The H.266 codec arrives to save the Internet: halves the size of streaming video
After three years of development, today the H.266 codec was introduced, which promises to halve the size of streaming videos without losing quality.
The German Fraunhofer HHI institute has just introduced the long-awaited H.266 codec, which promises to lighten Internet traffic by halving the size of videos compared to the HEVC (H.265) codec. It is an important achievement considering that 80% of Internet traffic is streaming video.
The German Fraunhofer HHI institute, which is also behind the H.264 and H.265 formats, is part of the network of German institutions that also created the MP3 audio format. It has been working on the H.266 codec for three years together with Apple, Intel, Huawei, Microsoft, Qualcomm, Sony and Ericsson.
The main improvements of H.266 with respect to H.265 are two: the spectacular compression of the video, and its greater versatility. It is not only designed to encode streaming video or in local mode.
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Fraunhofer HHI claims that a 90 minute 4K video encoded with the H.265 codec occupies about 10 GB, but if it is encoded with H.266 it is reduced to 5 GB without losing image quality.
It is a format that accepts all resolutions, from low-resolution video to 8K, although it has been developed with 4K resolution in mind, so the main improvements are noticeable from this resolution.
As we have mentioned, it stands out for its versatility. It not only works well with conventional video or streaming. Also with 360-degree video, virtual reality, streaming video games like Google Stadia, screen sharing, etc. It also supports 10-bit color and HDR in all situations.
If you cut the video size in half without losing quality, the H.266 codec could be a major relief for Internet traffic, should platforms like Neftlix, Amazon Prime Video, YouTube or Disney + adapt it.
The main problem is that it is a licensed codec, only certain versions can be used for free and for non-commercial use. Netflix for example used H.264 and H.265 (HEVC), but for streaming on Android it opted for AV1, which is a free codec.
We’ll see what level of acceptance it has, but the fact that companies like Apple, Microsoft or Sony support it is important.
Software to encode and decode the H.266 codec will arrive in the fall. It will also be implemented in chips that will be used in mobiles, and devices such as Chromecast or Fire TV Stick.
