of video applications. It also laid the foundation for its successors – HEVC and VVC, each of which builds upon and exceeds the capabilities of the previous codec with increased coding efficiency and flexibility and support for newer and different applications.
2. Rise of User Generated Video
YouTube’s launch in 2005 marked a paradigm shift in how video was consumed and created. Today, the platform is just one of many social and streaming giants, but its early success helped demonstrate the importance of video compression. Better cameras and sharper displays mean nothing if networks can’t deliver that content efficiently.
Advanced video codecs are the silent enablers of this ecosystem. Without them, high-resolution video capture would overwhelm networks. Efficient compression makes it feasible to stream, upload, and share video on a global scale – at scale.
3. 4G: The Catalyst for Video-First Connectivity
With the rollout of 4G in the late 2000s, data rates jumped from tens of Mbps in 3G networks to hundreds of Mbps, even approaching a gigabit per second. This leap created the bandwidth headroom for video to thrive. Suddenly, smartphones weren’t just communication tools, they became video production studios and viewing platforms.
Still, raw bandwidth wasn’t enough – it was equally critical to develop and adopt more efficient codecs. Higher-resolution content needed smaller bitrates, and advancements to video coding were made to enable more video per byte while making mobile video more viable and ubiquitous.
By the time 5G rolled out towards the end of the 2010s, video was already a dominant force in the mobile telecoms ecosystem.
4. HEVC/H.265: Halving the Bitrate, Doubling the Potential
Standardized in 2013, High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC/ H.265) delivered approximately 50% bitrate savings over AVC at the same visual quality. This leap in efficiency allowed for smoother 4K streaming, reduced storage costs, and better performance on constrained networks, while its 10 bits profile enables HDR content.
HEVC is now supported by more than 97% of consumer video products, according to Futuresource. Its widespread adoption reflects the growing necessity of higher compression efficiency to meet consumer and video service providers' expectations for quality and mobility.
5. 5G and the Normalization of High-Quality Mobile Video
In the 5G era, video is not just popular, it’s fundamental. Whether through streaming video on demand (SVOD) services, social platforms, or immersive content, video is driving data consumption on today’s networks. As devices shrink in size while expectations grow in quality, the need for efficient, low-latency codecs becomes even more acute.
Battery-operated, resource-constrained mobile devices depend on optimized video pipelines. From a network perspective, coding efficiency reduces power consumption, minimizes latency, and supports real-time experiences like live streaming, augmented reality (AR) overlays, and video conferencing.
6. VVC/H.266: Next-Gen Codec for the Immersive Era
Versatile Video Coding (VVC/H.266), finalized in 2020, offers an up to 50% bitrate reduction over HEVC, while maintaining the same perceptual quality. These gains are especially significant for high-resolution and immersive formats like 4K, 8K, 360° video, and 3D content. VVC includes specific coding tools well adapted to immersive services, including sub-pictures that can be independently decoded, reference picture resampling (RPR) that allows flexible spatial resolution adaptation, and layered coding that aligns with foveated rendering principles in VR/AR to render in high-res only where the eye is focused.
As video formats become more complex and data-intensive, VVC’s compression prowess is key to enabling seamless, high-quality playback across both fixed and mobile networks. While mass-market adoption is still ramping up, VVC represents the next milestone in video delivery at scale. Read more about VVC here.
7. Future Deployments: When Does a Codec Go Mainstream?
Codec deployment hinges on a number of factors, including device readiness and economic viability. According to Futuresource, a 30% device penetration is typically the threshold where it becomes practical for content providers to re-encode catalogs and deliver video using a new standard.
Today, that threshold is being approached for VVC, just as it was reached for HEVC years ago. In parallel, traditional broadcast services are beginning to embrace newer codecs, and hardware manufacturers are accelerating their support for VVC across chipsets, TVs, and set-top boxes.
Meanwhile, social media platforms are preparing for large-scale codec migrations to meet the explosion in user-generated video. Moreover, immersive experiences, from VR to XR to real-time 3D environments, will depend on the continued evolution of video coding to balance resolution, latency, and power consumption.
Video is the lifeblood of digital communication, and video coding provides its pulse. As resolutions increase, devices diversify, and networks evolve toward 6G, the importance of efficient video coding will only grow. From streaming movies to enabling new realities, every pixel we compress more efficiently opens the door to richer, faster, and more sustainable video experiences.