Comparison of Video Codecs Performance for Real-Time Transmission Georgios Minopoulos, Vasileios A. Memos, Yutaka Ishibashi Konstantinos E. Psannis Department of Computer Science Department of Applied Informatics Nagoya Institute of Technology University of Macedonia Nagoya, Japan Thessaloniki, Greece e-mail: [email protected] e-mail: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] Abstract—Nowadays, the need for more efficient video more than 10 Gbps. Virtual reality applications are compression algorithms is growing, due to the increasing anticipated to demand a few Gbps capabilities, whilst the consumption of video content in higher resolutions. Thus, it is generalization of 8K UHD streaming should require a obvious that video compression technologies play a key role in capacity of higher than 100 Mbps for a single user [5]. the distribution of video content in broadcasting. In this paper, The time taken to process the videos through the codec is the video compression comparisons take into account the an important measurement. Increased processing time means encoding or decoding time which is needed for each increased complexity, and therefore, more computational compression standard, in order to provide evidence about their power is required. Video encoding normally occurs at a adaptation under real-time streaming conditions. The video broadcast or streaming service with the resources to provide test sequences used in our experiments were retrieved from miscellaneous sources and their common characteristic is that the required computational power. In addition, this could they have High or Ultra High Definition resolution. Video also be happened by home users who want to upload their codecs’ performance was tested by using commercial coding videos to social media or send them to their friends. libraries and reference software of the coding standards. Reducing the complexity means that companies and individuals can save money and time by encoding faster, on Keywords-decoding; encoding; mobile networks; video cheaper and simpler devices [6]. codecs Decoding happens when a video is received. This could occur in mobile phones, set-top boxes in the home, or almost in any device that receives and plays video. Decoding should I. INTRODUCTION be low in complexity and lightweight to keep user devices Globally, IP video traffic will reach 82% of all IP traffic simple and cheap. This keeps decoding time low and helps to by 2022. Live Internet video will approach 17% of Internet avoid juddering video [6]. video traffic, while mobile video traffic now reaches nearly The rest of the paper is organized as follows: Section II more than 50% of total mobile data traffic. Predictions show presents the latest related work which has been conducted on that this number will jump to 79% by 2022 [1]. The the new video compression standards. Section III cites the introduction of the Fifth Generation (5G) mobile networks is most popular video codecs, while Section IV describes the likely to increase the demand for mobile video consumption most known tools which are used for video coding. Section of High Definition (HD) and Ultra High Definition (UHD) V presents the comparison of the video coding algorithms videos. based on the current literature. Section VI concludes the 5G networks are considered as the communication paper and gives some potential future directions. technology of the future. The first 5G pilot networks have already been launched. According to estimations, the number II. RELATED WORK of 5G connections will reach 1.4 billion by 2025, which N. Barman and M. G. Martini [7] present a comparative means about 15% of the global total. 5G is expected to reach analysis of H.264/MPEG or Advanced Video Coding (AVC), about 30% of connections in Europe, which translates into H.265/MPEG or High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) and 217 million connections [2]. 5G technology is designed to VP9 encoders for live game video streaming applications as interconnect not only people, but also a massive number of currently used by Twitch.tv and YouTube Gaming. For the devices. By doing so, 5G paves the way for the Internet of encoding settings and the encoders used, in terms of BD-BR Things (IoT) and Smart Cities [3]. This emerging technology analysis, HEVC is found to provide the best compression is going to play a vital role in the evolution of today’s efficiency but is 2.6 times slower than AVC. The magnitude applications that still need improvements, like video of bitrate savings for VP9 compared to AVC is found to be streaming. 