Codecs

I’m running some 1-pass vs. 2-pass comparison testing with x265. Unlike with x264 (see tests here), there’s a substantial performance penalty for running 2-pass with minimal quality benefit. I tried the no-slow-firstpass=1 setting, which only accelerated two-pass by about 14%. Here are the results from a single test file. I don’t want to process them all if there’s a magic …

I was reminded of this recently as I prepared for a talk on AV1 readiness at the upcoming United Cloud Tech Talk. Though quality is only a single factor, I wanted to nail the quality comparisons for the talk, but didn’t have time to produce all the iterations myself. It’s been a while since I benchmarked H.264, HEVC, AV1, and …

Most people reading this post want new codecs to succeed as soon as possible, and I do as well. But whenever I think about codec adoption, six pictures come to mind. Overview The first was the foundational adoption timeline released by the Alliance for Open Media (AOMedia) with the launch of AV1 in April 2018 (see above). Essentially, this posited …

Announcing session 2 of Streaming Summer Bootcamp: Learn to Produce H.264 Video. Thu, Jul 11, 2024, 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM. The session is to be produced on LinkedIn Live: Click to register. The free webinar will cover: • What H.264 is and its origins • What x264 is and why it’s important • How x264 compares to other H.264 …

This article provides an overview of JPEG AI, which delivers superior compression efficiency and improved performance for AI tasks like object detection. JPEG AI is an initiative by the Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) aimed at developing a learning-based image coding standard that uses machine learning techniques to achieve superior compression efficiency, offering a compact representation optimized for both human …

I’m thrilled to introduce my newest course on LCEVC video enhancement! It’s designed to introduce newbies to LCEVC, explain why it’s important, identify the tools available for enhancing and decoding, and teach you how to get the most out of encoding videos with LCEVC enhancement. Here’s what you’ll learn: Lesson 1: LCEVC Fundamentals – Learn the basics and importance of …

Multiview High Efficiency Video Coding (MV-HEVC) is an advanced video compression standard that extends the capabilities of High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), also known as H.265. MV-HEVC is designed to efficiently encode multiple views or perspectives of a scene within a single video stream, making it particularly useful for 3D video content. This technology allows for stereoscopic effects, giving the …

This post focuses on AI in preprocessing and encoding products. I’ll examine two aspects: how to consider AI in encoding performance and how to consider AI in the user interface and operation. I’ll conclude by discussing where I see AI going in codec development over the next few years. For perspective, I recently spoke with more than twenty companies for …

I just posted a new lesson to the Streaming Media 101 course on AI in encoding, production, and customer experiences. The lesson is free to all current students; here’s the description. Lesson Description In this lesson, you will learn about the dynamic role of artificial intelligence in transforming media encoding, production processes, and customer experiences. The lesson offers an overview …

I’ve just posted a major codec update to my course, Streaming Media 101: Technical Onboarding for Streaming Media Professionals. The update incorporates the latest on H.264, HEVC, VP9, AV1, LCEVC, and VVC, with EVC excluded since it’s made such little progress on productization and royalty status to date (though the MPAI is doing some interesting things). The update totals about …