View source for High Efficiency Video Coding

{{Short description|Video compression format, succeeds H.264/MPEG-4 AVC}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2023}}
{{Infobox technology standard
| title = HEVC / H.265 / MPEG-H Part 2
| long_name = High Efficiency Video Coding
| image = 
| caption = 
| status = In force
| year_started = {{Start date and age|2013|06|07|df=y|p=y}}
| first_published = {{Start date and age|2013|07|07|p=y}}
| version = 10.0
| version_date = {{Start date and age|2024|07|29|p=y}}
| organization = ITU-T, ISO, [[Organization:International Electrotechnical Commission|IEC]]
| committee = SG16 (VCEG), MPEG
| base_standards = [[H.261]], H.262, [[H.263]], ISO/IEC 14496-2, H.264
| related_standards = H.266, [[Essential Video Coding|MPEG-5]], MPEG-H
| predecessor       = H.264
| successor         = H.266
| abbreviation = 
| domain = Video compression
| license = [[Company:MPEG LA|MPEG LA]]<ref>{{cite tech report |publisher=Library of Congress |location=Washington, D.C. |series=Sustainability of Digital Formats |type=Preliminary draft |title=High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) Family, H.265, MPEG-H Part 2 |date=19 November 2020 |url=https://www.loc.gov/preservation/digital/formats/fdd/fdd000530.shtml |access-date=1 December 2021}}</ref>
| website = {{URL|https://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-H.265}}
}}
'''High Efficiency Video Coding''' ('''HEVC'''), also known as '''H.265''' and '''MPEG-H Part 2''', is a proprietary [[Video coding format|video compression standard]] designed as part of the MPEG-H project as a successor to the widely used [[Advanced Video Coding]] (AVC, H.264, or [[MPEG-4]] Part 10). The standard was published in 2013. In comparison to AVC, HEVC offers from 25% to 50% better [[Data compression|data compression]] at the same level of [[Video quality|video quality]], or substantially improved video quality at the same [[Bit rate|bit rate]]. It supports resolutions up to 8192×4320, including [[Engineering:Ultra-high-definition television|8K UHD]], and unlike the primarily eight-bit AVC, HEVC's higher-fidelity Main 10 profile has been incorporated into nearly all supporting hardware. The [[High Efficiency Image File Format|High Efficiency Image Format]] (HEIF) is a [[Container format|container format]] whose default [[Codec|codec]] is HEVC.

While AVC uses the integer [[Discrete cosine transform|discrete cosine transform]] (DCT) with 4×4 and 8×8 block sizes, HEVC uses both integer DCT and [[Discrete sine transform|discrete sine transform]] (DST) with varied block sizes between 4×4 and 32×32.<ref name="apple">{{cite web |last1=Thomson |first1=Gavin |last2=Shah |first2=Athar |title=Introducing HEIF and HEVC |url=https://devstreaming-cdn.apple.com/videos/wwdc/2017/503i6plfvfi7o3222/503/503_introducing_heif_and_hevc.pdf |publisher=[[Company:Apple Inc.|Apple Inc.]] |year=2017 |access-date=5 August 2019}}</ref>

== Concept ==
In most ways, HEVC is an extension of the concepts in H.264/MPEG-4 AVC. Both work by comparing different parts of a frame of video to find areas that are redundant, both within a single frame and between consecutive frames. These redundant areas are then replaced with a short description instead of the original pixels. The primary changes for HEVC include the expansion of the pattern comparison and difference-coding areas from 16×16 pixel to sizes up to 64×64, improved [[Quadtree|variable-block-size segmentation]], improved "intra" prediction within the same picture, improved [[Motion vector|motion vector]] prediction and motion region merging, improved [[Motion compensation|motion compensation]] filtering, and an additional filtering step called sample-adaptive offset filtering. Effective use of these improvements requires much more signal processing capability for compressing the video but has less impact on the amount of computation needed for decompression.

HEVC was standardized by the Joint Collaborative Team on Video Coding (JCT-VC), a collaboration between the [[Organization:International Organization for Standardization|ISO]]/[[Organization:International Electrotechnical Commission|IEC]] [[Moving Picture Experts Group|MPEG]] and ITU-T Study Group 16 [[Organization:Video Coding Experts Group|VCEG]]. The ISO/IEC group refers to it as MPEG-H Part 2 and the ITU-T as H.265. The first version of the HEVC standard was ratified in January 2013 and published in June 2013. The second version, with multiview extensions (MV-HEVC), range extensions (RExt), and scalability extensions (SHVC), was completed and approved in 2014 and published in early 2015. Extensions for 3D video (3D-HEVC) were completed in early 2015, and extensions for screen content coding (SCC) were completed in early 2016 and published in early 2017, covering video containing rendered graphics, text, or animation as well as (or instead of) camera-captured video scenes. In October 2017, the standard was recognized by a Primetime Emmy Engineering Award 
as having had a material effect on the technology of television.<ref name=EmmyCeremony>{{cite web
|url=http://www.emmys.com/video/69th-engineering-emmy-awards-joint-collaborative-team-video-coding-wins-emmy-award
|title=69th Engineering Emmy Awards: Joint Collaborative Team on Video Coding wins Emmy Award
|website=Academy of Television Arts & Sciences
|date=November 1, 2017
|access-date=November 13, 2017
|archive-date=November 14, 2017
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171114040737/http://www.emmys.com/video/69th-engineering-emmy-awards-joint-collaborative-team-video-coding-wins-emmy-award
|url-status=dead
}}</ref><ref name=ATASannounce>{{cite web
|url=http://www.emmys.com/news/awards-news/engineering-awards-170927
|title=69th Engineering Emmy Awards Recipients Announced
|website=Academy of Television Arts & Sciences
|date=September 27, 2017|access-date=November 13, 2017
}}</ref><ref name=ITUnews>{{cite web
|url=http://news.itu.int/itu-iso-iec-receive-another-primetime-emmy-for-video-compression-video/
|title=ITU, ISO and IEC receive another Primetime Emmy for video compression
|website=[[Organization:International Telecommunication Union|International Telecommunication Union]]
|date=October 26, 2017
|access-date=November 13, 2017
|archive-date=April 19, 2019
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190419174859/https://news.itu.int/itu-iso-iec-receive-another-primetime-emmy-for-video-compression-video/
|url-status=dead
}}</ref><ref name=Aachen>{{cite web
|url=http://www.rwth-aachen.de/cms/root/Die-RWTH/Aktuell/Pressemitteilungen/November-2017/~ovhi/Engineering-Emmy-Award-fuer-HEVC-Standar/?lidx=1
|title=Engineering Emmy Award for HEVC Standard
|website=RWTH Aachen University
|date=November 2, 2017|access-date=November 13, 2017
}}</ref><ref name=MSR>{{cite web
|first=John
|last=Roach
|url=https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/blog/primetime-engineering-emmy-award-goes-to-hevc-a-key-technology-behind-ultra-high-definition-tv/
|title=Primetime Engineering Emmy Award goes to HEVC, a key technology behind ultra-high definition TV
|website=[[Organization:Microsoft Research|Microsoft Research]]
|date=September 29, 2017|access-date=November 13, 2017
}}</ref>

HEVC contains technologies covered by [[Social:Patent|patent]]s owned by the organizations that participated in the JCT-VC. Implementing a device or software application that uses HEVC may require a license from HEVC patent holders. The ISO/IEC and ITU require companies that belong to their organizations to offer their patents on [[Social:Reasonable and non-discriminatory licensing|reasonable and non-discriminatory licensing]] (RAND) terms. Patent licenses can be obtained directly from each patent holder, or through patent licensing bodies, such as [[Company:MPEG LA|MPEG LA]], Access Advance, and Velos Media.

The combined licensing fees currently offered by all of the patent licensing bodies are higher than for AVC. The licensing fees are one of the main reasons HEVC adoption has been low on the web and is why some of the largest tech companies ([[Company:Amazon|Amazon]], [[Engineering:AMD|AMD]], [[Company:Apple Inc.|Apple]], [[Company:Arm Holdings|ARM]], [[Company:Cisco|Cisco]], [[Company:Google|Google]], [[Company:Intel|Intel]], [[Company:Microsoft|Microsoft]], Mozilla, [[Company:Netflix|Netflix]], [[Company:Nvidia|Nvidia]], and more) have joined the [[Organization:Alliance for Open Media|Alliance for Open Media]],<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.streamingmedia.com/Articles/Editorial/Featured-Articles/A-Progress-Report-The-Alliance-for-Open-Media-and-the-AV1-Codec-110383.aspx |title=A Progress Report: The Alliance for Open Media and the AV1 Codec |website=Streaming Media Magazine |last=Ozer |first=Jan |date=April 12, 2016 }}</ref> which finalized royalty-free alternative video coding format [[Software:AV1|AV1]] on March 28, 2018.<ref name="AV1 Finalized"/>

==History==
The HEVC format was jointly developed by more than a dozen organisations across the world. The majority of active patent contributions towards the development of the HEVC format came from five organizations: [[Company:Samsung Electronics|Samsung Electronics]] (4,249 patents), [[Company:General Electric|General Electric]] (1,127 patents),<ref name="hevcadvance"/> M&K Holdings (907 patents), [[Company:Nippon Telegraph and Telephone|NTT]] ({{#expr:16+862}} patents), and JVC Kenwood (628 patents).<ref name="mpegla"/> Other patent holders include [[Company:Fujitsu|Fujitsu]], [[Company:Apple Inc.|Apple]], [[Company:Canon Inc.|Canon]], [[Organization:Columbia University|Columbia University]], KAIST, Kwangwoon University, [[Organization:Massachusetts Institute of Technology|MIT]], [[Organization:Sungkyunkwan University|Sungkyunkwan University]], [[Company:Funai|Funai]], Hikvision, KBS, [[Company:KT Corporation|KT]] and [[Company:NEC|NEC]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Licensors Included in the HEVC Patent Portfolio License|url=https://www.mpegla.com/programs/hevc/licensors/|website=[[Company:MPEG LA|MPEG LA]]|access-date=18 June 2019|archive-date=April 13, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210413125606/https://www.mpegla.com/programs/hevc/licensors/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Previous work===
In 2004, the ITU-T [[Organization:Video Coding Experts Group|Video Coding Experts Group]] (VCEG) began a major study of technology advances that could enable the creation of a new video compression standard (or substantial compression-oriented enhancements of the H.264/MPEG-4 AVC standard).{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}} In October 2004, various techniques for potential enhancement of the H.264/MPEG-4 AVC standard were surveyed. In January 2005, at the next meeting of VCEG, VCEG began designating certain topics as "Key Technical Areas" (KTA) for further investigation. A software codebase called the KTA codebase was established for evaluating such proposals.<ref>T. Wedi and T. K. Tan, [http://wftp3.itu.int/av-arch/video-site/0510_Nic/VCEG-AA06.doc ''AHG report – Coding Efficiency Improvements''], VCEG document VCEG-AA06, 17–18 October 2005.</ref> The KTA software was based on the Joint Model (JM) reference software that was developed by the MPEG & VCEG Joint Video Team for H.264/MPEG-4 AVC. Additional proposed technologies were integrated into the KTA software and tested in experiment evaluations over the next four years.<ref>[http://wftp3.itu.int/av-arch/video-site/0701_Mar/VCEG-AE01r1.doc Meeting Report for 31st VCEG Meeting] VCEG document VCEG-AE01r1, Marrakech, MA, 15–16 January 2007</ref>{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}}<ref name=JCTVCOfficialWebsite>{{cite web|author=ITU TSB|url=http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/studygroups/com16/jct-vc/ |title=Joint Collaborative Team on Video Coding |publisher=ITU-T |date=2010-05-21 |access-date=2012-08-24}}</ref><ref name=HEVCNovember2013ISOIEC>{{cite news |title=ISO/IEC 23008-2:2013 |publisher=[[Organization:International Organization for Standardization|International Organization for Standardization]] |url=http://www.iso.org/iso/catalogue_detail.htm?csnumber=35424 |date=2013-11-25 |access-date=2013-11-29}}</ref>

Two approaches for standardizing enhanced compression technology were considered: either creating a new standard or creating extensions of H.264/MPEG-4 AVC. The project had tentative names ''H.265'' and ''H.NGVC'' (Next-generation Video Coding), and was a major part of the work of VCEG until it evolved into the HEVC joint project with MPEG in 2010.<ref name=FirstJCTVCMeetingDresden>{{cite web|url=http://www.h265.net/2010/06/the-first-jct-vc-meeting-dresden-de.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130221164146/http://www.h265.net/2010/06/the-first-jct-vc-meeting-dresden-de.html |url-status=usurped |archive-date=February 21, 2013 |title=The First JCT-VC Meeting, Dresden, DE |author=Jie Dong |publisher=H265.net |date=2010-06-19 |access-date=2012-11-25}}</ref><ref name=StatusH265July2008>{{cite web|url=http://www.h265.net/2008/07/current-status-of-h265.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080712015245/http://www.h265.net/2008/07/current-status-of-h265.html |url-status=usurped |archive-date=July 12, 2008 |title=Current Status of H.265 (as at July 2008) |author=Jie Dong |publisher=H265.net |date=2008-07-01 |access-date=2012-11-25}}</ref><ref name=NGVCRequirements2009>{{cite web|url=http://www.h265.net/2009/04/the-preliminary-requirements-for-ngvc.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090513034217/http://www.h265.net/2009/04/the-preliminary-requirements-for-ngvc.html |url-status=usurped |archive-date=May 13, 2009 |title=The Preliminary Requirements for NGVC |author=Yu Liu |publisher=H265.net |date=2009-04-15 |access-date=2012-11-25}}</ref>

The preliminary requirements for NGVC were the capability to have a [[Bit rate|bit rate]] reduction of 50% at the same subjective image quality compared with the H.264/MPEG-4 AVC High profile, and computational complexity ranging from 1/2 to 3 times that of the High profile.<ref name=NGVCRequirements2009/> NGVC would be able to provide 25% bit rate reduction along with 50% reduction in complexity at the same perceived video quality as the High profile, or to provide greater bit rate reduction with somewhat higher complexity.<ref name=NGVCRequirements2009/><ref name="epvcreqs"/>

The [[Organization:International Organization for Standardization|ISO]]/[[Organization:International Electrotechnical Commission|IEC]] [[Moving Picture Experts Group]] (MPEG) started a similar project in 2007, tentatively named ''High-performance Video Coding''.<ref name=ThomasWiegandInterview>{{cite web |url=http://www.in-cites.com/scientists/ThomasWiegand.html |title=An Interview With Dr. Thomas Wiegand |publisher=in-cites |date=2007-07-01 |access-date=2012-08-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131208045725/http://www.in-cites.com/scientists/ThomasWiegand.html |archive-date=December 8, 2013 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}</ref><ref name=StatusHVCJuly2009>{{cite web|url=http://www.h265.net/2009/07/current-status-of-hvc-high-performance-video-coding-in-mpeg.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130221175413/http://www.h265.net/2009/07/current-status-of-hvc-high-performance-video-coding-in-mpeg.html |url-status=usurped |archive-date=February 21, 2013 |title=Current Status of HVC (High-Performance Video Coding) in MPEG |author=Yu Liu |publisher=H265.net |date=2009-07-03 |access-date=2012-11-25}}</ref> An agreement of getting a bit rate reduction of 50% had been decided as the goal of the project by July 2007.<ref name=ThomasWiegandInterview/> Early evaluations were performed with modifications of the KTA reference software encoder developed by VCEG.{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}} By July 2009, experimental results showed average bit reduction of around 20% compared with AVC High Profile; these results prompted MPEG to initiate its standardization effort in collaboration with VCEG.<ref name=StatusHVCJuly2009/>

