LCEVC

Last updated
LCEVC
Low Complexity Enhancement Video Coding MPEG-5 Part 2
MPEG 5 LCEVC logo.png
Year started2018
Latest versionJune 2021
Organization ITU-T (SG16), ISO, IEC
Committee ISO, VCEG, MPEG
Base standards H.261, H.262 (aka MPEG-2 Video), H.263, MPEG-1
Related standards H.264 (aka AVC), H.265 (aka HEVC), H.266 (aka VVC)
Domain Video compression
Website https://www.lcevc.org/

Low Complexity Enhancement Video Coding (LCEVC) is a ISO/IEC video coding standard developed by the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) under the project name MPEG-5 Part 2 LCEVC. [1] [2]

Contents

Concept

LCEVC specifies an enhancement layer which, when combined with a base video encoded with a separate codec, produces an enhanced video stream. The base layer is decodable by a hardware decoder, and the enhancement layer is suitable for software processing implementation with sustainable power consumption.[ further explanation needed ] The enhancement layer provides improved features to existing codecs, such as compression capability extension and lower encoding/decoding complexity, for live streaming or broadcasting applications. [3]

LCEVC leverages a base video codec (e.g., AVC, HEVC, VP9, AV1, EVC or VVC) and employs an efficient low-complexity enhancement that adds up to two layers of encoded residuals, along with normative signalled up-sampling methods, that correct artifacts produced by the base video codec and add detail and sharpness for the final output video. [4]

It provides additional compression efficiency to any existing or future video codec and reduces the processing complexity of encoding and decoding. [5] [6]

LCEVC can be implemented with software updates for encoders and decoders, and was designed to leverage available hardware acceleration for graphics processing. [7]

Availability

It is possible for licensed users of the V-NOVA P+ codec to encode LCEVC files. [3]

History

In October 2018, MPEG issued a set of requirements for a new video coding standard and a Call for Proposals for Low Complexity Enhancement Video Coding. [8] [9]

At IBC 2019 a preliminary implementation for encoding and decoding the forthcoming MPEG-5 Part 2 LCEVC was demonstrated. [10]

October 2020 at the 132nd MPEG meeting, LCEVC is completed reaching Final Draft stage. [11]

In April 2021, MPEG Video validated the Verification Test of LCEVC (Low Complexity Enhancement Video Coding) standard (ISO/IEC 23094-2). Test results tended to indicate an overall benefit also when using LCEVC to enhance AVC, HEVC, EVC and VVC. [12] [13]

In May 2021, V-NOVA LCEVC Licensing Terms were announced for Entertainment Video Services. It is a software development kit and a wide range of reference integrations that add MPEG-5 Part 2 LCEVC (ISO/IEC 23094-2) encoding and decoding to any existing video delivery workflow. V-NOVA LCEVC is an implementation of MPEG-5 Part 2 LCEVC, the codec-agnostic (ISO/IEC) enhancement standard capable of providing higher quality at up to 40% lower bitrates than codecs used natively. [14] [15]

As per Jan Ozer's report, LCEVC Technology entitled LCEVC x264 Report: Live Sports & eGames, ABR Ladder. [16]

In January 2022, SBTVD Forum approved a selection of technologies for SBTVD 3.0 which include MPEG-5 LCEVC, V-NOVA & Harmonic's submission. [17] [18]

In January 2022, ISO/IEC published a set of tests and procedures to verify whether bitstreams and decoders meet normative requirements specified in the MPEG-5 LCEVC part 2 standard in order for implementers of LCEVC to be able to test the functioning and verify the conformance of their implementations. [19]

Stefano Battista, Guido Meardi, Simone Ferrara, Lorenzo Ciccarelli, Massimo Conti and Simone Orcioni are the co-authors of Low Complexity Enhancement Video Coding (LCEVC) Standard. [20] [21]

Current schedule

License

Licensing is free of cost per decoder or encoder, but broadcaster or encoder-side use of enhancement layers is subject to fees. [24]

LCEVC is proprietary to V-Nova and subject to V-Nova's proprietary licence. Therefore, distribution of any pre-compiled subsystem is strictly prohibited, even between group companies. [25]

See also

Related Research Articles

H.263 is a video compression standard originally designed as a low-bit-rate compressed format for videotelephony. It was standardized by the ITU-T Video Coding Experts Group (VCEG) in a project ending in 1995/1996. It is a member of the H.26x family of video coding standards in the domain of the ITU-T.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moving Picture Experts Group</span> Alliance of working groups to set standards for multimedia coding

The Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) is an alliance of working groups established jointly by ISO and IEC that sets standards for media coding, including compression coding of audio, video, graphics, and genomic data; and transmission and file formats for various applications. Together with JPEG, MPEG is organized under ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 29 – Coding of audio, picture, multimedia and hypermedia information.

