Archive notice: This article was originally published on September 24, 2012. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
Delegates of the Moving Picture Experts Group decided to introduce a new MPEG standard format that, according to media reports, is intended to represent a revolution in streaming video. What makes this new standard so impressive is the fact that file size is halved while video quality remains the same. The aim of this standard is to make the requirements for video streaming, particularly in relation to bandwidth, easier to manage. It is intended to benefit not only users with low internet bandwidth who live outside large cities, but also the countless smartphone owners. The new high-efficiency codec is called H.265 or HVEC (High Efficiency Video Coding) and will replace the H.264 codec in future. According to MPEG, standardisation is intended to be completed in January 2013.
Under the Hood
In detail, H.265 works with the CABAC used in H.264, but with a certain amount of tuning. Larger macroblocks and larger transformations provide the increased compression performance that is presented as a wonder weapon. Intra Prediction, Motion Vector Prediction and interpolation filters are also said to be improved. To better conceal artefacts during compression, two further in-loop post-processing filters are used.