=== Joint Collaborative Team on Video Coding ===
<!-- linked from redirect JCT-VC -->
MPEG and VCEG established a Joint Collaborative Team on Video Coding ('''JCT-VC''') to develop the HEVC standard.{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}}{{sfn|ITU|2015}}<ref name=Extensions>{{cite journal |title= Standardized Extensions of High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC)|author=G. J. Sullivan |author2=J. M. Boyce|author3=Y. Chen |author4=J.-R. Ohm |author5=C. A. Segall |author6=A. Vetro |journal= IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Signal Processing|publisher=IEEE|volume= 7 |issue=6 |date=December 2013 |pages=1001–1016 |doi=10.1109/JSTSP.2013.2283657 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2013ISTSP...7.1001S }}</ref><ref name=3DHEVCDraftFebruary2015>{{cite news |title=3D-HEVC Draft Text 7 |author=Gerhard Tech |author2=Krzysztof Wegner |author3=Ying Chen |author4=Sehoon Yea |publisher=JCT-3V |url=http://phenix.int-evry.fr/jct2/doc_end_user/current_document.php?id=2495 |date=2015-02-18 |access-date=2015-02-26 |archive-date=November 16, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181116032117/http://phenix.int-evry.fr/jct2/doc_end_user/current_document.php?id=2495 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Standardization===
A formal joint Call for Proposals on video compression technology was issued in January 2010 by VCEG and MPEG, and proposals were evaluated at the first meeting of the MPEG & VCEG Joint Collaborative Team on Video Coding (JCT-VC), which took place in April 2010. A total of 27 full proposals were submitted.<ref name=FirstJCTVCMeetingDresden/><ref name=ITUDresdenMeetingDocuments>{{cite web |url=http://ftp3.itu.int/av-arch/jctvc-site/2010_04_A_Dresden |title=Dresden Meeting – Document Register |publisher=ITU-T |access-date=2012-11-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024133837/http://wftp3.itu.int/av-arch/jctvc-site/2010_04_A_Dresden/ |archive-date=2012-10-24 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Evaluations showed that some proposals could reach the same visual quality as AVC at only half the bit rate in many of the test cases, at the cost of 2–10× increase in computational complexity, and some proposals achieved good subjective quality and bit rate results with lower computational complexity than the reference AVC High profile encodings. At that meeting, the name ''High Efficiency Video Coding'' (HEVC) was adopted for the joint project.{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}}<ref name=FirstJCTVCMeetingDresden/> Starting at that meeting, the JCT-VC integrated features of some of the best proposals into a single software codebase and a "Test Model under Consideration", and performed further experiments to evaluate various proposed features.{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}}<ref>{{cite web |url=http://ftp3.itu.int/av-arch/jctvc-site/2010_04_A_Dresden |title=Documents of the first meeting of the Joint Collaborative Team on Video Coding (JCT-VC) – Dresden, Germany, 15–23 April 2010 |publisher=ITU-T |date=2010-04-23 |access-date=2012-08-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024133837/http://wftp3.itu.int/av-arch/jctvc-site/2010_04_A_Dresden/ |archive-date=24 October 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The first working draft specification of HEVC was produced at the third JCT-VC meeting in October 2010. Many changes in the coding tools and configuration of HEVC were made in later JCT-VC meetings.{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}}

On January 25, 2013, the ITU announced that HEVC had received first stage approval (consent) in the ITU-T Alternative Approval Process (AAP).<ref name=ITUJanuary2013HEVCConsentApproval>{{cite news |title=New video codec to ease pressure on global networks |publisher=ITU |url=http://www.itu.int/net/pressoffice/press_releases/2013/01.aspx |date=2013-01-25 |access-date=2013-01-25}}</ref><ref name=MultichannelJanuary2013HEVCConsentApproval>{{cite news |title=ITU OKs Next-Generation Video Codec Standard |author=Todd Spangler |publisher=Multichannel News |url=http://www.multichannel.com/video/itu-oks-next-generation-video-codec-standard/141387 |date=2013-01-25 |access-date=2013-01-25 |archive-date=December 12, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131212010941/http://www.multichannel.com/video/itu-oks-next-generation-video-codec-standard/141387 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=January2013HEVCApprovalProcess>{{cite news |title=ITU-T Work Programme |publisher=ITU |url=http://www.itu.int/itu-t/workprog/wp_item.aspx?isn=9225 |access-date=2013-01-27}}</ref> On the same day, MPEG announced that HEVC had been promoted to Final Draft International Standard (FDIS) status in the [[Moving Picture Experts Group#Standardization process|MPEG standardization process]].<ref name=MPEGJanuary2013HEVCMilestone>{{cite news |title=MPEG HEVC – The next major milestone in MPEG video history is achieved |publisher=MPEG |url=http://mpeg.chiariglione.org/sites/default/files/files/meetings/docs/w13253_0.doc |format=DOC |date=2013-01-25 |access-date=2013-01-27}}</ref><ref name=MPEGBasicsJanuary2013>{{cite news |title=MPEG Basics |publisher=MPEG |url=http://mpeg.chiariglione.org/mpeg-basics |access-date=2013-01-28 |archive-date=February 16, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140216043015/http://mpeg.chiariglione.org/mpeg-basics |url-status=dead }}</ref>

On April 13, 2013, HEVC/H.265 was approved as an ITU-T standard.<ref name=HEVCApr2013ITURec>{{cite news |title=ITU-T Home: Study groups: ITU-T Recommendations: ITU-T H.265 (04/2013) |publisher=ITU |url=http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/recommendations/rec.aspx?rec=11885 |date=2013-04-13 |access-date=2013-04-16}}</ref><ref name=HEVCAprilApproved2013ITUAAPDetails>{{cite news |title=AAP Recommendation: H.265 |publisher=ITU |url=http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/aap/AAPRecDetails.aspx?AAPSeqNo=2741 |date=2013-04-13 |access-date=2013-04-16}}</ref><ref name=HEVCAprilApproved2013ITUAAPAnnouncement>{{cite news |title=AAP Announcement No. 09 |publisher=ITU |url=http://www.itu.int/dms_pubaap/01/T0101000F09.htm |date=2013-04-15 |access-date=2013-04-16}}</ref> The standard was formally published by the ITU-T on June 7, 2013, and by the ISO/IEC on November 25, 2013.{{sfn|ITU|2015}}<ref name="HEVCNovember2013ISOIEC" />

On July 11, 2014, MPEG announced that the 2nd edition of HEVC will contain three recently completed extensions which are the multiview extensions (MV-HEVC), the range extensions (RExt), and the scalability extensions (SHVC).<ref name=MPEGJuly2014PR109>{{cite news |title=Reference model for mixed and augmented reality defines architecture and terminology for MAR applications |publisher=MPEG |url=http://mpeg.chiariglione.org/sites/default/files/files/meetings/docs/w14537_0.docx |format=DOCX |date=2014-07-11 |access-date=2014-07-26}}</ref>

On October 29, 2014, HEVC/H.265 version 2 was approved as an ITU-T standard.<ref name=HEVCOct2014ITURec>{{cite news |title=ITU-T Home: Study groups: ITU-T Recommendations: ITU-T H.265 (V2) (10/2014) |publisher=ITU |url=http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/recommendations/rec.aspx?rec=12296 |date=2014-10-29 |access-date=2014-11-01}}</ref><ref name=HEVCOctoberApproved2014ITUAAPDetails>{{cite news |title=AAP Recommendation: H.265 (V2) |publisher=ITU |url=http://www.itu.int/itu-t/aap/AAPRecDetails.aspx?AAPSeqNo=3035 |date=2014-10-29 |access-date=2014-11-01}}</ref><ref name=HEVCOctoberApproved2014ITUAAPAnnouncement>{{cite news |title=AAP Announcement No. 45 |publisher=ITU |url=https://www.itu.int/dms_pubaap/01/T0101000F45.htm |date=2014-10-31 |access-date=2014-11-01}}</ref> It was then formally published on January 12, 2015.{{sfn|ITU|2015}}

On April 29, 2015, HEVC/H.265 version 3 was approved as an ITU-T standard.<ref name=HEVCApr2015ITURec/><ref name=HEVCAprilApproved2015ITUAAPDetails/><ref name=HEVCAprilApproved2015ITUAAPAnnouncement/>

On June 3, 2016, HEVC/H.265 version 4 was consented in the ITU-T and was not approved during a vote in October 2016.<ref name=HEVCOctoberApproved2016ITUAAPDetails>{{cite news |title=AAP Recommendation: H.265 (V4) |publisher=ITU |url=http://www.itu.int/itu-t/aap/AAPRecDetails.aspx?AAPSeqNo=4631 |date=2016-10-29 |access-date=2016-10-31}}</ref><ref name=HEVCOctoberApproved2016ITUAAPAnnouncement>{{cite news |title=AAP Announcement No. 91 |publisher=ITU |url=https://www.itu.int/dms_pubaap/01/T0101000F91.htm |date=2016-10-31 |access-date=2016-10-31}}</ref>

On December 22, 2016, HEVC/H.265 version 4 was approved as an ITU-T standard.<ref name=HEVCDecemberApproved2016ITUAAPDetails>{{cite news |title=AAP Recommendation: H.265 (V4) |publisher=ITU |url=http://www.itu.int/itu-t/aap/AAPRecDetails.aspx?AAPSeqNo=4631 |date=2016-12-22 |access-date=2017-01-14}}</ref><ref name=HEVCDecemberApproved2016ITUAAPAnnouncement>{{cite news |title=AAP Announcement No. 04 |publisher=ITU |url=https://www.itu.int/dms_pubaap/01/T0101001004.htm |date=2017-01-13 |access-date=2017-01-14}}</ref>

===Patent licensing===
{{main|Company:MPEG LA}}
On September 29, 2014, [[Company:MPEG LA|MPEG LA]] announced their HEVC license which covers the essential patents from 23 companies.<ref name=MPEGLAHEVCSeptember2014Yahoo>{{cite news |title=MPEG LA Offers HEVC Patent Portfolio License |publisher=Yahoo Finance |url=https://finance.yahoo.com/news/mpeg-la-offers-hevc-patent-182200249.html |date=2014-09-29 |access-date=2014-09-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006113009/http://finance.yahoo.com/news/mpeg-la-offers-hevc-patent-182200249.html |archive-date=October 6, 2014 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}</ref> The first 100,000 "devices" (which includes software implementations) are royalty-free, and after that the fee is $0.20 per device up to an annual cap of $25 million.<ref name=MPEGLAHEVCLicensePDFSeptember2014>{{cite news |title=HEVC Patent Portfolio License Briefing |publisher=MPEG LA |url=http://www.mpegla.com/main/programs/HEVC/Documents/HEVCweb.pdf |date=2014-09-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006091331/http://www.mpegla.com/main/programs/HEVC/Documents/HEVCweb.pdf |archive-date=2014-10-06 |url-status=live |access-date=2014-09-29}}</ref> This is significantly more expensive than the fees on AVC, which were $0.10 per device, with the same 100,000 waiver, and an annual cap of $6.5 million. MPEG LA does not charge any fee on the content itself, something they had attempted when initially licensing AVC, but subsequently dropped when content producers refused to pay it.<ref>{{cite web |first=Jan |last=Ozer |title=MPEG LA Announces Proposed HEVC Licensing Terms|url=http://www.streamingmedia.com/Articles/Editorial/Featured-Articles/MPEG-LA-Announces-Proposed-HEVC-Licensing-Terms-94308.aspx |date=2015-01-15}}</ref> The license has been expanded to include the profiles in version 2 of the HEVC standard.<ref name=MPEGLAV2HEVCMarch2015Yahoo>{{cite news |title=MPEG LA Expands HEVC License Coverage |publisher=Yahoo Finance |url=https://finance.yahoo.com/news/mpeg-la-expands-hevc-license-153700468.html |date=2015-03-19 |access-date=2015-03-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402104550/http://finance.yahoo.com/news/mpeg-la-expands-hevc-license-153700468.html |archive-date=April 2, 2015 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}</ref>

When the MPEG LA terms were announced, commenters noted that a number of prominent patent holders were not part of the group. Among these were [[Company:AT&T|AT&T]], [[Software:Microsoft Windows|Microsoft]], [[Company:Nokia|Nokia]], and [[Company:Motorola|Motorola]]. Speculation at the time was that these companies would form their own licensing pool to compete with or add to the MPEG LA pool. Such a group was formally announced on March 26, 2015, as HEVC Advance.<ref name=streaming>{{cite news |first=Jan |last=Ozer |title=New HEVC Patent Pool: What Are the Implications? |url=http://www.streamingmedia.com/Articles/Editorial/Featured-Articles/New-HEVC-Patent-Pool-What-Are-the-Implications-103042.aspx |date=1 April 2015}}</ref> The terms, covering 500 essential patents, were announced on July 22, 2015, with rates that depend on the country of sale, type of device, HEVC profile, HEVC extensions, and HEVC optional features. Unlike the MPEG LA terms, HEVC Advance reintroduced license fees on content encoded with HEVC, through a revenue sharing fee.<ref name=HEVCAdvanceRoyaltyPDFJuly2015/>

The initial HEVC Advance license had a maximum royalty rate of US$2.60 per device for Region 1 countries and a content royalty rate of 0.5% of the revenue generated from HEVC video services. Region 1 countries in the HEVC Advance license include the United States, Canada, European Union, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, and others. Region 2 countries are countries not listed in the Region 1 country list. The HEVC Advance license had a maximum royalty rate of US$1.30 per device for Region 2 countries. Unlike MPEG LA, there was no annual cap. On top of this, HEVC Advance also charged a royalty rate of 0.5% of the revenue generated from video services encoding content in HEVC.<ref name=HEVCAdvanceRoyaltyPDFJuly2015>{{cite news |title=Royalty Rates Summary |publisher=HEVC Advance |url=http://hevcadvance.com/pdf/RoyaltyRatesSummary.pdf |date=2015-07-22 |access-date=2015-07-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150723075148/http://hevcadvance.com/pdf/RoyaltyRatesSummary.pdf |archive-date=July 23, 2015 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}</ref>

When they were announced, there was considerable backlash from industry observers about the "unreasonable and greedy" fees on devices, which were about seven times that of the MPEG LA's fees. Added together, a device would require licenses costing $2.80, twenty-eight times as expensive as AVC, as well as license fees on the content. This led to calls for "content owners [to] band together and agree not to license from HEVC Advance".<ref name=PatentPoolJuly2015HuffingtonPost>{{cite news |title=New Patent Pool Wants 0.5% Of Gross Revenue From Apple, Facebook & Others Over Higher Quality Video |author=Dan Rayburn |work=The Huffington Post |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dan-rayburn/new-patent-pool-wants-05-_b_7851618.html |date=2015-07-23 |access-date=2015-07-23}}</ref> Others argued the rates might cause companies to switch to competing standards such as [[Daala]] and [[VP9]].<ref name=PatentGroupJuly2015Arstechnica>{{cite news |title=New patent group threatens to derail 4K HEVC video streaming |author=Peter Bright |publisher=[[Ars Technica]] |url=https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/07/new-patent-group-threatens-to-derail-4k-hevc-video-streaming/ |date=2015-07-23 |access-date=2015-07-23}}</ref>

On December 18, 2015, HEVC Advance announced changes in the royalty rates. The changes include a reduction in the maximum royalty rate for Region 1 countries to US$2.03 per device, the creation of annual royalty caps, and a waiving of royalties on content that is free to end users. The annual royalty caps for a company is US$40 million for devices, US$5 million for content, and US$2 million for optional features.<ref name=HEVCAdvanceRoyaltyPDFDecember2015>{{cite news |title=Royalty Rates Summary |publisher=HEVC Advance |url=http://hevcadvance.com/pdf/RoyaltyRatesSummary.pdf |date=2015-12-18 |access-date=2015-12-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150723075148/http://hevcadvance.com/pdf/RoyaltyRatesSummary.pdf |archive-date=July 23, 2015 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}</ref>

On February 3, 2016, [[Company:Technicolor SA|Technicolor SA]] announced that they had withdrawn from the HEVC Advance [[Social:Patent pool|patent pool]]<ref name=TechnicolorHEVCPatentPoolFebruary2016GlobeNewswire>{{cite news |title=Technicolor withdraws from the HEVC Advance pool to enable direct licensing of its HEVC IP portfolio |author=Dan Rayburn |publisher=GlobeNewswire |url=http://globenewswire.com/news-release/2016/02/03/807411/10159766/en/TECHNICOLOR-TECHNICOLOR-WITHDRAWS-FROM-THE-HEVC-ADVANCE-POOL-TO-ENABLE-DIRECT-LICENSING-OF-ITS-HEVC-IP-PORTFOLIO.html |date=2016-02-03 |access-date=2016-02-04}}</ref> and would be directly licensing their HEVC patents.<ref name="why_technicolor_left_pool">{{cite web|title=Technicolor CIPO explains why the company left the HEVC Advance patent pool|author=Joff Wild|url=http://www.iam-media.com/blog/Detail.aspx?g=353c0dad-4d43-46d9-8789-2e4605bccfee|date=2016-05-16|access-date=2016-05-18}}</ref> HEVC Advance previously listed 12 patents from Technicolor.<ref>{{cite news |title=HEVC Advance Recognizes Technicolor's Participation |url=https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/hevc-advance-recognizes-technicolors-participation-300215039.html |access-date=14 July 2019 |work=PR Newswire |publisher=HEVC Advance |date=February 3, 2016}}</ref> Technicolor announced that they had rejoined on October 22, 2019.<ref>{{Cite press release|url=https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/technicolor-joins-the-hevc-advance-patent-pool-300941668.html|title=Technicolor Joins the HEVC Advance Patent Pool|last=Advance|first=HEVC|website=www.prnewswire.com|access-date=2019-12-08}}</ref>

