The video codec landscape

Video compression is a key technology for new immersive media experiences, as the percentage of video data in global Internet traffic (80% in 2019 according to the 2018 Cisco Visual Networking Index report) is steadily increasing. The requirement for higher video compression efficiency is crucial in this context. For several years intense activity has been observed in standards organizations such as ITU-T VCEG and ISO/IEC MPEG developing Versatile Video Coding (VVC) and Essential Video Coding (EVC), but also in the ICT industry with AV1. This paper provides an analysis of the coding tools of VVC and EVC, stable since January 2020, and of AV1 stable since 2018. The quality and benefits of each solution are discussed from an analysis of their respective coding tools, measured compression efficiency, complexity, and market deployment perspectives. This analysis places VVC ahead of its competitors. As a matter of fact, VVC has been designed by the largest community of video compression experts, that is JVET (Joint Video Experts Team between ITU-T and ISO/IEC). It has been built on the basis of High Efficiency Video Coding (H.265/HEVC) and Advanced Video Coding (H.264/AVC) also developed by joint teams, respectively JCT-VC and JVT, and issued in 2013 and 2003 respectively.