MPEG-5 Part 1: Essential video coding

The Motion Picture Experts Group (MPEG) standardization group has produced a large number of standards for video compression over the last three decades. Traditionally, the MPEG standards have either focused on highest available compression efficiency [e.g., MPEG-2, advanced video coding (AVC), and high-efficiency video coding (HEVC)] or a desire to produce a royalty-free standard [e.g., Internet video coding (IVC) and web video coding (WebVC)]. In January 2019, MPEG embarked on a new standardization project that can be seen as a hybrid of the two: MPEG-5 part 1 and essential video coding (EVC) [International Organization for Standardization/International Electrotechnical Commission (ISO/IEC) 23094-1]. The EVC standard was developed with a royalty-free baseline profile at its base and a royalty bearing main profile that provides excellent compression performance. The main profile adds, on top of the baseline profile, 21 different coding tools that each can be individually turned off and, when necessary, replaced by a corresponding baseline profile tool. This structure makes it easy to fall back to a smaller set of tools in the future, if, for example, licensing complications occur around a specific tool, without breaking compatibility with already deployed decoders.