On November 22, 2016, HEVC Advance announced a major initiative, revising their policy to allow software implementations of HEVC to be distributed directly to consumer mobile devices and personal computers royalty free, without requiring a patent license.<ref>{{cite press release|url=http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/hevc-advance-announces-royalty-free-hevc-software-300367212.html|title=HEVC Advance Announces 'Royalty Free' HEVC Software|first=HEVC|last=Advance|website=www.prnewswire.com}}</ref>

On March 31, 2017, Velos Media announced their HEVC license which covers the essential patents from Ericsson, Panasonic, Qualcomm Incorporated, Sharp, and Sony.<ref name=VelosHEVCMarch2017Yahoo>{{cite news |title=Velos Media Launches New Licensing Platform to Drive Adoption of Latest Video Technologies, Improve Consumer Viewing Experience |publisher=Yahoo Finance |url=https://finance.yahoo.com/news/velos-media-launches-licensing-platform-130000282.html |date=2017-03-31 |access-date=2017-04-04}}</ref>

{{As of|2019|04|post=,}} the MPEG LA HEVC patent list is 164 pages long.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mpegla.com/main/programs/HEVC/Pages/PatentList.aspx |title=Current Patents Covered by the HEVC Patent Portfolio License |publisher=[[Company:MPEG LA|MPEG LA]] |access-date=November 20, 2018 |archive-date=January 14, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190114172310/http://www.mpegla.com/main/programs/HEVC/Pages/PatentList.aspx |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mpegla.com/main/programs/HEVC/Documents/hevc-att1.pdf |title=HEVC Attachment 1 |publisher=[[Company:MPEG LA|MPEG LA]] |date=2019-04-17 |access-date=2019-04-28 |archive-date=December 24, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181224215528/http://www.mpegla.com/main/programs/HEVC/Documents/hevc-att1.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

====Patent holders====
The following organizations currently hold the most active patents in the HEVC patent pools listed by [[Company:MPEG LA|MPEG LA]] and HEVC Advance:

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Organization
! Active<br>patents
! class="unsortable" | {{Abbr|Ref|Reference(s)}}
|-
| [[Company:Samsung Electronics|Samsung Electronics]]
| 4249
| rowspan="2" | <ref name="hevcadvance">{{cite web |url=https://www.hevcadvance.com/licensors/ |title=HEVC Advance Patent List |website=HEVC Advance |access-date=6 July 2019 |archive-date=August 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200824174620/https://www.hevcadvance.com/licensors/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>
|-
| [[Company:General Electric|General Electric]] (GE)
| 1127
|-
| M&K Holdings Inc
| {{0}}907
| rowspan="3" | <ref name="mpegla">{{cite web |title=HEVC Patent List |url=https://www.mpegla.com/wp-content/uploads/hevc-att1.pdf |website=[[Company:MPEG LA|MPEG LA]] |access-date=6 July 2019 |archive-date=January 17, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240117071154/https://www.mpegla.com/wp-content/uploads/hevc-att1.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>
|-
| [[Company:Nippon Telegraph and Telephone|Nippon Telegraph and Telephone]] (including NTT Docomo)
| {{0}}{{#expr:16+862}}
|-
| JVC Kenwood
| {{0}}628
|-
| [[Company:Dolby|Dolby Laboratories]]
| {{0}}624
| <ref name="hevcadvance" />
|-
| Infobridge Pte. Ltd.
| {{0}}572
| <ref name="mpegla"/>
|-
| [[Company:Mitsubishi Electric|Mitsubishi Electric]]
| {{0}}401
| <ref name="hevcadvance" />
|-
| [[Company:SK Telecom|SK Telecom]] (including SK Planet)
| {{0}}{{#expr:377+3}}
| <ref name="mpegla"/>
|-
| [[Company:MediaTek|MediaTek]] (through HFI Inc.)
| {{0}}337
| rowspan="2" | <ref name="hevcadvance" />
|-
| Sejong University
| {{0}}330
|-
| [[Company:KT Corporation|KT Corp]]
| {{0}}289
| <ref name="mpegla"/>
|-
| [[Company:Philips|Philips]]
| {{0}}230
| rowspan="2" | <ref name="hevcadvance" />
|-
| Godo Kaisha IP Bridge
| {{0}}219
|-
| [[Company:NEC|NEC]] Corporation
| {{0}}219
| rowspan="6" | <ref name="mpegla" />
|-
| Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) of Korea
| {{0}}208
|-
| [[Company:Canon Inc.|Canon Inc.]]
| {{0}}180
|-
| Tagivan II
| {{0}}162
|-
| [[Company:Fujitsu|Fujitsu]]
| {{0}}144
|-
| Kyung Hee University
| {{0}}{{#expr:80+16+7}}
|}

===Versions===
Versions of the HEVC/H.265 standard using the ITU-T approval dates.{{sfn|ITU|2015}}
* Version 1: (April 13, 2013) First approved version of the HEVC/H.265 standard containing Main, Main10, and Main Still Picture profiles.<ref name=HEVCApr2013ITURec/><ref name=HEVCAprilApproved2013ITUAAPDetails/><ref name=HEVCAprilApproved2013ITUAAPAnnouncement/>
* Version 2: (October 29, 2014) Second approved version of the HEVC/H.265 standard which adds 21 range extensions profiles, two scalable extensions profiles, and one multi-view extensions profile.<ref name=HEVCOct2014ITURec/><ref name=HEVCOctoberApproved2014ITUAAPDetails/><ref name=HEVCOctoberApproved2014ITUAAPAnnouncement/>
* Version 3: (April 29, 2015) Third approved version of the HEVC/H.265 standard which adds the 3D Main profile.<ref name=HEVCApr2015ITURec>{{cite news |title=ITU-T Home: Study groups: ITU-T Recommendations: ITU-T H.265 (04/2015) |publisher=ITU |url=http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/recommendations/rec.aspx?rec=12455 |date=2015-04-29 |access-date=2015-06-26}}</ref><ref name=HEVCAprilApproved2015ITUAAPDetails>{{cite news |title=AAP Recommendation: H.265 (V3) |publisher=ITU |url=http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/aap/AAPRecDetails.aspx?AAPSeqNo=3222 |date=2015-04-29 |access-date=2015-06-26}}</ref><ref name=HEVCAprilApproved2015ITUAAPAnnouncement>{{cite news |title=AAP Announcement No. 56 |publisher=ITU |url=https://www.itu.int/dms_pubaap/01/T0101000F56.htm |date=2015-04-30 |access-date=2015-06-26}}</ref>
* Version 4: (December 22, 2016) Fourth approved version of the HEVC/H.265 standard which adds seven screen content coding extensions profiles, three high throughput extensions profiles, and four scalable extensions profiles.<ref name=HEVCDec2016ITURec>{{cite news |title=ITU-T Home: Study groups: ITU-T Recommendations: ITU-T H.265 (12/2016) |publisher=ITU |url=https://www.itu.int/ITU-T/recommendations/rec.aspx?rec=12905 |date=2016-12-22 |access-date=2017-05-11}}</ref><ref name=HEVCDecemberApproved2016ITUAAPDetails/><ref name=HEVCDecemberApproved2016ITUAAPAnnouncement/>
* Version 5: (February 13, 2018) Fifth approved version of the HEVC/H.265 standard which adds additional SEI messages that include omnidirectional video SEI messages, a Monochrome 10 profile, a Main 10 Still Picture profile, and corrections to various minor defects in the prior content of the Specification.<ref name=H265DeclaredPatents>{{cite news |title=ITU-T Rec. H.265 declared patent(s) |publisher=ITU |url=https://www.itu.int/itu-t/recommendations/related_ps.aspx?id_prod=11885 |access-date=2021-08-05}}</ref><ref name=H265V5>{{cite news |title=ITU-T H.265 (V5) (02/2018) |publisher=ITU |url=https://www.itu.int/ITU-T/recommendations/rec.aspx?rec=13433&lang=en |date=2018-02-13 |access-date=2021-08-05}}</ref>
* Version 6: (June 29, 2019) Sixth approved version of the HEVC/H.265 standard which adds additional SEI messages that include SEI manifest and SEI prefix messages, and corrections to various minor defects in the prior content of the Specification.<ref name=H265DeclaredPatents/><ref name=H265V6>{{cite news |title=ITU-T H.265 (V6) (06/2019) |publisher=ITU |url=https://www.itu.int/ITU-T/recommendations/rec.aspx?rec=13904&lang=en |date=2019-06-29 |access-date=2021-08-05}}</ref>
* Version 7: (November 29, 2019) Seventh approved version of the HEVC/H.265 standard which adds additional SEI messages for fisheye video information and annotated regions, and also includes corrections to various minor defects in the prior content of the Specification.<ref name=H265DeclaredPatents/><ref name=H265V7>{{cite news |title=ITU-T H.265 (V7) (11/2019) |publisher=ITU |url=https://www.itu.int/ITU-T/recommendations/rec.aspx?rec=14107&lang=en |date=2019-11-29 |access-date=2021-08-05}}</ref>
* Version 8: on 22 August 2021 Version 8 was approved.<ref>{{Cite news |title=itu |url=https://www.itu.int/ITU-T/recommendations/rec.aspx?rec=14660}}</ref>
* Version 9: on 13 September 2023 Version 9 was approved.<ref>{{Cite news |title=itu |url=https://www.itu.int/ITU-T/recommendations/rec.aspx?rec=15647}}</ref>
* Version 10: on 29 July 2024 Version 10 was approved, it is the latest version.<ref>{{Cite web |title=itu |url=https://www.itu.int/ITU-T/recommendations/rec.aspx?rec=15936&lang=en}}</ref>

==Implementations and products==
{{Main|High Efficiency Video Coding implementations and products}}

===2012===
On February 29, 2012, at the 2012 Mobile World Congress, [[Company:Qualcomm|Qualcomm]] demonstrated a HEVC decoder running on an Android tablet, with a [[Engineering:Qualcomm Snapdragon|Qualcomm Snapdragon]] S4 dual-core processor running at 1.5&nbsp;GHz, showing H.264/MPEG-4 AVC and HEVC versions of the same video content playing side by side. In this demonstration, HEVC reportedly showed almost a 50% bit rate reduction compared with H.264/MPEG-4 AVC.<ref name=HEVCQualcommMWC>{{cite news |title=Qualcomm shows horsepower of next-gen H.265 video |publisher=CNET |url=http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13970_7-57387626-78/qualcomm-shows-horsepower-of-next-gen-h.265-video/ |date=2012-02-29 |access-date=2012-10-12}}</ref>

===2013===
On February 11, 2013, researchers from MIT demonstrated the world's first published HEVC ASIC decoder at the International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) 2013.<ref name=MITHEVCFebruary2013>{{cite news |title=MIT researchers build Quad HD TV chip |publisher=MIT news |url=http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2013/mit-researchers-build-quad-hd-tv-chip-0220.html |date=2013-02-20 |access-date=2013-03-15}}</ref> Their chip was capable of decoding a 3840×2160p at 30 fps video stream in real time, consuming under 0.1&nbsp;W of power.<ref name=EETimesMITHEVCFebruary2013>{{cite news |title=A low power HEVC decoder |publisher=EE Times |url=http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1263075&page_number=3 |date=2013-02-22 |access-date=2013-03-15}}</ref><ref name="TIKEKAR2014">{{cite journal |author= M. Tikekar | author2 =C.-T. Huang |author3= C. Juvekar |author4= V. Sze|author4-link=Vivienne Sze|author5 = A. Chandrakasan |year=2014 |title=A 249 MPixel/s HEVC Video-Decoder Chip for 4K Ultra HD Applications |journal= IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits|volume=49 |issue=1 |pages=61–72 |url=http://www.rle.mit.edu/eems/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/tikekar_jssc_2014.pdf |doi=10.1109/jssc.2013.2284362| bibcode =2014IJSSC..49...61T | hdl =1721.1/93876 | s2cid =1632228 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

On April 3, 2013, Ateme announced the availability of the first open source implementation of a HEVC software player based on the OpenHEVC decoder and [[Software:GPAC Project on Advanced Content|GPAC]] video player which are both licensed under [[Software:GNU Lesser General Public License|LGPL]]. The OpenHEVC decoder supports the Main profile of HEVC and can decode 1080p at 30 fps video using a single core CPU.<ref name=OpenHEVCApril2013Reuters/> A live transcoder that supports HEVC and used in combination with the GPAC video player was shown at the ATEME booth at the NAB Show in April 2013.<ref name=OpenHEVCApril2013Reuters>{{cite news |title=ATEME Enables Industry First Open Source Implementation Supporting HEVC |publisher=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/03/ateme-opensource-hevc-idUSnPnAQ87878+160+PRN20130403 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140420004956/http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/03/ateme-opensource-hevc-idUSnPnAQ87878+160+PRN20130403 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2014-04-20 |date=2013-04-03 |access-date=2013-04-04}}</ref><ref name=OpenHEVCApril2013PRNewswire>{{cite news |title=ATEME Enables Industry First Open Source Implementation Supporting HEVC |publisher=PR Newswire |url=http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ateme-enables-industry-first-open-source-implementation-supporting-hevc-201219821.html |date=2013-04-03 |access-date=2013-04-04}}</ref>

On July 23, 2013, [[Company:MulticoreWare|MulticoreWare]] announced, and made the [[Source code|source code]] available for the [[Software:X265|x265]] HEVC Encoder Library under the [[Software:GNU General Public License#Version 2|GPL v2 license]].<ref name=x265July2013Extreme>{{cite news |title=H.265 benchmarked: Does the next-generation video codec live up to expectations? |author=Joel Hruska |publisher=[[ExtremeTech]] |url=http://www.extremetech.com/computing/162027-h-265-benchmarked-does-the-next-generation-video-codec-live-up-to-expectations |date=2013-07-23 |access-date=2013-07-23}}</ref><ref name=x265July2013Tom>{{cite news |title=Next-Gen Video Encoding: x265 Tackles HEVC/H.265 |author=Chris Angelini |publisher=[[Tom's Hardware]] |url=http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/x265-hevc-encoder,3565.html |date=2013-07-23 |access-date=2013-07-23}}</ref>

On August 8, 2013, [[Company:Nippon Telegraph and Telephone|Nippon Telegraph and Telephone]] announced the release of their HEVC-1000 SDK software encoder which supports the Main 10 profile, resolutions up to 7680×4320, and frame rates up to 120 fps.<ref name=NTTAugust2013NTT>{{cite news |title=NTT Develops World's Highest-level Compression Software Encoding Engine Fully Compliant with Next-gen "HEVC/H.265" Video Coding Standard, Rolls Out "HEVC-1000 SDK" Codec Development Kit |publisher=[[Company:Nippon Telegraph and Telephone|Nippon Telegraph and Telephone]] |url=http://www.ntt.co.jp/news2013/1308e/130808a.html |date=2013-08-08 |access-date=2013-08-17 |archive-date=February 25, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225021320/https://www.ntt.co.jp/news2013/1308e/130808a.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

On November 14, 2013, DivX developers released information on HEVC decoding performance using an Intel i7 CPU at 3.5&nbsp;GHz with 4 cores and 8 threads.<ref name=DecodingHEVCNovember2013Divx>{{cite news |title=DivX HEVC Encoder and Decoder Performance |publisher=DivX |url=http://labs.divx.com/node/127935 |date=2013-11-14 |access-date=2013-11-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131210144143/http://labs.divx.com/node/127935 |archive-date=2013-12-10 }}</ref> The DivX 10.1 Beta decoder was capable of 210.9 fps at 720p, 101.5 fps at 1080p, and 29.6 fps at 4K.<ref name=DecodingHEVCNovember2013Divx/>

On December 18, 2013, [[Company:ViXS Systems|ViXS Systems]] announced shipments of their XCode (not to be confused with [[Software:Xcode|Apple's Xcode]] [[Integrated development environment|IDE]] for MacOS) 6400 SoC which was the first SoC to support the Main 10 profile of HEVC.<ref name=VixsHEVCDecember2013Shipments>{{cite news |title=ViXS Begins Shipments of Industry's First SoC to Support Ultra HD 4K and 10-bit HEVC |publisher=Yahoo Finance |url=https://finance.yahoo.com/news/vixs-begins-shipments-industrys-first-220000729.html |date=2013-12-18 |access-date=2014-01-07}}</ref>

===2014===
On April 5, 2014, at the NAB show, eBrisk Video, Inc. and Altera Corporation demonstrated an FPGA-accelerated HEVC Main10 encoder that encoded 4Kp60/10-bit video in real-time, using a dual-Xeon E5-2697-v2 platform.<ref name=eBriskHEVC4K60April2014>{{cite news |title=Harmonic Chooses Altera Solution for H.265 4Kp60 Video Encoding |publisher=NewsRoom Altera |url=http://newsroom.altera.com/press-releases/nr-harmonic-nab.htm |date=2014-04-07 |access-date=2015-03-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402160304/http://newsroom.altera.com/press-releases/nr-harmonic-nab.htm |archive-date=2015-04-02 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=4K60RealTime>{{cite news |title=Real-time 4K60fps HEVC Encoder |publisher=Youtube|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNIiLBBKH7s | archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211107/VNIiLBBKH7s| archive-date=2021-11-07 | url-status=live|date=2014-12-17 |access-date=2015-03-24}} </ref>

