Volume 3, No. 1, June 2020 Special issue The future of video and immersive media Special issue The future of video and immersive media The ITU Journal: ICT Discoveries publishes original research on ICT technical developments and their policy and regulatory, economic, social and legal dimensions. It builds bridges between disciplines, connects theory with application, and stimulates international dialogue. This interdisciplinary approach reflects ITU’s comprehensive field of interest and explores the convergence of ICT with other disciplines. It also features review articles, best practice implementation tutorials and case studies. The ITU Journal welcomes submissions at any time, on any topic within its scope. ​​​ Publication rights © International Telecommunication Union, 2020 Some rights reserved. This work is available under the CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGO license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo/. SUGGESTED CITATION: ITU Journal: ICT Discoveries, Vol. 3(1), June 2020; License: CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGO COMMERCIAL USE: Requests for commercial use and licensing should be addressed to ITU Sales at [email protected] THIRD-PARTY MATERIALS: If you wish to reuse material from their published articles that is attributed to a third party, such as tables, figures or images, it is your responsibility to determine whether permission is needed for that reuse and to obtain permission from the copyright holder. The risk of claims resulting from infringement of any third-party-owned component in the work rests solely with the user. GENERAL DISCLAIMERS: The designations employed and the presentation of the material in the published articles do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of ITU concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The mention of specific companies or of certain manufacturers’ products does not imply that they are endorsed or recommended by ITU in preference to others of a similar nature that are not mentioned. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Please visit the ITU Journal website at: https://www.itu.int/en/journal/Pages/default.aspx Inquiries should be addressed to Alessia Magliarditi at: [email protected] ITU Journal: ICT Discoveries, Vol. 3(1), June 2020 Foreword Video has come to account for over 80 per cent of Internet traffic. The majority of this video is coded using international standards developed in collaboration by the world’s three leading standards bodies, ITU, ISO and IEC. This work has been honoured with two Primetime Emmy Awards, recognizing ITU H.264 | MPEG-4 Advanced Video Coding (AVC) and High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC, published as ITU H.265 | ISO/IEC 23008-2). This special issue of the ITU Journal analyzes the state of the art in multimedia as well as innovations appearing on the horizon. It also tells the story behind the first JPEG image compression standard, another Emmy-winning success story that played a formative role in establishing the user-centric approach to multimedia standardization that endures today. This special issue is fortunate to draw on the expertise of the community responsible for this strong tradition of work, a tradition that has always featured key contributions from academia. ITU is the United Nations specialized agency for ICTs. Our global membership includes 193 Member States and over 900 companies, universities, and international and regional organizations. Researchers participate alongside policymakers and industry-leading engineers in ITU expert groups responsible for radiocommunication, standardization and development. Contributions from research communities bring greater strength to the work of ITU, and participation in ITU helps these communities to increase the impact of their research. I would like to express my gratitude to all contributors to this special issue of the ITU Journal. In contributing to the Journal and the work of ITU, leading minds in science and engineering are providing decision-makers in the public and private sector with unique insight into the latest developments in ICT and prospects for future innovation. I would especially like to thank the ITU Journal’s Editor-in-Chief, Professor Jian Song of Tsinghua University, for the great dedication with which he has led the ITU Journal. The success of the ITU Journal has motivated ITU and Tsinghua University to expand our collaboration with the launch of a new journal titled Intelligent and Converged Networks. The new joint journal, co-published by ITU and Tsinghua University Press, is the first of what will grow into a series of specialized journals affiliated with the ITU Journal. Houlin Zhao Secretary-General International Telecommunication Union – iii – ITU Journal: ICT Discoveries, Vol. 3(1), June 2020 Foreword Our multimedia-rich communications experience is built on international standards that give innovators the confidence to invest in new applications and services. The video compression algorithms standardized by ITU, ISO and IEC are at the heart of increasing screen resolutions. They are also central to industry’s ability to meet rising demand for video, one of the most bandwidth-intensive applications running over global networks. These standards are at play in almost all video we view, over any medium. These standards meet industry demand for sophisticated video compression capabilities. They also enable a natural, economically viable evolution of video compression technology. Widespread conformance to these standards ensures that video encoded on one device can be decoded by another, regardless of device brand. This introduces economies of scale essential to market growth. This special issue shares unique insight into the latest developments in video and immersive media and the exciting prospects appearing on the horizon as a result. The new ‘Versatile Video Coding’ (VVC) standard, expected to be complete before the close of 2020 will achieve a significant improvement in compression performance over the existing ‘High Efficiency Video Coding’ standard (HEVC, published as ITU-T H.265 | ISO/IEC 23008-2). Its versatility will make a key contribution to higher-quality video services and emerging applications such as 360° omnidirectional immersive multimedia and high-dynamic-range (HDR) video. The VVC project builds on over two decades of industry-defining standardization work. I would like to applaud the many experts in industry and academia that have contributed to this work, work that continues to enrich our communication experiences and provide a basis for advances in fields such as healthcare and education. I would like to thank all contributors to this special issue of the ITU Journal for their will to share their insight with the broader ITU community. The insights of this special issue offer an exciting taste of what is to come in multimedia. I look forward to our continued work together to strengthen ITU-Academia collaboration. This collaboration is of great service to the public interest, with research communities making an important contribution to ICT innovation as well as international efforts to ensure that the benefits of this innovation are shared worldwide. Chaesub Lee Director ITU Telecommunication Standardization Bureau – iv – ITU Journal: ICT Discoveries, Vol. 3(1), June 2020 Editor-in-Chief’s message This latest special issue of the ITU journal offers unique insight into the state of art in multimedia, and more interestingly the insight that forecasts an exciting future of highly immersive media experiences. The 13 published papers address topics including the latest developments in video and image coding and resulting prospects for new media experiences; advances in immersive media in sports and education; the growing influence of machine learning; and the accessibility of immersive media to persons with disabilities. We are also fortunate to welcome a paper telling the story behind the development of the first JPEG image compression standard, a success story very much at the origin of contemporary multimedia coding. I express my gratitude to all of our authors for their valuable contributions to this special issue. I would like to thank ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao for entrusting me with the role of ITU Journal Editor-in-Chief. I would also like to thank Chaesub Lee, Director of the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Bureau, for the support that I have received from his bureau, in particular the ITU Journal’s editorial team. I am also grateful to the many reviewers that ensured an efficient review process, in particular our Guest Editors, Gary Sullivan, Microsoft; Yan Ye, Alibaba; Jens-Rainer Ohm, RWTH Aachen University; and Lu Yu, Zhejiang University. For their continued support to the ITU Journal, I would like to thank our Associate Editors, Rajkumar Buyya, University of Melbourne; Jun Kyun Choi, Korea Advanced Institute of Technology; Xiaolin Fu, University of Oxford; Mostafa Hashem Sherif; as well as our Outreach Chairman, Stephen Ibaraki. The ITU Journal is a prime example of how ITU and academia can work together towards a shared goal, through research and publication. This collaborative effort is of mutual benefit to ITU and academia, offering research communities the chance to influence the decisions of thought leaders in the public and private sector. We are glad to announce that we are expanding this collaboration with the introduction of a new international journal co-published by Tsinghua University Press and ITU. Titled