LCEVC

LCEVC specifies an enhancement layer which, when combined with a base video encoded with a separate codec, produces an enhanced video stream. The base layer is decodable by a hardware decoder, and the enhancement layer is suitable for software processing implementation with sustainable power consumption.{{Explain|reason=This claims to be a software-decoded enhancement layer throughout, but software decoding is massively less energy efficient than hardware decoding for all currently used video codecs. In addition, javascript is mentioned, which is a total disaster for power efficiency of any device.|date=April 2022}} The enhancement layer provides improved features to existing codecs, such as compression capability extension and lower encoding/decoding complexity, for live streaming or broadcasting applications.{{cite web |title=How to Encode with LCEVC |url=https://www.streamingmedia.com/Articles/ReadArticle.aspx?ArticleID=139705 |website=Streaming Media Magazine |date=12 March 2020}}

LCEVC leverages a base video codec (e.g., AVC, HEVC, VP9, AV1, EVC or VVC) and employs an efficient low-complexity enhancement that adds up to two layers of encoded residuals, along with normative signalled up-sampling methods, that correct artifacts produced by the base video codec and add detail and sharpness for the final output video.{{cite web |last1=Trafford-Jones |first1=Russell |title=Video: Outlook on the future codec landscape |url=https://thebroadcastknowledge.com/2020/07/09/video-outlook-on-the-future-codec-landscape/ |website=The Broadcast Knowledge |date=9 July 2020}}

It provides additional compression efficiency to any existing or future video codec and reduces the processing complexity of encoding and decoding.{{cite web |title=V-Nova |url=https://www.atsc.org/atsc-progress/v-nova/ |website=ATSC : NextGen TV }}{{Dead link|date=August 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}{{cite web |last1=Pennington |first1=Adrian |title=2020: Crunch time for codecs |url=https://www.ibc.org/manage/2020-crunch-time-for-codecs/5569.article |website=IBC |language=en}}

LCEVC can be implemented with software updates for encoders and decoders, and was designed to leverage available hardware acceleration for graphics processing.{{cite web |title=Inside MPEG's Ambitious Plan to Launch 3 Video Codecs in 2020 |url=https://www.streamingmedia.com/Articles/ReadArticle.aspx?ArticleID=134694 |website=Streaming Media Magazine |date=15 October 2019}}

It is possible for licensed users of the V-NOVA P+ codec to encode LCEVC files.

In October 2018, MPEG issued a set of requirements for a new video coding standard and a Call for Proposals for Low Complexity Enhancement Video Coding.{{cite web |title=Requirements for Low Complexity Video Coding Enhancements {{!}} MPEG |url=https://mpeg.chiariglione.org/standards/exploration/low-complexity-video-coding-enhancements/requirements-low-complexity-video |website=mpeg.chiariglione.org}}{{cite web |title=Call for Proposals for Low Complexity Video Coding Enhancements {{!}} MPEG |url=https://mpeg.chiariglione.org/standards/exploration/low-complexity-video-coding-enhancements/call-proposals-low-complexity-video |website=mpeg.chiariglione.org}}

At IBC 2019 a preliminary implementation for encoding and decoding the forthcoming MPEG-5 Part 2 LCEVC was demonstrated.{{cite web |title=Introducing MPEG-5 Part 2 LCEVC |url=https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-T/Workshops-and-Seminars/20191008/Documents/Guido_Meardi_Presentation.pdf |website=itu.int}}

October 2020 at the 132nd MPEG meeting, LCEVC is completed reaching Final Draft stage.{{cite web |title=LC EVC standard celebrates Final Draft |url=https://rethinkresearch.biz/articles/lcevc-celebrates-final-draft-standard-now-convince-people-works/ |website=rethinkresearch.biz}}