On August 13, 2014, [[Company:Ittiam Systems|Ittiam Systems]] announced availability of its third generation H.265/HEVC codec with 4:2:2 12-bit support.<ref name=IttiamHEVCAugust2014>{{cite news |title=Ittiam Systems announces availability of its third generation H.265/HEVC codec with 422 12-bit support |publisher=[[Company:Ittiam Systems|Ittiam Systems]] |url=http://www.ittiam.com/News/en/press-releases/2014/158-Ittiam-Systems-announces-availability-of-its-third-generation-H265HEVC-codec-with-422-12-bit-support.aspx |date=August 8, 2014 |access-date=November 1, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141101215501/http://www.ittiam.com/News/en/press-releases/2014/158-Ittiam-Systems-announces-availability-of-its-third-generation-H265HEVC-codec-with-422-12-bit-support.aspx |archive-date=November 1, 2014 |df=mdy-all }}</ref>

On September 5, 2014, the [[Organization:Blu-ray Disc Association|Blu-ray Disc Association]] announced that the 4K Blu-ray Disc specification would support HEVC-encoded 4K video at 60 fps, the [[Rec. 2020]] color space, [[High-dynamic-range imaging|high dynamic range]] ([[Perceptual quantizer|PQ]] and [[Engineering:Hybrid log–gamma|HLG]]), and 10-bit [[Engineering:Color depth|color depth]].<ref name="CNET4KBlu-raySeptember2014">{{cite news |title=4K Blu-ray discs arriving in 2015 to fight streaming media |publisher=CNET |url=http://www.cnet.com/news/4k-blu-ray-discs-arriving-in-2015-to-fight-streaming-media/ |date=September 5, 2014 |access-date=September 6, 2014}}</ref><ref name="HMM4KBlu-raySeptember2014">{{cite news |title=BDA Updates Blu-ray 4K Timeline |publisher=Home Media Magazine |url=http://www.homemediamagazine.com/high-def/bda-updates-blu-ray-4k-timeline-34108 |date=September 5, 2014 |access-date=September 6, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140906223337/http://www.homemediamagazine.com/high-def/bda-updates-blu-ray-4k-timeline-34108 |archive-date=September 6, 2014 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}</ref> 4K Blu-ray Discs have a data rate of at least 50&nbsp;Mbit/s and disc capacity up to 100&nbsp;GB.<ref name="CNET4KBlu-raySeptember2014"/><ref name="HMM4KBlu-raySeptember2014"/> 4K Blu-ray Discs and players became available for purchase in 2015 or 2016.<ref name="CNET4KBlu-raySeptember2014"/><ref name="HMM4KBlu-raySeptember2014"/>

On September 9, 2014, [[Company:Apple Inc.|Apple]] announced the [[Engineering:IPhone 6|iPhone 6]] and [[Engineering:IPhone 6 Plus|iPhone 6 Plus]] which support HEVC/H.265 for FaceTime over cellular.<ref name="AppleIPhone6HEVCSeptember2014">{{cite news |title=Apple's iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus use H.265 codec for FaceTime over cellular |publisher=AppleInsider |author=Mikey Campbell |url=http://appleinsider.com/articles/14/09/12/apples-iphone-6-iphone-6-plus-use-h265-codec-for-facetime-over-cellular |date=September 12, 2014 |access-date=September 13, 2014}}</ref>

On September 18, 2014, Nvidia released the GeForce GTX 980 (GM204) and GTX 970 (GM204), which includes [[Nvidia NVENC]], the world's first HEVC hardware encoder in a discrete graphics card.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.anandtech.com/show/8526/nvidia-geforce-gtx-980-review/5|archive-url=https://archive.today/20140919053528/http://www.anandtech.com/show/8526/nvidia-geforce-gtx-980-review/5|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 19, 2014|title=The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Review|author=Ryan Smith|date=2014-09-18|publisher=[[AnandTech]]|access-date=2015-05-03}}</ref>

On October 31, 2014, [[Company:Microsoft|Microsoft]] confirmed that [[Software:Windows 10|Windows 10]] will support HEVC [[Out of the box (feature)|out of the box]], according to a statement from Gabriel Aul, the leader of Microsoft Operating Systems Group's Data and Fundamentals Team.<ref name=TwitterHEVCNovember2014W10>{{cite news |title=HEVC also supported in-box. |author=Gabriel Aul |publisher=[[Company:Twitter|Twitter]] |url=https://twitter.com/GabeAul/status/528401061779107841 |date=October 31, 2014 |access-date=November 3, 2014}}</ref><ref name=WCHEVCNovember2014W10>{{cite news |title=Microsoft: Windows 10 will support the HEVC video compression standard |author=John Callaham |publisher=Windows Central |url=http://www.windowscentral.com/microsoft-windows-10-will-support-hevc-video-standard |date=November 1, 2014 |access-date=November 3, 2014}}</ref> Windows 10 Technical Preview Build 9860 added platform level support for HEVC and [[Matroska]].<ref name=SoftpediaHEVCNovember2014W10>{{cite news |title=Microsoft Confirms MKV File Support in Windows 10 |author=Bogdan Popa |publisher=[[Softpedia]] |url=http://news.softpedia.com/news/Microsoft-Confirms-MKV-File-Support-in-Windows-10-463791.shtml |date=November 3, 2014 |access-date=November 15, 2014}}</ref><ref name=MicrosoftHEVCNovember2014W10>{{cite news |title=New build available to the Windows Insider Program |author=Gabe Aul |publisher=[[Company:Microsoft|Microsoft]] |url=http://blogs.windows.com/bloggingwindows/2014/11/12/new-build-available-to-the-windows-insider-program/ |date=November 12, 2014 |access-date=November 15, 2014}}</ref>

On November 3, 2014, [[Software:Android Lollipop|Android Lollipop]] was released with [[Out of the box (feature)|out of the box]] support for HEVC using [[Company:Ittiam Systems|Ittiam Systems]]' software.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.ittiam.com/News/en/Press-releases/2014/162-Ittiam%E2%80%99s-H265-Software-Solution-Enables-HEVC-Support-in-Android%E2%80%99s-Lollipop-Release.aspx |title=Ittiam &#124; Press Releases &#124; 2014 &#124; Ittiam's H.265 Software Solution Enables HEVC Support in Android's Lollipop Release |access-date=December 8, 2014 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20141208125953/http://www.ittiam.com/News/en/Press-releases/2014/162-Ittiam%E2%80%99s-H265-Software-Solution-Enables-HEVC-Support-in-Android%E2%80%99s-Lollipop-Release.aspx |archive-date=December 8, 2014 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}</ref>

===2015===
On January 5, 2015, ViXS Systems announced the XCode 6800 which is the first SoC to support the Main 12 profile of HEVC.<ref name=Vixs12bitHEVCJanuary2015Yahoo>{{cite news |title=ViXS Announces World's First SoC With High Dynamic Range and 4K Ultra HD 12-Bit Color |publisher=Yahoo Finance |url=https://finance.yahoo.com/news/vixs-announces-worlds-first-soc-140000076.html |date=2015-01-05 |access-date=2015-01-10}}</ref>

On January 5, 2015, Nvidia officially announced the Tegra X1 SoC with full fixed-function HEVC hardware decoding.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nvidia.com/object/tegra-x1-processor.html|title=Introducing The Tegra X1 Super Chip from NVIDIA|website=www.nvidia.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.anandtech.com/show/8811/nvidia-tegra-x1-preview|archive-url=https://archive.today/20150105063519/http://www.anandtech.com/show/8811/nvidia-tegra-x1-preview|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 5, 2015|title=NVIDIA Tegra X1 Preview & Architecture Analysis|first=Joshua Ho, Ryan|last=Smith}}</ref>

On January 22, 2015, [[Company:Nvidia|Nvidia]] released the GeForce GTX 960 (GM206), which includes the world's first full fixed function HEVC Main/Main10 hardware decoder in a discrete graphics card.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.anandtech.com/show/8923/nvidia-launches-geforce-gtx-960|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150124021316/http://www.anandtech.com/show/8923/nvidia-launches-geforce-gtx-960|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 24, 2015|title=NVIDIA Launches GeForce GTX 960|first=Ryan|last=Smith}}</ref>

On February 23, 2015, [[Company:Advanced Micro Devices|Advanced Micro Devices]] (AMD) announced that their UVD ASIC to be found in the [[Engineering:Excavator (microarchitecture)|Carrizo]] APUs would be the first x86 based CPUs to have a HEVC hardware decoder.<ref name=AMDHEVCFebruary2015EETimes>{{cite news |title=AMD Describes Notebook Processor |publisher=EE Times |author=Rick Merritt |url=http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1325722 |date=2015-01-05 |access-date=2015-01-10}}</ref>

On February 27, 2015, [[Software:VLC media player|VLC media player]] version 2.2.0 was released with robust support of HEVC playback. The corresponding versions on Android and iOS are also able to play HEVC.

On March 31, 2015, VITEC announced the MGW Ace which was the first 100% hardware-based portable HEVC encoder that provides mobile HEVC encoding.<ref>{{Cite news|title = VITEC Unveils World's First Hardware-Based Portable HEVC Encoding and Streaming Appliance|url = https://www.reuters.com/article/ca-vitec-idUSnBw315023a+100+BSW20150331|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160501225747/http://www.reuters.com/article/ca-vitec-idUSnBw315023a+100+BSW20150331|url-status = dead|archive-date = 2016-05-01|newspaper = Reuters|date = 2015-03-31|access-date = 2016-02-01}}</ref>

On August 5, 2015, Intel launched [[Skylake (microarchitecture)|Skylake]] products with full fixed function Main/8-bit decoding/encoding and hybrid/partial Main10/10-bit decoding.

On September 9, 2015 [[Company:Apple Inc.|Apple]] announced the [[Engineering:Apple A9|Apple A9]] chip, first used in the [[Engineering:IPhone 6S|iPhone 6S]], its first processor with a hardware HEVC decoder supporting Main 8 and 10. This feature would not be unlocked until the release of [[Software:IOS 11|iOS 11]] in 2017.<ref name="flatpanelshd.com">[http://www.flatpanelshd.com/news.php?subaction=showfull&id=1496905696 Apple has chosen HEVC as its next-generation video codec]. 8 June 2017.</ref>

===2016===
On April 11, 2016, full HEVC (H.265) support was announced in the newest [[Software:MythTV|MythTV]] version (0.28).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Release_Notes_-_0.28|title=Release Notes – 0.28|access-date=23 April 2016 |date=11 April 2016}}</ref>

On August 30, 2016, [[Company:Intel|Intel]] officially announced 7th generation Core CPUs ([[Kaby Lake]]) products with full fixed function HEVC Main10 hardware decoding support.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.anandtech.com/show/10610/intel-announces-7th-gen-kaby-lake-14nm-plus-six-notebook-skus-desktop-coming-in-january/3|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160902164800/http://www.anandtech.com/show/10610/intel-announces-7th-gen-kaby-lake-14nm-plus-six-notebook-skus-desktop-coming-in-january/3|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 2, 2016|title=Intel Announces 7th Gen Kaby Lake: 14nm PLUS, Six Notebook SKUs, Desktop coming in January|first=Ian Cutress, Ganesh T|last=S}}</ref>

On September 7, 2016 [[Company:Apple Inc.|Apple]] announced the [[Engineering:Apple A10|Apple A10]] chip, first used in the [[Engineering:IPhone 7|iPhone 7]], which included a hardware HEVC encoder supporting Main 8 and 10. This feature would not be unlocked until the release of [[Software:IOS 11|iOS 11]] in 2017.<ref name="flatpanelshd.com"/>

On October 25, 2016, [[Company:Nvidia|Nvidia]] released the GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (GP107) and GeForce GTX 1050 (GP107), which includes full fixed function HEVC Main10/Main12 hardware encoder.

===2017===

On June 5, 2017, [[Company:Apple Inc.|Apple]] announced HEVC H.265 support in [[Software:MacOS High Sierra|macOS High Sierra]], [[Software:IOS 11|iOS 11]], [[Software:TvOS|tvOS]],<ref name="developer.apple.com">{{cite web|url=https://developer.apple.com/library/content/releasenotes/General/WhatsNewinTVOS/Articles/tvOS_11_0.html|title=tvOS 11.0|website=Apple Developer}}</ref> [[HTTP Live Streaming]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://developer.apple.com/library/content/documentation/General/Reference/HLSAuthoringSpec/Requirements.html|title=HLS Authoring Specification for Apple Devices|website=Apple Developer}}</ref> and [[Software:Safari (web browser)|Safari]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2017/06/macos-high-sierra-delivers-advanced-technologies-for-storage-video-and-graphics/|title=macOS High Sierra advances storage, video and graphics|website=Apple Newsroom}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/apple-answers-iphone-storage-woes-with-smaller-photos-videos/|title=Apple answers iPhone storage woes with smaller photos, videos|first=Sean|last=Hollister|website=CNET}}</ref>

On June 25, 2017, [[Company:Microsoft|Microsoft]] released a free HEVC app extension for [[Software:Windows 10|Windows 10]], enabling some Windows 10 devices with HEVC decoding hardware to play video using the HEVC format inside any app.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.windowslatest.com/2017/06/25/now-can-play-hevc-files-video-player-app-using-microsofts-extension/|title=Now you can play HEVC files on any video player app using Microsoft's Extension|first=Rakesh|last=Singh|date=June 25, 2017}}</ref>

On September 19, 2017, Apple released [[Software:IOS 11|iOS 11]] and tvOS 11 with HEVC encoding & decoding support.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2017/09/ios-11-available-tomorrow/|title=iOS 11 is available tomorrow|website=Apple Newsroom}}</ref><ref name="developer.apple.com"/>

On September 25, 2017, Apple released [[Software:MacOS High Sierra|macOS High Sierra]] with HEVC encoding & decoding support.

On September 28, 2017, [[Company:GoPro|GoPro]] released the Hero6 Black action camera, with 4K60P HEVC video encoding.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://petapixel.com/2017/09/28/gopro-unveils-hero6-black-4k-60fps-video-new-gp1-chip/|title=GoPro Unveils HERO6 Black with 4K 60fps Video and New GP1 Chip|date=September 28, 2017}}</ref>

On October 17, 2017, [[Company:Microsoft|Microsoft]] removed HEVC decoding support from Windows 10 with the Version 1709 Fall Creators Update, making HEVC available instead as a separate, paid download from the Microsoft Store.<ref name="microsoft-charging-hevc-extensions">{{cite news|url=https://www.ghacks.net/2017/12/06/windows-10-fall-creators-update/|title=Microsoft removes HEVC codec in Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, adds it to Store|newspaper=Ghacks Technology News |date=2017-12-06}}</ref>
 
On November 2, 2017, [[Company:Nvidia|Nvidia]] released the GeForce GTX 1070 Ti (GP104), which includes full fixed function HEVC Main10/Main12 hardware decoder.

===2018===

On September 20, 2018, [[Company:Nvidia|Nvidia]] released the GeForce RTX 2080 (TU104), which includes full fixed function HEVC Main 4:4:4 12 hardware decoder.

===2022===

On October 25, 2022, [[Software:Google Chrome|Chrome]] released version 107, which starts supporting HEVC hardware decoding for all platforms "out of the box", if the hardware is supported.

