VVC Standard Could Shrink 4K Video Streams to Fit Slow Broadband Lines

A future video standard called Versatile Video Coding (VVC), which could potentially make it possible to squeeze a high quality 4K (3840 x 2160 pixels) video stream down a fairly slow broadband ISP line, is in the early stages of development at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

At present many modern 4K Ultra HD video streams tend to require a stable broadband download speed of around 15-25Mbps (excluding the impact of HDR and frame rates faster than 30fps), which varies depending upon factors such as the level of compression, type of content being displayed at any given moment, caching, the standard being used and so forth. For example, Netflix recommends around 25Mbps and YouTube suggests 15Mbps.

However technology, both in terms of hardware and software, is always moving forward and so the ITU recently setup a new Joint Video Experts Team to develop VVC, which will aim to supersede modern codecs like H.265 HEVC (High Efficiency Video Coding). This is important because video makes up around 80% of all online content consumed.

“The primary objective of VVC is to provide a significant improvement in compression performance over the existing ‘High Efficiency Video Coding’ standard,” said the ITU in a statement. Last year a ‘Call for Proposals’ was issued as part of this project and 32 organisations responded, with the ITU noting last week that some had demonstrated “compression efficiency gains over HEVC of 40% or more.”

Apparently the gain was measured in extensive formal subjective tests conducted by independent test labs. Both 360° omnidirectional video and HDR video were tested as well as conventional dynamic range video. Particular effectiveness was shown on Ultra-High Definition (UHD) video test material.

The results of this “very successful call” led to the creation of a first draft of the VVC standard, a test model for simulation experiments, and a technology benchmark set for the VVC project. The work is on-going and the new standard isn’t expect to be completed until before the end of 2020, although the ITU already expects VVC to “enable the delivery of UHD services at bit rates that today are used to carry HDTV.”

Considering that it’s currently possible to push smooth HD video streams across broadband connections of around 2-6Mbps (varying by resolution, content type, compression quality, audio etc.) then the ITU’s claim might sound radical, although we’ve seen similar jumps in the past (see our 2016 article on the ‘Importance of Video Compression to Broadband ISP Speeds‘).

Obviously for those on slow broadband lines the advantage of using a video compression method like VVC should be clear. This is of course the reason why many modern video streaming services look so much better today than they did a few years ago and all without you needing to upgrade your internet connection. VVC is promising a similar sort of leap as we’ve seen in the past.

As usual there can be caveats to such developments, such as the fact that more complicated compression methods tend to require more powerful processors (CPUs). This isn’t such an issue for desktop systems and modern Smartphones probably won’t have to worry either, although some internet connected TVs or other set-top-box devices may struggle.

At the same time we may be seeing more 8K quality displays coming onto the market in 2020. The cycle of video standards has always seen improvements in compression being matched by improvements elsewhere in quality.