In April 2021, MPEG Video validated the Verification Test of LCEVC (Low Complexity Enhancement Video Coding) standard (ISO/IEC 23094-2). Test results tended to indicate an overall benefit also when using LCEVC to enhance AVC, HEVC, EVC and VVC.{{cite web |title=MPEG 134 – MPEG |url=https://www.mpegstandards.org/meetings/mpeg-134/ |website=MPEG Standards}}{{cite web |title=MPEG validates LCEVC performance as royalties about to be made public |url=https://www.csimagazine.com/csi/MPEG-progresses-with-VVC-and-neural-networks-compression.php |website=CSI |date=5 November 2021 |language=en}}

In May 2021, V-NOVA LCEVC Licensing Terms were announced for Entertainment Video Services. It is a software development kit and a wide range of reference integrations that add MPEG-5 Part 2 LCEVC (ISO/IEC 23094-2) encoding and decoding to any existing video delivery workflow. V-NOVA LCEVC is an implementation of MPEG-5 Part 2 LCEVC, the codec-agnostic (ISO/IEC) enhancement standard capable of providing higher quality at up to 40% lower bitrates than codecs used natively.{{cite web |title=Nearly-polished LCEVC licensing model is real McCoy, not a decoy |url=https://rethinkresearch.biz/articles/nearly-polished-lcevc-licensing-model-real-mccoy-not-decoy/ |website=Rethink |language=en}}{{cite web |title=V-Nova LCEVC Royalty Structure Announced |url=https://www.streamingmedia.com/Articles/News/Online-Video-News/V-Nova-Announces-LCEVC-Royalty-Structure-147003.aspx |website=Streaming Media Magazine |date=2021-05-20}}

As per Jan Ozer's report, LCEVC Technology entitled LCEVC x264 Report: Live Sports & eGames, ABR Ladder.{{cite web |last1=Ozer |first1=Jan |title=LCEVC Excels in Full Ladder Live Use Case Testing |url=https://streaminglearningcenter.com/codecs/lcevc-excels-in-full-ladder-live-use-case-testing.html |website=Streaming Learning Center |date=2021-04-15}}

In January 2022, SBTVD Forum approved a selection of technologies for SBTVD 3.0 which include MPEG-5 LCEVC, V-NOVA & Harmonic's submission.{{cite web |title=Brazilian goldrush for V-Nova as LCEVC etched into SBTVD 3.0 |url=https://rethinkresearch.biz/articles/brazilian-goldrush-for-v-nova-as-lcevc-etched-into-sbtvd-3-0/ |website=Rethink |language=en}}{{cite web |title=Fórum SBTVD {{!}} TV 3.0 Project |url=https://forumsbtvd.org.br/tv3_0/ |website=Forumsbtvd.org.br |language=pt-BR}}

In January 2022, ISO/IEC published a set of tests and procedures to verify whether bitstreams and decoders meet normative requirements specified in the MPEG-5 LCEVC part 2 standard in order for implementers of LCEVC to be able to test the functioning and verify the conformance of their implementations.{{cite web |title=Information technology — General video coding — Part 3 |url=https://www.iso.org/standard/80902.html |website=ISO |language=en}}

Stefano Battista, Guido Meardi, Simone Ferrara, Lorenzo Ciccarelli, Massimo Conti and Simone Orcioni are the co-authors of Low Complexity Enhancement Video Coding (LCEVC) Standard.{{cite journal |title=Battista, S., Meardi, G., Ferrara, S., Ciccarelli, L., Maurer, F., Conti, M., & Orcioni, S. (2022). Overview of the Low Complexity Enhancement Video Coding (LCEVC) Standard. IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology, 1–1.|url=https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9795094|journal=IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology|date=November 2022 |volume=32 |issue=11 |pages=7983–7995 |doi=10.1109/TCSVT.2022.3182793 |last1=Battista |first1=Stefano |last2=Meardi |first2=Guido |last3=Ferrara |first3=Simone |last4=Ciccarelli |first4=Lorenzo |last5=Maurer |first5=Florian |last6=Conti |first6=Massimo |last7=Orcioni |first7=Simone |s2cid=249664439 |doi-access=free |hdl=11566/307684 |hdl-access=free }}