===Browser support===

HEVC is implemented in these web browsers:
* Android browser (since version 5 from November 2014)<ref name="androidformats">{{cite web|title=Android Core media format and codec support.|url=http://developer.android.com/guide/appendix/media-formats.html|access-date=18 December 2015}}</ref>
* Firefox for Android (since version 137.0 from April 1, 2025)<ref name="androidfirefox">{{cite web| title=Firefox for Android|url=https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/android/137.0/releasenotes/|access-date=3 April 2025}}</ref>
* [[Software:Safari (web browser)|Safari]] (since version 11 from September 2017)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://bitmovin.com/wwdc17-hevc-hls-apple-just-announced-feature-support-box/|title=WWDC17 – HEVC with HLS – Apple just announced a feature that we support out of the box |author=Martin Smole |date=6 June 2017 |website=Bitmovin }}</ref>
* [[Software:Microsoft Edge|Edge]] (since version 77 from July 2017, supported on Windows 10 1709+ for devices with supported hardware when HEVC video extensions is installed, since version 107 from October 2022, supported on macOS 11+, Android 5.0+)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/discussions/updated-dev-channel-build-77-0-211-3-is-live/m-p/745801#M6548|title=*Updated* Dev channel build 77.0.211.3 is live|date=9 July 2017|website=techcommunity.microsoft.com }}</ref>
* [[Software:Google Chrome|Chrome]] (since version 107 from October 2022, supported on macOS 11+, Android 5.0+, supported on Windows 7+, ChromeOS, and Linux for devices with supported hardware)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://chromestatus.com/feature/5186511939567616|title=Enable HEVC hardware decoding|date=21 October 2022|website=ChromeStatus }}</ref>
* [[Software:Opera (web browser)|Opera]] (since version 94 from December 2022, supported on the same platforms as Chrome)

In November 2025, an estimated 92.29% of browsers in use on desktop and mobile systems were able to play HEVC videos in HTML5 webpages, based on data from Can I Use.<ref>{{Cite web |title="hevc" {{!}} Can I use... Support tables for HTML5, CSS3, etc|url=https://caniuse.com/hevc|website=Can I use}}</ref>

===Operating system support===
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:90%"
|+ HEVC support by different operating systems
|-
! scope="row" | 
! scope="col" style="width: 324px;" | [[Software:Microsoft Windows|Microsoft Windows]]
! scope="col" style="width: 216px;" | [[Software:MacOS|macOS]]
! scope="col" style="width: 216px;" | [[Software:Android (operating system)|Android]]
! scope="col" style="width: 216px;" | [[Software:IOS|iOS]]
|-
! scope="row" | Codec support
| {{yes}} 
| {{yes}} 
| {{yes}} 
| {{yes}}
|-
! scope="row" | Container support
| [[MP4]] (.mp4, .m4v)
[[QuickTime File Format]] (.mov)

[[Matroska]] (.mkv)
| [[MP4]] (.mp4, .m4v)
[[QuickTime File Format]] (.mov)
| [[MP4]] (.mp4, .m4v)
[[Matroska]] (.mkv)
| [[MP4]] (.mp4, .m4v)
[[QuickTime File Format]] (.mov)
|-
! scope="row" | Notes
| - Support introduced in Windows 10 version 1507. <br> - Built-in support was removed in Windows 10 version 1709 due to licensing costs. The [https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/hevc-video-extensions/9nmzlz57r3t7 HEVC Video Extensions] add-on can be purchased from the Microsoft Store to enable HEVC playback on the default media player app [[Microsoft Movies & TV]].<ref name="microsoft-charging-hevc-extensions" /><br> - Since Windows 11 version 22H2, the HEVC Video Extensions is built-in by default installation.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/whats-new/whats-new-windows-11-version-22h2 | title=What's new in Windows 11, version 22H2 for IT pros - What's new in Windows | date=August 11, 2023 }}</ref>
| Support introduced in macOS 10.13 High Sierra<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://blog.addpipe.com/heif-hevc-ios-11-quick-overview/|title=HEIF and HEVC in iOS 11: Quick Overview|date=September 22, 2017|website=Deconstruct}}</ref>
| - Support introduced in Android 5.0<ref name="androidformats" /> <br> - Some Android devices may only support 8-bit (Main profile) hardware decoding, but not 10-bit (Main 10 profile).
| - Support introduced in iOS 11.0 <br> - Playback with software decoding is possible on iPhone 5s (at 720p/240 fps, 1080p/60 fps) and iPhone 6 (at 1080p/240 fps). <br> - Hardware decoding is available on [[Engineering:Apple A9|Apple A9]] (iPhone 6s), while hardware decoding & encoding is available on [[Engineering:Apple A10|Apple A10]] (iPhone 7).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://fstoppers.com/gear/which-apple-devices-will-be-able-play-hevc-videos-198152|title=Which Apple Devices Will Be Able to Play HEVC Videos?|first=Stephen|last=Kampff|date=October 2, 2017|website=Fstoppers}}</ref>
|}

==Coding efficiency==
[[File:HEVC Block Diagram.png|thumb|Block diagram of HEVC]]

Most video coding standards are designed primarily to achieve the highest coding efficiency. Coding efficiency is the ability to encode video at the lowest possible bit rate while maintaining a certain level of video quality. There are two standard ways to measure the coding efficiency of a video coding standard, which are to use an objective metric, such as [[Peak signal-to-noise ratio|peak signal-to-noise ratio]] (PSNR), or to use subjective assessment of video quality. Subjective assessment of video quality is considered to be the most important way to measure a video coding standard since humans perceive video quality subjectively.{{sfn|Ohm|2012}}

HEVC benefits from the use of larger [[Coding tree unit|coding tree unit]] (CTU) sizes. This has been shown in PSNR tests with a HM-8.0 HEVC encoder where it was forced to use progressively smaller CTU sizes. For all test sequences, when compared with a 64×64 CTU size, it was shown that the HEVC bit rate increased by 2.2% when forced to use a 32×32 CTU size, and increased by 11.0% when forced to use a 16×16 CTU size. In the Class A test sequences, where the resolution of the video was 2560×1600, when compared with a 64×64 CTU size, it was shown that the HEVC bit rate increased by 5.7% when forced to use a 32×32 CTU size, and increased by 28.2% when forced to use a 16×16 CTU size. The tests showed that large CTU sizes increase coding efficiency while also reducing decoding time.{{sfn|Ohm|2012}}

The HEVC Main Profile (MP) has been compared in coding efficiency to H.264/MPEG-4 AVC High Profile (HP), [[MPEG-4 Part 2|MPEG-4]] Advanced Simple Profile (ASP), [[H.263]] High Latency Profile (HLP), and H.262/MPEG-2 Main Profile (MP). The video encoding was done for entertainment applications and twelve different bitrates were made for the nine video test sequences with a HM-8.0 HEVC encoder being used. Of the nine video test sequences, five were at HD resolution, while four were at [[Graphics display resolution#WVGA (800x480)|WVGA]] (800×480) resolution. The bit rate reductions for HEVC were determined based on PSNR with HEVC having a bit rate reduction of 35.4% compared with H.264/MPEG-4 AVC HP, 63.7% compared with MPEG-4 ASP, 65.1% compared with H.263 HLP, and 70.8% compared with H.262/MPEG-2 MP.{{sfn|Ohm|2012}}

HEVC MP has also been compared with H.264/MPEG-4 AVC HP for subjective video quality. The video encoding was done for entertainment applications and four different bitrates were made for nine video test sequences with a HM-5.0 HEVC encoder being used. The subjective assessment was done at an earlier date than the PSNR comparison and so it used an earlier version of the HEVC encoder that had slightly lower performance. The bit rate reductions were determined based on subjective assessment using [[Social:Mean opinion score|mean opinion score]] values. The overall subjective bitrate reduction for HEVC MP compared with H.264/MPEG-4 AVC HP was 49.3%.{{sfn|Ohm|2012}}

[[Organization:École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne|École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne]] (EPFL) did a study to evaluate the subjective video quality of HEVC at resolutions higher than HDTV. The study was done with three videos with resolutions of 3840×1744 at 24 fps, 3840×2048 at 30 fps, and 3840×2160 at 30 fps. The five second video sequences showed people on a street, traffic, and a scene from the open source computer animated movie ''Sintel''. The video sequences were encoded at five different bitrates using the HM-6.1.1 HEVC encoder and the JM-18.3 H.264/MPEG-4 AVC encoder. The subjective bit rate reductions were determined based on subjective assessment using mean opinion score values. The study compared HEVC MP with H.264/MPEG-4 AVC HP and showed that, for HEVC MP, the average bitrate reduction based on PSNR was 44.4%, while the average bitrate reduction based on subjective video quality was 66.5%.{{sfn|Hanhart|2012}}{{sfn|Slides|2012}}<ref name=SubjectiveQualityEvaluationHEVCwebsite>{{cite news |title=Subjective quality evaluation of the upcoming HEVC video compression standard |publisher=École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) |url=http://infoscience.epfl.ch/record/180494 |access-date=2012-11-08}}</ref><ref name=CnetHEVCVideoCompression4K>{{cite news |title=HEVC video compression could be the next step for 4K |author=Nic Healey |publisher=cnet |url=http://www.cnet.com.au/hevc-video-compression-could-be-the-next-step-for-4k-339341320.htm |date=2012-08-29 |access-date=2012-11-08}}</ref>

In a HEVC performance comparison released in April 2013, the HEVC MP and Main 10 Profile (M10P) were compared with H.264/MPEG-4 AVC HP and High 10 Profile (H10P) using 3840×2160 video sequences. The video sequences were encoded using the HM-10.0 HEVC encoder and the JM-18.4 H.264/MPEG-4 AVC encoder. The average bit rate reduction based on PSNR was 45% for [[Engineering:Inter frame|inter frame]] video.

In a video encoder comparison released in December 2013, the HM-10.0 HEVC encoder was compared with the [[Software:X264|x264]] encoder (version r2334) and the [[VP9]] encoder (version v1.2.0-3088-ga81bd12). The comparison used the Bjøntegaard-Delta bit-rate (BD-BR) measurement method, in which negative values tell how much lower the bit rate is reduced, and positive values tell how much the bit rate is increased for the same PSNR. In the comparison, the HM-10.0 HEVC encoder had the highest coding efficiency and, on average, to get the same objective quality, the x264 encoder needed to increase the bit rate by 66.4%, while the VP9 encoder needed to increase the bit rate by 79.4%.<ref name="HEVC-VP9-x264Comparison2013">{{cite news |title=Performance Comparison of H.265/MPEG-HEVC, VP9, and H.264/MPEG-AVC Encoders |author=Dan Grois |author2=Detlev Marpe |author3=Amit Mulayoff |author4=Benaya Itzhaky |author5=Ofer Hadar |publisher=Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute |url=http://iphome.hhi.de/marpe/download/Performance_HEVC_VP9_X264_PCS_2013_preprint.pdf |date=2013-12-08 |access-date=2012-12-14}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable floatright" style="text-align:right;"
|+ Subjective video performance comparison<ref name=HEVCMay2014Q1011/>
|-
!rowspan="2"| Video<br>coding<br>standard
!colspan="5"| Average bit rate reduction<br> compared with H.264/MPEG-4 AVC HP
|-
! 480p
! 720p
! 1080p
! 2160p
|-
! HEVC
| 52%
| 56%
| 62%
| 64%
|}

In a subjective video performance comparison released in May 2014, the JCT-VC compared the HEVC Main profile to the H.264/MPEG-4 AVC High profile. The comparison used mean opinion score values and was conducted by the BBC and the [[Organization:University of the West of Scotland|University of the West of Scotland]]. The video sequences were encoded using the HM-12.1 HEVC encoder and the JM-18.5 H.264/MPEG-4 AVC encoder. The comparison used a range of resolutions and the average bit rate reduction for HEVC was 59%. The average bit rate reduction for HEVC was 52% for 480p, 56% for 720p, 62% for 1080p, and 64% for 4K UHD.<ref name="HEVCMay2014Q1011">{{cite news |title=Report on HEVC compression performance verification testing |author=TK Tan |author2=Marta Mrak |author3=Vittorio Baroncini |author4=Naeem Ramzan |publisher=JCT-VC |url=http://phenix.it-sudparis.eu/jct/doc_end_user/current_document.php?id=9089 |date=2014-05-18 |access-date=2014-05-25 |archive-date=November 18, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181118140634/http://phenix.it-sudparis.eu/jct/doc_end_user/current_document.php?id=9089 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In a subjective video codec comparison released in August 2014 by the EPFL, the HM-15.0 HEVC encoder was compared with the VP9 1.2.0–5183 encoder and the JM-18.8 H.264/MPEG-4 AVC encoder. Four 4K resolutions sequences were encoded at five different bit rates with the encoders set to use an intra period of one second. In the comparison, the HM-15.0 HEVC encoder had the highest coding efficiency and, on average, for the same subjective quality the bit rate could be reduced by 49.4% compared with the VP9 1.2.0–5183 encoder, and it could be reduced by 52.6% compared with the JM-18.8 H.264/MPEG-4 AVC encoder.<ref name=EPFLComparisonHEVCandVP9website>{{cite news |title=Comparison of compression efficiency between HEVC/H.265 and VP9 based on subjective assessments |publisher=École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) |url=http://infoscience.epfl.ch/record/200925 |access-date=2014-08-26}}</ref><ref name=EPFLComparisonHEVCandVP9PDF>{{cite news |title=Comparison of compression efficiency between HEVC/H.265 and VP9 based on subjective assessments |author=Martin Rerabek |author2=Touradj Ebrahimi |publisher=École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) |url=http://infoscience.epfl.ch/record/200925/files/article-vp9-submited-v2.pdf |date=2014-08-18 |access-date=2014-08-26}}</ref><ref name=EPFLComparisonHEVCandVP9slides>{{cite news |title=Comparison of compression efficiency between HEVC/H.265 and VP9 based on subjective assessments |author=Martin Rerabek |author2=Touradj Ebrahimi |publisher=slideshare.com |url=http://www.slideshare.net/touradj_ebrahimi/spie2014-hev-cvsvp9 |date=2014-08-23 |access-date=2014-08-26}}</ref>

In August, 2016, [[Company:Netflix|Netflix]] published the results of a large-scale study comparing the leading open-source HEVC encoder, [[Software:X265|x265]], with the leading open-source AVC encoder, [[Software:X264|x264]] and the reference [[VP9]] encoder, libvpx.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://medium.com/netflix-techblog/a-large-scale-comparison-of-x264-x265-and-libvpx-a-sneak-peek-2e81e88f8b0f |title=A Large-Scale Comparison of x264, x265, and libvpx |website=Netflix Technology Blog |date=August 29, 2016 }}</ref> Using their advanced Video Multimethod Assessment Fusion (VMAF) video quality measurement tool, Netflix found that x265 delivered identical quality at bit rates ranging from 35.4% to 53.3% lower than x264, and from 17.8% to 21.8% lower than VP9.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.streamingmedia.com/Articles/Editorial/Featured-Articles/Netflix-Finds-x265-20-More-Efficient-than-VP9-113346.aspx |title=Netflix Finds x265 20% More Efficient than VP9 - Streaming Media Magazine |first=Jan |last=Ozer |date=September 2, 2016 }}</ref>

==Features==
HEVC was designed to substantially improve coding efficiency compared with H.264/MPEG-4 AVC HP, i.e. to reduce bitrate requirements by half with comparable [[Image quality|image quality]], at the expense of increased computational complexity.{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}} HEVC was designed with the goal of allowing video content to have a data compression ratio of up to 1000:1.<ref name=HEVCApril2013M1000>{{cite news |title=Meeting report of the 13th meeting of the Joint Collaborative Team on Video Coding (JCT-VC), Incheon, KR, 18–26 Apr. 2013 |author=Gary Sullivan |author2=Jens-Rainer Ohm |publisher=JCT-VC |url=http://phenix.it-sudparis.eu/jct/doc_end_user/current_document.php?id=7746 |date=2013-07-27 |access-date=2013-09-01 |archive-date=March 12, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220312083559/http://phenix.it-sudparis.eu/jct/doc_end_user/current_document.php?id=7746 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Depending on the application requirements, HEVC encoders can trade off computational complexity, compression rate, robustness to errors, and encoding delay time.{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}} Two of the key features where HEVC was improved compared with H.264/MPEG-4 AVC was support for higher resolution video and improved parallel processing methods.{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}}

HEVC is targeted at next-generation HDTV displays and content capture systems which feature [[Engineering:Progressive scan|progressive scan]]ned [[Frame rate|frame rate]]s and [[Engineering:Display resolution|display resolution]]s from QVGA (320×240) to [[Engineering:Ultra-high-definition television|4320p]] (7680×4320), as well as improved picture quality in terms of [[Engineering:Noise (electronics)|noise level]], [[Color space|color space]]s, and [[Dynamic range|dynamic range]].<ref name="epvcreqs">{{cite news |title=Draft requirements for "EPVC" enhanced performance video coding project |publisher=ITU-T VCEG |url=http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/studygroups/com16/epvc/epvcreqs.html |date=2009-07-10 |access-date=2012-08-24}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Highlights of the 88th Meeting |publisher=MPEG |url=http://mpeg.chiariglione.org/meetings/maui09/maui_press.htm |date=2009-04-24 |access-date=2012-08-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120817022809/http://mpeg.chiariglione.org/meetings/maui09/maui_press.htm |archive-date=2012-08-17 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Vision, Applications and Requirements for High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC). ISO/IEC JTC1/SC29/WG11/N11872 |publisher=ISO/IEC |url=http://mpeg.chiariglione.org/working_documents/mpeg-h/hevc/vision-apps-reqs.zip |date=January 2011 |access-date=2012-08-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120723020455/http://mpeg.chiariglione.org/working_documents/mpeg-h/hevc/vision-apps-reqs.zip |archive-date=2012-07-23 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Vision and Requirements for High-Performance Video Coding (HVC). ISO/IEC JTC1/SC29/WG11/N10361|publisher=ISO/IEC |author=Christian Timmerer |url=https://multimediacommunication.blogspot.com/2009/02/vision-and-requirements-for-high.html |date=2009-02-09 |access-date=2012-08-24}}</ref>

