ITU reduces video bandwidth consumption with HEVC

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has unveiled a new video coding standard riding on the PrimeTime Emmy award winning ITU-T H.264 /Moving Pictures Experts Group (MPEG-4) ‘Advanced Video Coding’ (AVC), was agreed by ITU upon by member states, on Friday, January 25, 2013.

Officials of ITU informed ITRealms that the new codec will considerably ease the burden on global networks where, by some estimates, video accounts for more than half of bandwidth use.

According to ITU, the new standard, known informally as ‘High Efficiency Video Coding’ (HEVC) will need only half the bit rate of its predecessor, ITU-T H.264 / MPEG-4 Part 10 ‘Advanced Video Coding’ (AVC), which currently accounts for over 80 per cent of all web video.

Also, the HEVC, ITU noted, would unleash a new phase of innovation in video production spanning the whole Information and Communication Technology (ICT) spectrum, from mobile devices through to Ultra-High Definition Television (UHD-TV).

ITRealms gathered that ITU-T’s Study Group 16 had agreed first-stage approval of the much-anticipated standard known formally as Recommendation ITU-T H.265 or ISO/IEC 23008-2.

“It is the product of collaboration between the ITU Video Coding Experts Group (VCEG) and the ISO/IEC Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG),” an ITU official statement remarked.

Noteworthy is that ITU is the leading United Nations agency for information and communication technology, spanning over 145 years.

As such, ITU coordinates the shared global use of the radio spectrum, promoted international cooperation in assigning satellite orbits, worked to improve communication infrastructure in the developing world, and established the worldwide standards that foster seamless interconnection of a vast range of communications systems.

 
Additionally, ITU oversees from broadband networks to new-generation wireless technologies, aeronautical and maritime navigation, radio astronomy, satellite-based meteorology and converging fixed-mobile phone, Internet and broadcasting technologies, ITU asserts as always its commitment to connecting the world.

Remmy Nweke
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