H266

H.266, also known as Versatile Video Coding (VVC), is a video compression standard jointly developed by ITU-T Video Coding Experts Group and ISO/IEC MPEG. It is the successor to H.265/HEVC and was finalized in 2020 to address growing demands for higher quality video at lower bitrates across emerging media applications. In the ITU-T designation it is referred to as H.266, while in ISO/IEC contexts it is MPEG-5 Part 3.

The primary goal of H.266/VVC is to achieve substantial bitrate savings over its predecessor while maintaining or improving visual quality. Industry estimates commonly cite around a 50% reduction in bitrates for comparable perceptual quality in a wide range of content, including high-resolution and complex scenes. The standard is designed to support modern video use cases such as 8K resolution, 360-degree video, high dynamic range (HDR), wide color gamut, higher bit depths, and VR applications, as well as efficient handling of screen content and interactive media.

H.266 introduces a range of technical advances, including a more flexible coding structure for intra and inter prediction, a wider set of transform sizes, and improved entropy coding. It also emphasizes features that aid parallel processing, tiling for region-based streaming, and tools optimized for screen content. The result is enhanced compression efficiency and better performance across diverse formats, at the cost of higher decoding and encoding complexity.

Adoption of H.266/VVC has been gradual, with hardware and software developers progressively adding support. As a next-generation standard, it is expected to underpin future broadcasting, streaming, and video communication applications, complementing ongoing improvements in bandwidth and display technologies.

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