Qualcomm Drives Completion of Next-Generation Video Compression Standard

SAN DIEGO -- Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, today announced the completion of the Versatile Video Coding (VVC) standard for video compression. Qualcomm's leadership in contributing technologies, driving proof-of-concepts, and bringing the standard development to conclusion resulted in the standard completion on July 6^th , with commercial deployments expected in 2021.

VVC is the next-generation video compression standard designed to power the creation and consumption of rich digital media experiences. Incorporating innovative new solutions for compression, decompression, processing, and coded representation of video images, audio, and their combination, VVC makes the video transmission more efficient and offers a 40% reduction in file size compared with the previous standard, HEVC, while maintaining the same level of video quality. Compared with a raw data file, VVC offers a 1000x reduction.

"By 2022, 82% of internet traffic will be video. In our connected world of Netflix, Zoom calls, and video sharing, video compression is an extraordinarily important technology area that people around the world rely on every day," said Marta Karczewicz, vice president of technology, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. and nominee for the European Inventor Awards' Lifetime Achievement laurel for her seminal work in video coding. "Qualcomm Technologies' world-class engineers have driven the standard to completion with our foundational technology contributions and unparalleled leadership."

"Qualcomm Technologies is extremely proud of the great work our inventors and engineers have done in creating the core technologies that went into the VVC standard and driving the standard to completion in the middle of a global pandemic. Qualcomm is an IP leader across so many different fields of technologies that facilitate people’s connected experiences on a daily basis. We change the way the world connects, computes, and communicates, and we’re excited to enable the new possibilities of video streaming VVC offers the world," said Jim Thompson, executive vice president, engineering and chief technology officer, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.

VVC, like the 5G cellular standard, is the result of a collaborative effort between dozens of companies offering technologies and driving consensus. Qualcomm is the world’s leading technology company in these standards, developing and contributing the foundational technological innovations that form the heart of how these technologies work.