MPEG-1 is a standard for lossy compression of video and audio. It is designed to compress VHS-quality raw digital video and CD audio down to about 1.5 Mbit/s without excessive quality loss, making video CDs, digital cable/satellite TV and digital audio broadcasting (DAB) practical.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MPEG-2</span> Video encoding standard

MPEG-2 is a standard for "the generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information". It describes a combination of lossy video compression and lossy audio data compression methods, which permit storage and transmission of movies using currently available storage media and transmission bandwidth. While MPEG-2 is not as efficient as newer standards such as H.264/AVC and H.265/HEVC, backwards compatibility with existing hardware and software means it is still widely used, for example in over-the-air digital television broadcasting and in the DVD-Video standard.

MPEG-1 Audio Layer II or MPEG-2 Audio Layer II is a lossy audio compression format defined by ISO/IEC 11172-3 alongside MPEG-1 Audio Layer I and MPEG-1 Audio Layer III (MP3). While MP3 is much more popular for PC and Internet applications, MP2 remains a dominant standard for audio broadcasting.

Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) is an audio coding standard for lossy digital audio compression. Designed to be the successor of the MP3 format, AAC generally achieves higher sound quality than MP3 encoders at the same bit rate.

MPEG-4 Part 3 or MPEG-4 Audio is the third part of the ISO/IEC MPEG-4 international standard developed by Moving Picture Experts Group. It specifies audio coding methods. The first version of ISO/IEC 14496-3 was published in 1999.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">High-Efficiency Advanced Audio Coding</span> Audio codec

High-Efficiency Advanced Audio Coding (HE-AAC) is an audio coding format for lossy data compression of digital audio defined as an MPEG-4 Audio profile in ISO/IEC 14496–3. It is an extension of Low Complexity AAC (AAC-LC) optimized for low-bitrate applications such as streaming audio. The usage profile HE-AAC v1 uses spectral band replication (SBR) to enhance the modified discrete cosine transform (MDCT) compression efficiency in the frequency domain. The usage profile HE-AAC v2 couples SBR with Parametric Stereo (PS) to further enhance the compression efficiency of stereo signals.

MPEG-4 Part 2, MPEG-4 Visual is a video compression format developed by the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG). It belongs to the MPEG-4 ISO/IEC standards. It uses block-wise motion compensation and a discrete cosine transform (DCT), similar to previous standards such as MPEG-1 Part 2 and H.262/MPEG-2 Part 2.

The Video Coding Experts Group or Visual Coding Experts Group is a working group of the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) concerned with standards for compression coding of video, images, audio, and other signals. It is responsible for standardization of the "H.26x" line of video coding standards, the "T.8xx" line of image coding standards, and related technologies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MP4 file format</span> Digital format for storing video and audio

MPEG-4 Part 14 or MP4 is a digital multimedia container format most commonly used to store video and audio, but it can also be used to store other data such as subtitles and still images. Like most modern container formats, it allows streaming over the Internet. The only filename extension for MPEG-4 Part 14 files as defined by the specification is .mp4. MPEG-4 Part 14 is a standard specified as a part of MPEG-4.

MPEG Surround, also known as Spatial Audio Coding (SAC) is a lossy compression format for surround sound that provides a method for extending mono or stereo audio services to multi-channel audio in a backwards compatible fashion. The total bit rates used for the core and the MPEG Surround data are typically only slightly higher than the bit rates used for coding of the core. MPEG Surround adds a side-information stream to the core bit stream, containing spatial image data. Legacy stereo playback systems will ignore this side-information while players supporting MPEG Surround decoding will output the reconstructed multi-channel audio.

High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), also known as H.265 and MPEG-H Part 2, is a video compression standard designed as part of the MPEG-H project as a successor to the widely used Advanced Video Coding. In comparison to AVC, HEVC offers from 25% to 50% better data compression at the same level of video quality, or substantially improved video quality at the same bit rate. It supports resolutions up to 8192×4320, including 8K UHD, and unlike the primarily 8-bit AVC, HEVC's higher fidelity Main 10 profile has been incorporated into nearly all supporting hardware.

Part 3 of the MPEG-2 standard defines audio coding:

Versatile Video Coding (VVC), also known as H.266, ISO/IEC 23090-3, and MPEG-I Part 3, is a video compression standard finalized on 6 July 2020, by the Joint Video Experts Team (JVET), a joint video expert team of the VCEG working group of ITU-T Study Group 16 and the MPEG working group of ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 29. It is the successor to High Efficiency Video Coding. It was developed with two primary goals – improved compression performance and support for a very broad range of applications.