===Video coding layer===
The HEVC video coding layer uses the same "hybrid" approach used in all modern video standards, starting from [[H.261]], in that it uses inter-/intra-picture prediction and 2D transform coding.{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}} A HEVC encoder first proceeds by splitting a picture into block shaped regions for the first picture, or the first picture of a random access point, which uses intra-picture prediction.{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}} Intra-picture prediction is when the prediction of the blocks in the picture is based only on the information in that picture.{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}} For all other pictures, inter-picture prediction is used, in which prediction information is used from other pictures.{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}} After the prediction methods are finished and the picture goes through the loop filters, the final picture representation is stored in the decoded picture buffer.{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}} Pictures stored in the decoded picture buffer can be used for the prediction of other pictures.{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}}

HEVC was designed with the idea that [[Engineering:Progressive scan|progressive scan]] video would be used and no coding tools were added specifically for [[Interlaced video|interlaced video]].{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}} Interlace specific coding tools, such as MBAFF and PAFF, are not supported in HEVC.<ref name=AtemeOverviewHEVCNovember2012>{{cite news |title=HEVC: High-Efficiency Video Coding Next generation video compression |author=Jérôme VIERON |publisher=Ateme |url=http://www.nabanet.com/wbuarea/library/docs/isog/presentations/2012B/2.4%20Vieron%20ATEME.pdf |date=2012-11-27 |access-date=2013-05-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130810140359/http://www.nabanet.com/wbuarea/library/docs/isog/presentations/2012B/2.4%20Vieron%20ATEME.pdf |archive-date=2013-08-10 |url-status=dead }}</ref> HEVC instead sends [[Metadata|metadata]] that tells how the interlaced video was sent.{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}} Interlaced video may be sent either by coding each frame as a separate picture or by coding each field as a separate picture.{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}} For interlaced video HEVC can change between frame coding and field coding using Sequence Adaptive Frame Field (SAFF), which allows the coding mode to be changed for each video sequence.<ref name=AtemeHEVCIntroductionSeptember2013>{{cite news |title=An Introduction to Ultra HDTV and HEVC |author=Gregory Cox |publisher=Ateme |url=http://ateme.com/IMG/pdf/2013_an_introduction_to_uhdtv_hevc.pdf |date=2013-09-11 |access-date=2014-12-03}}</ref> This allows interlaced video to be sent with HEVC without needing special interlaced decoding processes to be added to HEVC decoders.{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}}

====Color spaces====
The HEVC standard supports [[Color space|color space]]s such as generic film (colour filters using Illuminant C), [[Engineering:NTSC|NTSC]], [[Engineering:PAL|PAL]], [[Rec. 601]] (SMPTE 170M), [[Rec. 709]], [[Rec. 2020]], [[Engineering:Rec. 2100|Rec. 2100]], SMPTE&nbsp;240M, [[SRGB|sRGB]], [[SYCC|sYCC]], [[XvYCC|xvYCC]], [[CIE 1931 color space|XYZ]], and externally specified color spaces such as [[Engineering:Dolby Vision|Dolby Vision]] or HDR Vivid.{{sfn|ITU|2015}} HEVC supports color encoding representations such as RGB, [[YCbCr]] and [[ICtCp]], and [[YCoCg]].{{sfn|ITU|2015}}

===Coding tools===

====Coding tree unit====
{{Main|Coding tree unit}}

HEVC replaces 16×16 pixel [[Macroblock|macroblock]]s, which were used with previous standards, with coding tree units (CTUs) which can use larger block structures of up to 64×64 samples and can better sub-partition the picture into variable sized structures.{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}}<ref name=MPEGPressRelease>{{cite news |title=Description of High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) |publisher=JCT-VC |url=http://mpeg.chiariglione.org/technologies/mpeg-h/HEVC.htm |date=2011-01-01 |access-date=2012-09-15 |archive-date=February 10, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130210060103/http://mpeg.chiariglione.org/technologies/mpeg-h/HEVC.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> HEVC initially divides the picture into CTUs which can be 64×64, 32×32, or 16×16 with a larger pixel block size usually increasing the coding efficiency.{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}}

====Inverse transforms====
HEVC specifies four transform units (TUs) sizes of 4×4, 8×8, 16×16, and 32×32 to code the prediction residual.{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}} A CTB may be recursively partitioned into 4 or more TUs.{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}} TUs use integer basis functions based on the [[Discrete cosine transform|discrete cosine transform]] (DCT).{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}}<ref name="apple"/> In addition, 4×4 luma transform blocks that belong to an intra coded region are transformed using an integer transform that is derived from [[Discrete sine transform|discrete sine transform]] (DST).{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}} This provides a 1% bit rate reduction but was restricted to 4×4 luma transform blocks due to marginal benefits for the other transform cases.{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}} Chroma uses the same TU sizes as luma so there is no 2×2 transform for chroma.{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}}

====Parallel processing tools====
* Tiles allow for the picture to be divided into a grid of rectangular regions that can independently be decoded/encoded. The main purpose of tiles is to allow for parallel processing.{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}} Tiles can be independently decoded and can even allow for random access to specific regions of a picture in a video stream.{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}}
* Wavefront parallel processing (WPP) is when a slice is divided into rows of CTUs in which the first row is decoded normally but each additional row requires that decisions be made in the previous row.{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}} WPP has the entropy encoder use information from the preceding row of CTUs and allows for a method of parallel processing that may allow for better compression than tiles.{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}}
* Tiles and WPP are allowed, but are optional.{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}}{{sfn|ITU|2015}} If tiles are present, they must be at least 64 pixels high and 256 pixels wide with a level specific limit on the number of tiles allowed.{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}}{{sfn|ITU|2015}}
* Slices can, for the most part, be decoded independently from each other with the main purpose of tiles being the re-synchronization in case of data loss in the video stream.{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}} Slices can be defined as self-contained in that prediction is not made across slice boundaries.{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}} When in-loop filtering is done on a picture though, information across slice boundaries may be required.{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}} Slices are CTUs decoded in the order of the raster scan, and different coding types can be used for slices such as I types, P types, or B types.{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}}
* Dependent slices can allow for data related to tiles or WPP to be accessed more quickly by the system than if the entire slice had to be decoded.{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}} The main purpose of dependent slices is to allow for low-delay video encoding due to its lower latency.{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}}

====Other coding tools====
=====Entropy coding=====
HEVC uses a [[Context-adaptive binary arithmetic coding|context-adaptive binary arithmetic coding]] (CABAC) algorithm that is fundamentally similar to CABAC in H.264/MPEG-4 AVC.{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}} CABAC is the only entropy encoder method that is allowed in HEVC while there are two entropy encoder methods allowed by H.264/MPEG-4 AVC.{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}} CABAC and the entropy coding of transform coefficients in HEVC were designed for a higher throughput than H.264/MPEG-4 AVC,<ref name=HEVCCABACIEEE2013>{{cite journal |title=High Throughput CABAC Entropy Coding in HEVC |author=V. Sze|author2=M. Budagavi |journal=IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology |date=2013-01-13 |volume=22 |issue=12 |pages=1778–1791 |doi=10.1109/TCSVT.2012.2221526 |s2cid=5295846 }}</ref> while maintaining higher compression efficiency for larger transform block sizes relative to simple extensions.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Tung|first1=Nguyen|last2=Philipp|first2=Helle|last3=Martin|first3=Winken|last4=Benjamin|first4=Bross|last5=Detlev|first5=Marpe|last6=Heiko|first6=Schwarz|last7=Thomas|first7=Wiegand|title=Transform Coding Techniques in HEVC|journal= IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Signal Processing|date=Dec 2013|volume=7|issue=6|pages=978–989|doi=10.1109/JSTSP.2013.2278071|bibcode=2013ISTSP...7..978N|s2cid=12877203}}</ref> For instance, the number of context coded bins have been reduced by 8× and the CABAC bypass-mode has been improved in terms of its design to increase throughput.{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}}<ref name=HEVCCABACIEEE2013/><ref>{{cite news|last1=Tung|first1=Nguyen|last2=Detlev|first2=Marpe|last3=Heiko|first3=Schwarz|last4=Thomas|first4=Wiegand|title=Reduced-Complexity Entropy Coding of Transform Coefficient Levels Using Truncated Golomb-Rice Codes in Video Compression|url=http://iphome.hhi.de/wiegand/assets/pdfs/2011_09_ICIP_entropy_cod.pdf}}</ref> Another improvement with HEVC is that the dependencies between the coded data has been changed to further increase throughput.{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}}<ref name=HEVCCABACIEEE2013/> Context modeling in HEVC has also been improved so that CABAC can better select a context that increases efficiency when compared with H.264/MPEG-4 AVC.{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}}

=====Intra prediction=====
[[File:HEVC angular intra prediction modes.png|thumb|upright=1.1|HEVC has 33 intra prediction modes]]
HEVC specifies 33 directional modes for intra prediction compared with the 8 directional modes for intra prediction specified by H.264/MPEG-4 AVC.{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}} HEVC also specifies DC intra prediction and planar prediction modes.{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}} The DC intra prediction mode generates a mean value by averaging reference samples and can be used for flat surfaces.{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}} The planar prediction mode in HEVC supports all block sizes defined in HEVC while the planar prediction mode in H.264/MPEG-4 AVC is limited to a block size of 16×16 pixels.{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}} The intra prediction modes use data from neighboring prediction blocks that have been previously decoded from within the same picture.{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}}

=====Motion compensation=====
For the interpolation of fractional luma sample positions HEVC uses separable application of one-dimensional half-sample interpolation with an 8-tap filter or quarter-sample interpolation with a 7-tap filter while, in comparison, H.264/MPEG-4 AVC uses a two-stage process that first derives values at half-sample positions using separable one-dimensional 6-tap interpolation followed by integer rounding and then applies [[Linear interpolation|linear interpolation]] between values at nearby half-sample positions to generate values at quarter-sample positions.{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}} HEVC has improved precision due to the longer interpolation filter and the elimination of the intermediate rounding error.{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}} For 4:2:0 video, the chroma samples are interpolated with separable one-dimensional 4-tap filtering to generate eighth-sample precision, while in comparison H.264/MPEG-4 AVC uses only a 2-tap [[Bilinear interpolation|bilinear filter]] (also with eighth-sample precision).{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}}

As in H.264/MPEG-4 AVC, weighted prediction in HEVC can be used either with uni-prediction (in which a single prediction value is used) or bi-prediction (in which the prediction values from two prediction blocks are combined).{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}}

=====Motion vector prediction=====
HEVC defines a [[Sign (mathematics)|signed]] 16-bit range for both horizontal and vertical motion vectors (MVs).{{sfn|ITU|2015}}<ref name=HEVCJuly2012MeetingNotes>{{cite news |title=Meeting report of the 10th meeting of the Joint Collaborative Team on Video Coding (JCT-VC), Stockholm, SE, 11–20 July 2012 |author=Gary Sullivan |author2=Jens-Rainer Ohm |publisher=JCT-VC |url=http://phenix.it-sudparis.eu/jct/doc_end_user/current_document.php?id=6466 |date=2012-10-13 |access-date=2013-04-28 |archive-date=May 27, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130527051157/http://phenix.it-sudparis.eu/jct/doc_end_user/current_document.php?id=6466 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=HEVCJuly2012J0225>{{cite news |title=Restrictions to the maximum motion vector range |author=Alistair Goudie |publisher=JCT-VC |url=http://phenix.it-sudparis.eu/jct/doc_end_user/current_document.php?id=6088 |date=2012-07-02 |access-date=2012-11-26 |archive-date=May 27, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130527055252/http://phenix.it-sudparis.eu/jct/doc_end_user/current_document.php?id=6088 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=HEVCJuly2012J0579>{{cite news |title=BoG on miscellaneous limits |author=Keiichi Chono |author2=Minhua Zhou |publisher=JCT-VC |url=http://phenix.it-sudparis.eu/jct/doc_end_user/current_document.php?id=6459 |date=2012-07-19 |access-date=2012-11-26 |archive-date=May 27, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130527055935/http://phenix.it-sudparis.eu/jct/doc_end_user/current_document.php?id=6459 |url-status=dead }}</ref> This was added to HEVC at the July 2012 HEVC meeting with the mvLX variables.{{sfn|ITU|2015}}<ref name=HEVCJuly2012MeetingNotes/><ref name=HEVCJuly2012J0225/><ref name=HEVCJuly2012J0579/> HEVC horizontal/vertical MVs have a range of −32768 to 32767 which given the quarter pixel precision used by HEVC allows for a MV range of −8192 to 8191.75 luma samples.{{sfn|ITU|2015}}<ref name=HEVCJuly2012MeetingNotes/><ref name=HEVCJuly2012J0225/><ref name=HEVCJuly2012J0579/> This compares to H.264/MPEG-4 AVC which allows for a horizontal MV range of −2048 to 2047.75 luma samples and a vertical MV range of −512 to 511.75 luma samples.<ref name=HEVCJuly2012J0225/>

HEVC allows for two MV modes which are Advanced Motion Vector Prediction (AMVP) and merge mode.{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}} AMVP uses data from the reference picture and can also use data from adjacent prediction blocks.{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}} The merge mode allows for the MVs to be inherited from neighboring prediction blocks.{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}} Merge mode in HEVC is similar to "skipped" and "direct" motion inference modes in H.264/MPEG-4 AVC but with two improvements.{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}} The first improvement is that HEVC uses index information to select one of several available candidates.{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}} The second improvement is that HEVC uses information from the reference picture list and reference picture index.{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}}

====Loop filters====
HEVC specifies two loop filters that are applied sequentially, with the [[Deblocking filter|deblocking filter]] (DBF) applied first and the sample adaptive offset (SAO) filter applied afterwards.{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}} Both loop filters are applied in the inter-picture prediction loop, i.e. the filtered image is stored in the decoded picture buffer (DPB) as a reference for inter-picture prediction.{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}}

=====Deblocking filter=====
The DBF is similar to the one used by H.264/MPEG-4 AVC but with a simpler design and better support for parallel processing.{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}} In HEVC the DBF only applies to an 8×8 sample grid while with H.264/MPEG-4 AVC the DBF applies to a 4×4 sample grid.{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}} DBF uses an 8×8 sample grid since it causes no noticeable degradation and significantly improves parallel processing because the DBF no longer causes cascading interactions with other operations.{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}} Another change is that HEVC only allows for three DBF strengths of 0 to 2.{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}} HEVC also requires that the DBF first apply horizontal filtering for vertical edges to the picture and only after that does it apply vertical filtering for horizontal edges to the picture.{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}} This allows for multiple parallel threads to be used for the DBF.{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}}

=====Sample adaptive offset=====
The SAO filter is applied after the DBF and is designed to allow for better reconstruction of the original signal amplitudes by applying offsets stored in a [[Lookup table|lookup table]] in the bitstream.{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}}<ref name=SAOIEEE2012>{{cite news |title=Sample adaptive offset in the HEVC standard |author=Chih-Ming Fu |author2=Elena Alshina |author3=Alexander Alshin |author4=Yu-Wen Huang |author5=Ching-Yeh Chen |author6=Chia-Yang Tsai |author7=Chih-Wei Hsu |author8=Shaw-Min Lei |author9=Jeong-Hoon Park |author10=Woo-Jin Han |publisher=IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology |url=https://sites.google.com/site/chihmingfu/paper/SAO%20CSVT.pdf?attredirects=0 |format=PDF |date=2012-12-25 |access-date=2013-01-24}}</ref> Per CTB the SAO filter can be disabled or applied in one of two modes: edge offset mode or band offset mode.{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}}<ref name=SAOIEEE2012/> The edge offset mode operates by comparing the value of a sample to two of its eight neighbors using one of four directional gradient patterns.{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}}<ref name=SAOIEEE2012/> Based on a comparison with these two neighbors, the sample is classified into one of five categories: minimum, maximum, an edge with the sample having the lower value, an edge with the sample having the higher value, or monotonic.{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}}<ref name=SAOIEEE2012/> For each of the first four categories an offset is applied.{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}}<ref name=SAOIEEE2012/> The band offset mode applies an offset based on the amplitude of a single sample.{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}}<ref name=SAOIEEE2012/> A sample is categorized by its amplitude into one of 32 bands ([[Histogram|histogram]] bins).{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}}<ref name=SAOIEEE2012/> Offsets are specified for four consecutive of the 32 bands, because in flat areas which are prone to banding artifacts, sample amplitudes tend to be clustered in a small range.{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}}<ref name=SAOIEEE2012/> The SAO filter was designed to increase picture quality, reduce banding artifacts, and reduce [[Ringing artifacts|ringing artifacts]].{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}}<ref name=SAOIEEE2012/>

====Range extensions====
Range extensions in MPEG are additional profiles, levels, and techniques that support needs beyond consumer video playback:{{sfn|ITU|2015}}
*Profiles supporting bit depths beyond 10, and differing [[Engineering:Luma (video)|luma]]/[[Engineering:Chrominance|chroma]] bit depths.
*Intra profiles for when file size is much less important than random-access decoding speed.
*Still Picture profiles, forming the basis of [[High Efficiency Image File Format]], without any limit on the picture size or complexity (level 8.5). Unlike all other levels, no minimum decoder capacity is required, only a best-effort with reasonable fallback.

