H265

H265, also known as High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), is a video compression standard developed by ITU-T VCEG and ISO/IEC MPEG through the Joint Collaborative Team on Video Coding (JCTVC). It was designed to succeed H.264/AVC with improved efficiency and capabilities.

In terms of performance, HEVC typically provides about 50 percent better compression at the same visual quality, or improved quality at the same bitrate. It supports higher resolutions such as 4K and 8K, and incorporates tools for enhanced parallel processing, including Coding Tree Units up to 64x64, tiles, and wavefront parallel processing. The standard also advances intra and inter prediction, motion compensation, and in-loop filtering, with features likeSAO (sample adaptive offset) and 10-bit color support for HDR content.

Standardization and usage: ITU-T H.265 and ISO/IEC 23008-2 specify the HEVC encoding framework. Since its introduction, HEVC has been adopted for UHD Blu-ray discs, streaming applications, and broadcast workflows, with widespread availability of hardware and software decoders.

Licensing and adoption barriers: HEVC is patent-encumbered, governed by multiple licensing bodies and pools. Royalties and licensing complexity have been cited as factors limiting universal adoption, prompting some entities to pursue royalty-free alternatives.

Alternatives and context: Open royalty-free codecs such as AV1 have emerged as contenders, offering similar or higher efficiency without licensing costs. HEVC remains widely used in scenarios prioritizing high compression efficiency and broad hardware support.