{{cite journal|title=Battista, S., Meardi, G., Ferrara, S., Ciccarelli, L., Maurer, F., Conti, M., & Orcioni, S. (2023). Verification Test of the Low Complexity Enhancement Video Coding (LCEVC) Standard. IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology, 1–1.|url=https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10019298|journal=IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology|date=August 2023 |volume=33 |issue=8 |pages=4269–4278 |doi=10.1109/TCSVT.2023.3237907 |last1=Battista |first1=Stefano |last2=Meardi |first2=Guido |last3=Ferrara |first3=Simone |last4=Ciccarelli |first4=Lorenzo |last5=Maurer |first5=Florian |last6=Conti |first6=Massimo |last7=Orcioni |first7=Simone |s2cid=256155304 |doi-access=free |hdl=11566/310098 |hdl-access=free }}

• October 2018: Call for Proposals
• March 2019: Evaluation of the proposals received and first draft of the standard
• October 2019: Ballot issued for Committee Draft
• April 2020: Ballot issued for Draft International Standard
• October 2020: Completion of final standard{{Cite web|url=https://www.mpeg.org/meetings/mpeg-132/|title=MPEG 132 – MPEG}}
• Publishing of standard (ISO/IEC 23094–2){{cite web |title=ISO/IEC 23094-2:2021(en) |url=https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/#iso:std:iso-iec:23094:-2:ed-1:v1:en |website=www.iso.org}}

Licensing is free of cost per decoder or encoder, but broadcaster or encoder-side use of enhancement layers is subject to fees.{{cite web |url=https://www.v-nova.com/lcevc-enhanced-video/ |website=Official LCEVC V-Nova website |title=LCEVC Enhanced Video|date=2021-08-29 }}

LCEVC is proprietary to V-Nova and subject to V-Nova's proprietary licence. Therefore, distribution of any pre-compiled subsystem is strictly prohibited, even between group companies.{{cite web |url=https://docs.v-nova.com/v-nova/lcevc/reference-applications/ffmpeg |website=Official LCEVC V-Nova website |title=FFmpeg with LCEVC|date=2023-03-29 }}

FFmpeg version 7.1{{cite web |url=https://www.ffmpeg.org/general.html#toc-LCEVCdec |title=1.13 LCEVCdec |website=FFmpeg General Documentation}} officially supports decoding using official external library: LCEVCdec.{{cite web |title=LCEVC Decoder SDK |url=https://github.com/v-novaltd/LCEVCdec |website=github}}

GStreamer supports LCEVC since version 1.26 released on March 11, 2025.{{cite web |title=GStreamer 1.26 release notes |url=https://gstreamer.freedesktop.org/releases/1.26/ |website=gstreamer.freedesktop.org |access-date=12 March 2025}}

• MPEG-5 Part 1 / Essential Video Coding / EVC
• H.266 / MPEG-I Part 3 / Versatile Video Coding / VVC especially Joint Layer Reference
• Layered coding
• Bitrate peeling
• Hierarchical modulation
• Backward compatibility, in which newer systems can understand data generated by older ones
• Forward compatibility, in which older systems can understand data generated by newer ones
• Compatibility layer, components that allow for non-native support of components
• Compatibility mode, software mechanism in which a software emulates an older version of software

{{reflist}}

• [https://www.lcevc.com LCEVC Website]
• [https://8kassociation.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/8K_DUAL_LAYER_DISTRIBUTION.png Dual-Layer Distribution] [https://8kassociation.com/delivery/distribution-transport-methods/ Method] can be used not only to [https://8kassociation.com/delivery/distribution-to-end-user-options/ distribute 8K signal, but also SD signal].
• [https://www.v-nova.com/lcevc-enhanced-video/ Mpeg5 part 2 = LC EVC Test Site]

{{Compression formats}}

Category:Video codecs

Category:Video compression

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