Within these new profiles came enhanced coding features, many of which support efficient screen encoding or high-speed processing:
*Persistent Rice adaptation, a general optimization of entropy coding.
*Higher precision weighted prediction at high bit depths.<ref name=HEVCMeetingReport15>{{cite news |title=Meeting report of the 15th meeting of the Joint Collaborative Team on Video Coding (JCT-VC), Geneva, CH, 23 Oct. – 1 Nov. 2013 |publisher=ITU-T |url=http://wftp3.itu.int/av-arch/jctvc-site/2013_10_O_Geneva/JCTVC-O_Notes_d9.doc |format=DOC |date=2013-11-03 |access-date=2013-11-09}}</ref>
*Cross-component prediction, allowing the imperfect [[YCbCr]] color decorrelation to let the luma (or G) match set the predicted chroma (or R/B) matches, which results in up to 7% gain for YCbCr 4:4:4 and up to 26% for RGB video. Particularly useful for screen coding.<ref name=HEVCMeetingReport15/><ref>{{cite news|last1=Ali|first1=Khairat|last2=Tung|first2=Nguyen|last3=Mischa|first3=Siekmann|last4=Detlev|first4=Marpe|title=Adaptive Cross-Component Prediction for 4:4:4 High Efficiency Video Coding|url=http://nguyen.ph/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/CCP-ICIP-2014-preprint.pdf|access-date=December 18, 2014|archive-date=December 24, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181224215619/http://nguyen.ph/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/CCP-ICIP-2014-preprint.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>
*Intra smoothing control, allowing the encoder to turn smoothing on or off per-block, instead of per-frame.
*Modifications of transform skip:
**Residual DPCM (RDPCM), allowing more-optimal coding of residual data if possible, vs the typical zig-zag.
**Block size flexibility, supporting block sizes up to 32×32 (versus only 4×4 transform skip support in version 1).
**4×4 rotation, for potential efficiency.
**Transform skip context, enabling [[Discrete cosine transform|DCT]] and RDPCM blocks to carry a separate context.
*Extended precision processing, giving low bit-depth video slightly more accurate decoding.
*CABAC bypass alignment, a decoding optimization specific to High Throughput 4:4:4 16 Intra profile.

HEVC version 2 adds several supplemental enhancement information (SEI) messages:
*Color remapping: mapping one color space to another.<ref name=HEVCApril2014Q0074>{{cite news |title=SEI message for Colour Mapping Information |author=Pierre Andrivon |author2=Philippe Bordes |author3=Edouard François |publisher=JCT-VC |url=http://phenix.it-sudparis.eu/jct/doc_end_user/current_document.php?id=8878 |date=2014-04-02 |access-date=2014-07-17 |archive-date=July 25, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140725042431/http://phenix.it-sudparis.eu/jct/doc_end_user/current_document.php?id=8878 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
*Knee function: hints for converting between dynamic ranges, particularly from HDR to SDR.
*Mastering display color volume
*Time code, for archival purposes

====Screen content coding extensions====
Additional coding tool options have been added in the March 2016 draft of the screen content coding (SCC) extensions:<ref name=HEVCFebruary2016W1005/>
*Adaptive color transform.<ref name=HEVCFebruary2016W1005/>
*Adaptive motion vector resolution.<ref name=HEVCFebruary2016W1005/>
*Intra block copying.<ref name=HEVCFebruary2016W1005/>
*Palette mode.<ref name=HEVCFebruary2016W1005/>

The ITU-T version of the standard that added the SCC extensions (approved in December 2016 and published in March 2017) added support for the [[Engineering:Hybrid log–gamma|hybrid log–gamma]] (HLG) transfer function and the [[ICtCp]] color matrix.<ref name=HEVCDec2016ITURec/> This allows the fourth version of HEVC to support both of the HDR transfer functions defined in [[Engineering:Rec. 2100|Rec. 2100]].<ref name=HEVCDec2016ITURec/>

The fourth version of HEVC adds several supplemental enhancement information (SEI) messages which include:
*Alternative transfer characteristics information SEI message, provides information on the preferred [[Transfer function|transfer function]] to use.<ref name=HEVCFebruary2016W1005/> The primary use case for this would be to deliver HLG video in a way that would be backward compatible with legacy devices.<ref name=HEVCJune2015U0033>{{cite news |title=High dynamic range compatibility information SEI message |author=Matteo Naccari |author2=Andrew Cotton |author3=Sebastian Schwarz |author4=Manish Pindoria |author5=Marta Mrak |author6=Tim Borer |publisher=JCT-VC |url=http://phenix.it-sudparis.eu/jct/doc_end_user/current_document.php?id=10037 |date=2015-06-09 |access-date=2016-10-31 |archive-date=November 18, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181118140726/http://phenix.it-sudparis.eu/jct/doc_end_user/current_document.php?id=10037 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
*Ambient viewing environment SEI message, provides information on the ambient light of the viewing environment that was used to author the video.<ref name=HEVCFebruary2016W1005/><ref name=HEVCJune2015U0112>{{cite news |title=Ambient viewing environment SEI message |author=Gary Sullivan |publisher=JCT-VC |url=http://phenix.it-sudparis.eu/jct/doc_end_user/current_document.php?id=10116 |date=2015-06-10 |access-date=2016-11-02 |archive-date=November 18, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181118140435/http://phenix.it-sudparis.eu/jct/doc_end_user/current_document.php?id=10116 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Profiles==
{|class="wikitable"
|+ Feature support in some of the video profiles{{sfn|ITU|2015}}
|-
!rowspan="2"| Feature
!colspan="2"| Version 1
!colspan="8"| Version 2
|-
! &nbsp;Main&nbsp;
! Main 10
! Main 12
! Main<br>4:2:2 10
! Main<br>4:2:2 12
! Main<br>4:4:4
! Main<br>4:4:4 10
! Main<br>4:4:4 12
! Main<br>4:4:4 16<br>Intra
|-
! [[Engineering:Color depth|Bit depth]]
| 8 || 8 to 10 || 8 to 12 || 8 to 10 || 8 to 12 || 8 || 8 to 10 || 8 to 12 || 8 to 16
|-
! [[Chroma subsampling|Chroma sampling]] formats
| 4:2:0 || 4:2:0 || 4:2:0 || 4:2:0/<br>4:2:2 || 4:2:0/<br>4:2:2 || 4:2:0/<br>4:2:2/<br>4:4:4 || 4:2:0/<br>4:2:2/<br>4:4:4 || 4:2:0/<br>4:2:2/<br>4:4:4 || 4:2:0/<br>4:2:2/<br>4:4:4
|-
! 4:0:0 (Monochrome)
| {{No}} || {{No}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}}
|-
! High precision weighted prediction
| {{No}} || {{No}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}}
|-
! Chroma QP offset list
| {{No}} || {{No}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}}
|-
! Cross-component prediction
| {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}}
|-
! Intra smoothing disabling
| {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}}
|-
! Persistent Rice adaptation
| {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}}
|-
! RDPCM implicit/explicit
| {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}}
|-
! Transform skip block sizes larger than 4×4
| {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}}
|-
! Transform skip context/rotation
| {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}} || {{Yes}}
|-
! Extended precision processing
| {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{No}} || {{Yes}}
|}
Version 1 of the HEVC standard defines three profiles: '''Main''', '''Main 10''', and '''Main Still Picture'''.{{sfn|ITU|2015}} Version 2 of HEVC adds 21 range extensions profiles, two scalable extensions profiles, and one multi-view profile.{{sfn|ITU|2015}} HEVC also contains provisions for additional profiles.{{sfn|ITU|2015}} Extensions that were added to HEVC include increased [[Engineering:Color depth|bit depth]], 4:2:2/4:4:4 [[Chroma subsampling|chroma sampling]], [[Multiview Video Coding]] (MVC), and [[Scalable Video Coding]] (SVC).{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}}<ref name=HEVCTVBEuropeAugust2012>{{cite news |title=Ultra HD: Standards and broadcasters align |author=Adrian Pennington |publisher=www.tvbeurope.com |url=http://content.yudu.com/A1xsex/TVBEAug2012/resources/45.htm |page=45 |date=2012-08-01 |access-date=2012-11-25}}</ref> The HEVC range extensions, HEVC scalable extensions, and HEVC multi-view extensions were completed in July 2014.<ref name=HEVCJuly2014R1013>{{cite news |title=Draft high efficiency video coding (HEVC) version 2, combined format range extensions (RExt), scalability (SHVC), and multi-view (MV-HEVC) extensions |author=Jill Boyce |author2=Jianle Chen |author3=Ying Chen |author4=David Flynn |author5=Miska M. Hannuksela |author6=Matteo Naccari |author7=Chris Rosewarne |author8=Karl Sharman |author9=Joel Sole |author10=Gary J. Sullivan |author11=Teruhiko Suzuki |author12=Gerhard Tech |author13=Ye-Kui Wang |author14=Krzysztof Wegner |author15=Yan Ye |publisher=JCT-VC |url=http://phenix.it-sudparis.eu/jct/doc_end_user/current_document.php?id=9466 |date=2014-07-11 |access-date=2014-07-11 |archive-date=July 14, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714191140/http://phenix.it-sudparis.eu/jct/doc_end_user/current_document.php?id=9466 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=HEVCApril2013EricssonPDF>{{cite news |title=Next generation video compression |author=Per Fröjdh |author2=Andrey Norkin |author3=Rickard Sjöberg |publisher=Ericsson |url=http://www.ericsson.com/res/thecompany/docs/publications/ericsson_review/2013/er-hevc-h265.pdf |date=2013-04-23 |access-date=2013-04-24}}</ref><ref name=HEVCJanuary2014MeetingReport>{{cite news |title=Recent MPEG/JCT-VC/JCT-3V Video Coding Standardization |author=Jens-Rainer Ohm |publisher=MPEG |url=http://itg32.hhi.de/docs/ITG32_RWTH_14_1_268.pdf |date=2014-01-28 |access-date=2014-04-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140419145757/http://itg32.hhi.de/docs/ITG32_RWTH_14_1_268.pdf |archive-date=2014-04-19 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In July 2014 a draft of the second version of HEVC was released.<ref name=HEVCJuly2014R1013/> Screen content coding (SCC) extensions were under development for screen content video, which contains text and graphics, with an expected final draft release date of 2015.<ref name=ScreenContentHEVCJanuary2014>{{cite news |title=Joint Call for Proposals for Coding of Screen Content |publisher=JCT-VC |url=http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-T/studygroups/com16/video/Documents/CfP-HEVC-coding-screen-content.pdf |date=2014-01-17 |access-date=2014-11-15}}</ref><ref name=HEVCMeetingReport18>{{cite news |title=Meeting Report of 18th JCT-VC Meeting |publisher=ITU-T |url=http://phenix.int-evry.fr/jct/doc_end_user/current_document.php?id=9467 |date=2014-10-17 |access-date=2014-11-15 |archive-date=November 29, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129031248/http://phenix.int-evry.fr/jct/doc_end_user/current_document.php?id=9467 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

A profile is a defined set of coding tools that can be used to create a bitstream that conforms to that profile.{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}} An encoder for a profile may choose which coding tools to use as long as it generates a conforming bitstream while a decoder for a profile must support all coding tools that can be used in that profile.{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}}

===Version 1 profiles===

====Main====
The Main profile allows for a bit depth of 8 bits per sample with 4:2:0 chroma sampling, which is the most common type of video used with consumer devices.{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}}{{sfn|ITU|2015}}<ref name=HEVCApril2013EricssonPDF/>

====Main 10====
The Main 10 ({{code|Main10}}) profile was added at the October 2012 HEVC meeting based on a multicompany proposal JCTVC-K0109 which proposed that a 10-bit profile be added to HEVC for consumer applications. The proposal said this was to allow for improved video quality and to support the [[Rec. 2020]] color space that has become widely used in UHDTV systems and to be able to deliver HDR and color fidelity avoiding the banding artifacts. A variety of companies supported the proposal which included Ateme, BBC, BSkyB, [[Company:Cisco|Cisco]], [[Company:DirecTV|DirecTV]], [[Company:Ericsson|Ericsson]], [[Company:Motorola Mobility|Motorola Mobility]], NGCodec, NHK, RAI, ST, SVT, [[Company:Thomson Video Networks|Thomson Video Networks]], [[Company:Technicolor SA|Technicolor]], and [[Company:ViXS Systems|ViXS Systems]].<ref name=HEVCOctober2012K0109>{{cite news |title=On a 10-bit consumer-oriented profile in High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) |author=Alberto Dueñas, JCTVC-K0109|publisher=JCT-VC |url=https://mpeg.expert/jct/files/JCTVC-K0109-v9.zip |date=2012-10-18 }}</ref> The Main 10 profile allows for a bit depth of 8 to 10 bits per sample with 4:2:0 chroma sampling to support consumer use cases. HEVC decoders that conform to the Main 10 profile must be capable of decoding bitstreams made with the following profiles: Main and Main 10.{{sfn|ITU|2015}} A higher bit depth allows for a greater number of colors. 8 bits per sample allows for 256 shades per [[Primary color|primary color]] (a total of 16.78 million colors) while 10 bits per sample allows for 1024 shades per primary color (a total of 1.07 billion colors). A higher bit depth allows for a smoother transition of color which resolves the problem known as color banding.<ref name=EricssonHEVCBackgroundJune2013>{{cite news |title=Focus on...HEVC: The background behind the game-changing standard- Ericsson |author=Carl Furgusson |publisher=Ericsson |url=http://www.ericsson.com/televisionary/blog/focus-hevc-background-behind-game-changing-standard-ericsson/ |date=2013-06-11 |access-date=2013-06-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130620000218/http://www.ericsson.com/televisionary/blog/focus-hevc-background-behind-game-changing-standard-ericsson/ |archive-date=June 20, 2013 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}</ref><ref name=ImaginationEmergenceHEVC10bitJune2013>{{cite news |title=The emergence of HEVC and 10-bit colour formats |author=Simon Forrest |publisher=Imagination Technologies |url=http://withimagination.imgtec.com/index.php/powervr-video/the-emergence-of-hevc-and-10-bit-colour-formats |date=2013-06-20 |access-date=2013-06-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130915075921/http://withimagination.imgtec.com/index.php/powervr-video/the-emergence-of-hevc-and-10-bit-colour-formats |archive-date=September 15, 2013 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}</ref>

The Main 10 profile allows for improved video quality since it can support video with a higher bit depth than what is supported by the Main profile.<ref name=HEVCOctober2012K0109/> Additionally, in the Main 10 profile 8-bit video can be coded with a higher bit depth of 10 bits, which allows improved coding efficiency compared to the Main profile.<ref name=HEVCTechnicolorJuly2012Overview>{{cite news |title=An overview of the emerging HEVC standard |author=Philippe Bordes |author2=Gordon Clare |author3=Félix Henry |author4=Mickaël Raulet |author5=Jérôme Viéron |publisher=Technicolor |url=https://research.technicolor.com/rennes/wp-content/uploads/publications/pub_100.pdf |date=2012-07-20 |access-date=2012-10-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131003134715/https://research.technicolor.com/rennes/wp-content/uploads/publications/pub_100.pdf |archive-date=2013-10-03 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=HEVCTechnicolorJuly2012OverviewPublication>{{cite news |title=Rennes Research & Innovation Center: Publication |publisher=Technicolor |url=https://research.technicolor.com/rennes/publication-26/ |date=2012-07-20 |access-date=2012-10-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203001636/https://research.technicolor.com/rennes/publication-26/ |archive-date=2013-12-03 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=MotionImprovementsHEVCIEEE2012>{{cite news |title=Video Compression Using Nested Quadtree Structures, Leaf Merging and Improved Techniques for Motion Representation and Entropy Coding |author=Detlev Marpe |author2=Heiko Schwarz |author3=Sebastian Bosse |author4=Benjamin Bross |author5=Philipp Helle |author6=Tobias Hinz |author7=Heiner Kirchhoffer |author8=Haricharan Lakshman |author9=Tung Nguyen| display-authors = 8 |publisher=IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology |url=http://iphome.hhi.de/wiegand/assets/pdfs/video-compression-nested-quadtree.pdf |access-date=2012-11-08}}</ref>