JPEG XS is an interoperable, visually lossless, low-latency and lightweight image and video coding system used in professional applications. Applications of the standard include streaming high quality content for virtual reality, drones, autonomous vehicles using cameras, gaming, and broadcasting. In this respect, JPEG XS is unique, being the first ISO codec ever designed for this specific purpose. JPEG XS, built on core technology from both intoPIX and Fraunhofer IIS, is formally standardized as ISO/IEC 21122 by the Joint Photographic Experts Group with the first edition published in 2019. Although not official, the XS acronym was chosen to highlight the eXtra Small and eXtra Speed characteristics of the codec. Today, the JPEG committee is still actively working on further improvements to XS, with the second edition scheduled for publication and initial efforts being launched towards a third edition.

MPEG-5 Essential Video Coding (EVC) is a current video compression standard that has been completed in April 2020 by decision of MPEG Working Group 11 at its 130th meeting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">V-NOVA</span>

V-NOVA is a multinational IP and Technology company headquartered in London, UK. It is best known for innovation in data compression technology for video and images. V-Nova has partnered with large organizations including Sky, Xilinx, Nvidia, Eutelsat, and Amazon Web Services to provide its video compression technology.

References

  1. ↑ "MPEG-5 – Leonardo Chiariglione". leonardo.chiariglione.org.
  2. ↑ "Low Complexity Enhancement Video Coding | MPEG". mpeg.chiariglione.org.
  3. 1 2 "How to Encode with LCEVC". Streaming Media Magazine. 12 March 2020.
  4. ↑ Trafford-Jones, Russell (9 July 2020). "Video: Outlook on the future codec landscape". The Broadcast Knowledge.
  5. ↑ "V-Nova". ATSC : NextGen TV.[ permanent dead link ]
  6. ↑ Pennington, Adrian. "2020: Crunch time for codecs". IBC.
  7. ↑ "Inside MPEG's Ambitious Plan to Launch 3 Video Codecs in 2020". Streaming Media Magazine. 15 October 2019.
  8. ↑ "Requirements for Low Complexity Video Coding Enhancements | MPEG". mpeg.chiariglione.org.
  9. ↑ "Call for Proposals for Low Complexity Video Coding Enhancements | MPEG". mpeg.chiariglione.org.
  10. ↑ "Introducing MPEG-5 Part 2 LCEVC" (PDF). itu.int.
  11. ↑ "LC EVC standard celebrates Final Draft". rethinkresearch.biz.
  12. ↑ "MPEG 134 – MPEG". MPEG Standards.
  13. ↑ "MPEG validates LCEVC performance as royalties about to be made public". CSI. 5 November 2021.
  14. ↑ "Nearly-polished LCEVC licensing model is real McCoy, not a decoy". Rethink.
  15. ↑ "V-Nova LCEVC Royalty Structure Announced". Streaming Media Magazine. 2021-05-20.
  16. ↑ Ozer, Jan (2021-04-15). "LCEVC Excels in Full Ladder Live Use Case Testing". Streaming Learning Center.
  17. ↑ "Brazilian goldrush for V-Nova as LCEVC etched into SBTVD 3.0". Rethink.
  18. ↑ "Fórum SBTVD | TV 3.0 Project". Forumsbtvd.org.br (in Brazilian Portuguese).
  19. ↑ "Information technology — General video coding — Part 3". ISO.
  20. ↑ Battista, Stefano; Meardi, Guido; Ferrara, Simone; Ciccarelli, Lorenzo; Maurer, Florian; Conti, Massimo; Orcioni, Simone (November 2022). "Battista, S., Meardi, G., Ferrara, S., Ciccarelli, L., Maurer, F., Conti, M., & Orcioni, S. (2022). Overview of the Low Complexity Enhancement Video Coding (LCEVC) Standard. IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology, 1–1". IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology. 32 (11): 7983–7995. doi: 10.1109/TCSVT.2022.3182793 . S2CID   249664439.
  21. ↑ Battista, Stefano; Meardi, Guido; Ferrara, Simone; Ciccarelli, Lorenzo; Maurer, Florian; Conti, Massimo; Orcioni, Simone (August 2023). "Battista, S., Meardi, G., Ferrara, S., Ciccarelli, L., Maurer, F., Conti, M., & Orcioni, S. (2023). Verification Test of the Low Complexity Enhancement Video Coding (LCEVC) Standard. IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology, 1–1". IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology. 33 (8): 4269–4278. doi: 10.1109/TCSVT.2023.3237907 . S2CID   256155304.
  22. ↑ "MPEG 132 – MPEG".
  23. ↑ "ISO/IEC 23094-2:2021(en)". www.iso.org.
  24. ↑ "LCEVC Enhanced Video". Official LCEVC V-Nova website. 2021-08-29.
  25. ↑ "FFmpeg with LCEVC". Official LCEVC V-Nova website. 2023-03-29.
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