Configuring Versatile Video Coding: Technical Guidelines for Broadcast and Streaming Applications

Versatile Video Coding (VVC or H.266) is the latest video coding standard jointly developed by ISO/IEC MPEG and ITU-T VCEG. With best-in-class compression performance, VVC can enhance existing applications and enable new services. As the first VVC implementations enter the market, several application-oriented standards developing organizations and industry fora are defining VVC-based profiles and corresponding receiver capabilities. However, these specifications don’t typically prescribe how a service is realized and the impact of the codec’s operational parameters on delivered compression performance. To this end, the Media Coding Industry Forum has initiated the development of VVC technical guidelines. These guidelines will serve as a reference for VVC configuration choices to address operational, interoperability, and regulatory needs while achieving optimal compression performance. This paper presents an overview of the guidelines’ scope and development process, followed by a discussion of VVC configuration aspects, with focus on new features which are of utmost relevance to broadcast and streaming applications and concludes with analysis of performance for the presented scenarios.

Łukasz Litwic | Ericsson | Gdańsk, Poland
Dmytro Rusanovskyy | Qualcomm Technologies Inc | San Diego, California, United States
Sean McCarthy | Dolby Laboratories, Inc. | San Francisco, California, United States
Alan Stein | InterDigital Communications, Inc. | Princeton, New Jersey, United States