5G is expected to be 100 times faster than 4G [4], highly dependent on the content type, with AVC resulting in allowing high-resolution video transmission in a matter of higher average bitrate savings with an encoding speed 4 seconds. The enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) 5G times faster than VP9. services target applications with an aggregated data rate of J. Le Tanou and M. Blestel [8] present a thorough D. EVC analysis of the emerging video codecs AOMedia Video 1 MPEG-5 Part 1 or EVC is another new codec that (AV1), Versatile Video Coding (VVC) and HEVC. promises to become a viable alternative to HEVC. MPEG Experimental results show that AV1 allows bitrate reduction decided to launch this new initiative around video coding, in of 10% in comparison to HEVC for the same PSNR and order to provide a standardized video coding solution to SSIM quality scores, while increasing encoding run-time by 55.5 times. However, it does not necessarily translate into address business needs in some use cases, such as video gain in terms of subjective quality assessment. Additionally, streaming, where existing ISO video coding standards have the results highlight VVC as the best candidate for not been as widely adopted as might be expected from their compression technology beyond HEVC. purely technical characteristics [17]. MPEG aims to finalize M. Wien et al. [9] address an overview on recent and the text of the standard in early 2020. ongoing standardization status of immersive video coding E. LCEVC with a focus on video signals, while it indicates the development timelines, summarizes the main technical The objective of MPEG-5 Part 2 or Low Complexity details, and provides pointers to further points of reference. Enhancement Video Coding (LCEVC) is to develop a data P. Topiwala et al. [10] present a comparative analysis of stream structure defined by two component streams, a base the coding efficiency performance of VVC, AV1 and stream decodable by a hardware decoder, and an Essential Video Coding (EVC) video codecs. Their main enhancement stream suitable for software processing conclusion from the assessment of objective metrics and implementation with sustainable power consumption. The subjective evaluation is that VVC seems to be superior to enhancement stream will provide new features such as AV1 and EVC under both constant quality and target bitrate compression capability extension to existing codecs, lower coding. However, compared to the popular codecs AVC and encoding and decoding complexity, for on-demand and live HEVC, this difference is moderate. streaming applications [18]. LCEVC, which is estimated to Finally, J. Aubié et al. [11] provide a deep comparative be finalized in mid-2020, creates a hybrid stream with one analysis of different codec technologies, such as AVC, lower resolution stream containing the base codec, which HEVC, AV1 and VVC. The main scope of this research is to can be any codec, and an enhanced stream that provides offer to the readers a better decision about which codec to additional resolution and quality. use. F. VP9 III. POPULAR VIDEO CODECS Google developed VP9 as a royalty-free alternative to HEVC. The VP9 encoder has a two-pass rate-control A. AVC encoding option, which results in improved rate-distortion H.264/MPEG-4 or AVC standard is a video codec that performance. This feature was enabled for VP9 as well as for covers a wide range of applications with satisfactory results, its descendant AV1 in the multi-pass rate-control test case such as videoconferencing, video streaming, and video [19]. transmission over fixed and wireless networks with different transport protocols among others [12]. G. AV1 Apart from the forthcoming video encoding standards, a B. HEVC few other standards, which improve the bitrate savings of Today, H.265/MPEG-H or HEVC is the latest official video compression and present significant meaning, have compression standard for video streaming standardized by been developed recently. AV1 is an open, royalty-free video the Joint Collaborative Team on Video Coding (JCT-VC). coding format designed for video transmissions over the HEVC presents significantly better compression Internet. It was developed as a successor to VP9 by the performance, allowing UHD video view with about half Alliance for Open Media (AOMedia), a consortium founded bandwidth less retaining the same video quality, compared to in 2015 [20]. Its initial release was in March 2018 and its its predecessor H.264/MPEG-4 standard [13], [14]. objective was to combine its members' technology and C. VVC expertise to develop a royalty-free video format with high compression efficiency and suitable for use in browsers and The next generation video coding standardization being on the web [21]. developed by the Joint Video Experts Team (JVET), H.266/MPEG-I Part 3, known as VVC, is expected to be H. XVC officially released by the end of 2020 and it will be the The eXtreme Video Codec (XVC) is a novel video codec evolution of HEVC [15]. Compared to HEVC, VVC developed by Divideon, which was released in its first promises bitrate savings of 30% to 50% for the same level of version in September 2017. The XVC codec is a software- video quality [16]. This means that VVC will require about defined video codec with conformance for bitstreams, half bandwidth less than HEVC, making it more efficient in decoders, and encoders, defined regarding the publicly fixed and especially in low-bandwidth networks, such as the available reference software.