[[Company:Ericsson|Ericsson]] said the Main 10 profile would bring the benefits of 10 bits per sample video to consumer TV. They also said that for higher resolutions there is no bit rate penalty for encoding video at 10 bits per sample.<ref name=EricssonHEVCBackgroundJune2013/> [[Company:Imagination Technologies|Imagination Technologies]] said that 10-bit per sample video would allow for larger color spaces and is required for the [[Rec. 2020]] color space that will be used by UHDTV. They also said the Rec. 2020 color space would drive the widespread adoption of 10-bit-per-sample video.<ref name=ImaginationEmergenceHEVC10bitJune2013/><ref name=ImaginationDecodingHEVC10bitJune2013>{{cite news |title=Decoding HEVC in 10-bit colours at 4K resolutions: PowerVR D5500, a Rosetta Stone for video decode |author=Alexandru Voica |publisher=[[Company:Imagination Technologies|Imagination Technologies]] |url=http://withimagination.imgtec.com/index.php/powervr-video/powervr-d5500-decoding-hevc-in-10-bit-colours-at-4k-resolutions |date=2013-06-20 |access-date=2013-06-21 |archive-date=June 30, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130630022632/http://withimagination.imgtec.com/index.php/powervr-video/powervr-d5500-decoding-hevc-in-10-bit-colours-at-4k-resolutions |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In a PSNR based performance comparison released in April 2013 the Main 10 profile was compared to the Main profile using a set of 3840×2160 10-bit video sequences. The 10-bit video sequences were converted to 8 bits for the Main profile and remained at 10 bits for the Main 10 profile. The reference PSNR was based on the original 10-bit video sequences. In the performance comparison the Main 10 profile provided a 5% bit rate reduction for [[Engineering:Inter frame|inter frame]] video coding compared to the Main profile. The performance comparison states that for the tested video sequences the Main 10 profile outperformed the Main profile.<ref name=HEVCApril2013M0166>{{cite news |title=Comparison of Compression Performance of HEVC Draft 10 with AVC for UHD-1 material |author=Pierre Andrivon |author2=Marco Arena |author3=Philippe Salmon |author4=Philippe Bordes |author5=Paola Sunna |publisher=JCT-VC |url=http://phenix.it-sudparis.eu/jct/doc_end_user/current_document.php?id=7417 |date=2013-04-08 |access-date=2013-04-28 |archive-date=January 2, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140102193906/http://phenix.it-sudparis.eu/jct/doc_end_user/current_document.php?id=7417 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

====Main Still Picture====

{| class="wikitable floatright" style="text-align:right;"
|+ Comparison of standards for still image compression based on equal PSNR and MOS<ref name=HEVCJanuary2013L0380/>
|-
!rowspan="2"| Still image<br>coding standard<br>(test method)
!colspan="2"| Average bit rate<br> reduction compared to
|-
! JPEG&nbsp;2000
! &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;JPEG&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
|-
! HEVC (PSNR)
| 20%
| 62%
|-
! HEVC (MOS)
| 31%
| 43%
|}

The Main Still Picture ({{code|MainStillPicture}}) profile allows for a single still picture to be encoded with the same constraints as the Main profile. As a subset of the Main profile the Main Still Picture profile allows for a bit depth of 8 bits per sample with 4:2:0 chroma sampling.{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}}{{sfn|ITU|2015}}<ref name=HEVCApril2013EricssonPDF/> An objective performance comparison was done in April 2012 in which HEVC reduced the average bit rate for images by 56% compared to [[JPEG]].<ref name=HEVCApril2012I0461>{{cite news |title=On HEVC still picture coding performance |author=Jani Lainema |author2=Kemal Ugur |publisher=JCT-VC |url=http://phenix.it-sudparis.eu/jct/doc_end_user/current_document.php?id=5721 |date=2012-04-20 |access-date=2013-01-22 |archive-date=August 13, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140813153303/http://phenix.it-sudparis.eu/jct/doc_end_user/current_document.php?id=5721 |url-status=dead }}</ref> A [[Peak signal-to-noise ratio|PSNR]] based performance comparison for still image compression was done in May 2012 using the HEVC HM 6.0 encoder and the reference software encoders for the other standards. For still images HEVC reduced the average bit rate by 15.8% compared to H.264/MPEG-4 AVC, 22.6% compared to [[JPEG 2000]], 30.0% compared to [[JPEG XR]], 31.0% compared to [[Software:WebP|WebP]], and 43.0% compared to JPEG.<ref name=HEVCMay2012I0595>{{cite news |title=Performance Comparison of HM 6.0 with Existing Still Image Compression Schemes Using a Test Set of Popular Still Images |author=T. Nguyen |author2=D. Marpe |publisher=JCT-VC |url=http://phenix.it-sudparis.eu/jct/doc_end_user/current_document.php?id=5871 |date=2012-05-03 |access-date=2012-12-31 |archive-date=August 13, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140813165406/http://phenix.it-sudparis.eu/jct/doc_end_user/current_document.php?id=5871 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

A performance comparison for still image compression was done in January 2013 using the HEVC HM 8.0rc2 encoder, Kakadu version 6.0 for JPEG 2000, and IJG version 6b for JPEG. The performance comparison used PSNR for the objective assessment and [[Social:Mean opinion score|mean opinion score]] (MOS) values for the subjective assessment. The subjective assessment used the same test methodology and images as those used by the JPEG committee when it evaluated JPEG XR. For 4:2:0 chroma sampled images the average bit rate reduction for HEVC compared to JPEG 2000 was 20.26% for PSNR and 30.96% for MOS while compared to JPEG it was 61.63% for PSNR and 43.10% for MOS.<ref name=HEVCJanuary2013L0380>{{cite news |title=AhG4: Subjective evaluation of HEVC intra coding for still image compression |author=Philippe Hanhart |author2=Martin Rerabek |author3=Pavel Korshunov |author4=Touradj Ebrahimi |publisher=JCT-VC |url=http://phenix.it-sudparis.eu/jct/doc_end_user/current_document.php?id=7167 |date=2013-01-09 |access-date=2013-01-11 |archive-date=August 13, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140813163336/http://phenix.it-sudparis.eu/jct/doc_end_user/current_document.php?id=7167 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

A PSNR based HEVC performance comparison for still image compression was done in April 2013 by [[Company:Nokia|Nokia]]. HEVC has a larger performance improvement for higher resolution images than lower resolution images and a larger performance improvement for lower bit rates than higher bit rates. For [[Lossy compression|lossy compression]] to get the same PSNR as HEVC took on average 1.4× more bits with JPEG 2000, 1.6× more bits with JPEG-XR, and 2.3× more bits with JPEG.<ref name=HEVCApril2013M0041>{{cite news |title=Updated results on HEVC still picture coding performance |author=Kemal Ugur |author2=Jani Lainema |publisher=JCT-VC |url=http://phenix.it-sudparis.eu/jct/doc_end_user/current_document.php?id=7292 |date=2013-04-04 |access-date=2013-04-04 |archive-date=May 27, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130527054109/http://phenix.it-sudparis.eu/jct/doc_end_user/current_document.php?id=7292 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

A compression efficiency study of HEVC, JPEG, JPEG XR, and WebP was done in October 2013 by Mozilla. The study showed that HEVC was significantly better at compression than the other image formats that were tested. Four different methods for comparing image quality were used in the study which were Y-SSIM, RGB-SSIM, IW-SSIM, and PSNR-HVS-M.<ref name=ArticleHEVCOctober2013Mozilla>{{cite news |title=Studying Lossy Image Compression Efficiency |publisher=Mozilla |url=https://blog.mozilla.org/research/2013/10/17/studying-lossy-image-compression-efficiency/ |date=2013-10-17 |access-date=2013-10-19}}</ref><ref name=ImageStudyHEVCOctober2013Mozilla>{{cite news |title=Lossy Compressed Image Formats Study |publisher=Mozilla |url=https://people.mozilla.org/~josh/lossy_compressed_image_study_october_2013/ |date=2013-10-17 |access-date=2013-10-19 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131020023304/http://people.mozilla.org/~josh/lossy_compressed_image_study_october_2013/ |archive-date=October 20, 2013 |df=mdy-all }}</ref>

===Version 2 profiles===
Version 2 of HEVC adds 21 range extensions profiles, two scalable extensions profiles, and one multi-view profile: '''Monochrome''', '''Monochrome 12''', '''Monochrome 16''', '''Main 12''', '''Main 4:2:2 10''', '''Main 4:2:2 12''', '''Main 4:4:4''', '''Main 4:4:4 10''', '''Main 4:4:4 12''', '''Monochrome 12 Intra''', '''Monochrome 16 Intra''', '''Main 12 Intra''', '''Main 4:2:2 10 Intra''', '''Main 4:2:2 12 Intra''', '''Main 4:4:4 Intra''', '''Main 4:4:4 10 Intra''', '''Main 4:4:4 12 Intra''', '''Main 4:4:4 16 Intra''', '''Main 4:4:4 Still Picture''', '''Main 4:4:4 16 Still Picture''', '''High Throughput 4:4:4 16 Intra''', '''Scalable Main''', '''Scalable Main 10''', and '''Multiview Main'''.{{sfn|ITU|2015}}<ref name=HEVCJuly2014R1008>{{cite news |title=HEVC Scalable Extensions (SHVC) Draft Text 7 (separated text) |author=Jianle Chen |author2=Jill Boyce |author3=Yan Ye |author4=Miska M. Hannuksela |author5=Gary J. Sullivan |author6=Ye-kui Wang |publisher=JCT-VC |url=http://phenix.it-sudparis.eu/jct/doc_end_user/current_document.php?id=9465 |date=2014-07-10 |access-date=2014-07-13 |archive-date=November 1, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141101222319/http://phenix.it-sudparis.eu/jct/doc_end_user/current_document.php?id=9465 |url-status=dead }}</ref> All of the [[Engineering:Inter frame|inter frame]] range extensions profiles have an Intra profile.{{sfn|ITU|2015}}

;Monochrome
:The Monochrome profile allows for a bit depth of 8 bits per sample with support for 4:0:0 chroma sampling.{{sfn|ITU|2015}}
;Monochrome 12
:The Monochrome 12 profile allows for a bit depth of 8 bits to 12 bits per sample with support for 4:0:0 chroma sampling.{{sfn|ITU|2015}}
;Monochrome 16
:The Monochrome 16 profile allows for a bit depth of 8 bits to 16 bits per sample with support for 4:0:0 chroma sampling. HEVC decoders that conform to the Monochrome 16 profile must be capable of decoding bitstreams made with the following profiles: Monochrome, Monochrome 12, and Monochrome 16.{{sfn|ITU|2015}}
;Main 12
:The Main 12 profile allows for a bit depth of 8 bits to 12 bits per sample with support for 4:0:0 and 4:2:0 chroma sampling. HEVC decoders that conform to the Main 12 profile must be capable of decoding bitstreams made with the following profiles: Monochrome, Monochrome 12, Main, Main 10, and Main 12.{{sfn|ITU|2015}}
;Main 4{{!:}}2{{!:}}2 10
:The Main 4:2:2 10 profile allows for a bit depth of 8 bits to 10 bits per sample with support for 4:0:0, 4:2:0, and 4:2:2 chroma sampling. HEVC decoders that conform to the Main 4:2:2 10 profile must be capable of decoding bitstreams made with the following profiles: Monochrome, Main, Main 10, and Main 4:2:2 10.{{sfn|ITU|2015}}
;Main 4{{!:}}2{{!:}}2 12
:The Main 4:2:2 12 profile allows for a bit depth of 8 bits to 12 bits per sample with support for 4:0:0, 4:2:0, and 4:2:2 chroma sampling. HEVC decoders that conform to the Main 4:2:2 12 profile must be capable of decoding bitstreams made with the following profiles: Monochrome, Monochrome 12, Main, Main 10, Main 12, Main 4:2:2 10, and Main 4:2:2 12.{{sfn|ITU|2015}}
;Main 4{{!:}}4{{!:}}4
:The Main 4:4:4 profile allows for a bit depth of 8 bits per sample with support for 4:0:0, 4:2:0, 4:2:2, and 4:4:4 chroma sampling. HEVC decoders that conform to the Main 4:4:4 profile must be capable of decoding bitstreams made with the following profiles: Monochrome, Main, and Main 4:4:4.{{sfn|ITU|2015}}
;Main 4{{!:}}4{{!:}}4 10
:The Main 4:4:4 10 profile allows for a bit depth of 8 bits to 10 bits per sample with support for 4:0:0, 4:2:0, 4:2:2, and 4:4:4 chroma sampling. HEVC decoders that conform to the Main 4:4:4 10 profile must be capable of decoding bitstreams made with the following profiles: Monochrome, Main, Main 10, Main 4:2:2 10, Main 4:4:4, and Main 4:4:4 10.{{sfn|ITU|2015}}
;Main 4{{!:}}4{{!:}}4 12
:The Main 4:4:4 12 profile allows for a bit depth of 8 bits to 12 bits per sample with support for 4:0:0, 4:2:0, 4:2:2, and 4:4:4 chroma sampling. HEVC decoders that conform to the Main 4:4:4 12 profile must be capable of decoding bitstreams made with the following profiles: Monochrome, Main, Main 10, Main 12, Main 4:2:2 10, Main 4:2:2 12, Main 4:4:4, Main 4:4:4 10, Main 4:4:4 12, and Monochrome 12.{{sfn|ITU|2015}}
;Main 4{{!:}}4{{!:}}4 16 Intra
:The Main 4:4:4 16 Intra profile allows for a bit depth of 8 bits to 16 bits per sample with support for 4:0:0, 4:2:0, 4:2:2, and 4:4:4 chroma sampling. HEVC decoders that conform to the Main 4:4:4 16 Intra profile must be capable of decoding bitstreams made with the following profiles: Monochrome Intra, Monochrome 12 Intra, Monochrome 16 Intra, Main Intra, Main 10 Intra, Main 12 Intra, Main 4:2:2 10 Intra, Main 4:2:2 12 Intra, Main 4:4:4 Intra, Main 4:4:4 10 Intra, and Main 4:4:4 12 Intra.{{sfn|ITU|2015}}
;High Throughput 4{{!:}}4{{!:}}4 16 Intra
:The High Throughput 4:4:4 16 Intra profile allows for a bit depth of 8 bits to 16 bits per sample with support for 4:0:0, 4:2:0, 4:2:2, and 4:4:4 chroma sampling. The High Throughput 4:4:4 16 Intra profile has an {{code|HbrFactor}} 12 times higher than other HEVC profiles, allowing it to have a maximum bit rate 12 times higher than the Main 4:4:4 16 Intra profile.{{sfn|ITU|2015}}<ref name=HEVCJuly2014R0128>{{cite news |title=High 4:4:4 16 Intra profile specification |author=K. Sharman |author2=N. Saunders |author3=J. Gamei |author4=T. Suzuki |author5=A. Tabatabai |publisher=JCT-VC |url=http://phenix.it-sudparis.eu/jct/doc_end_user/current_document.php?id=9198 |date=2014-06-20 |access-date=2014-07-13 |archive-date=July 14, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714214949/http://phenix.it-sudparis.eu/jct/doc_end_user/current_document.php?id=9198 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The High Throughput 4:4:4 16 Intra profile is designed for high end professional content creation and decoders for this profile are not required to support other profiles.<ref name=HEVCJuly2014R0128/>
;Main 4{{!:}}4{{!:}}4 Still Picture
:The Main 4:4:4 Still Picture profile allows for a single still picture to be encoded with the same constraints as the Main 4:4:4 profile. As a [[Subset|subset]] of the Main 4:4:4 profile, the Main 4:4:4 Still Picture profile allows for a bit depth of 8 bits per sample with support for 4:0:0, 4:2:0, 4:2:2, and 4:4:4 chroma sampling.{{sfn|ITU|2015}}
;Main 4{{!:}}4{{!:}}4 16 Still Picture
:{{see also|Better Portable Graphics}}
:The Main 4:4:4 16 Still Picture profile allows for a single still picture to be encoded with the same constraints as the Main 4:4:4 16 Intra profile. As a [[Subset|subset]] of the Main 4:4:4 16 Intra profile, the Main 4:4:4 16 Still Picture profile allows for a bit depth of 8 bits to 16 bits per sample with support for 4:0:0, 4:2:0, 4:2:2, and 4:4:4 chroma sampling.{{sfn|ITU|2015}}
;Scalable Main
:The Scalable Main profile allows for a base layer that conforms to the Main profile of HEVC.{{sfn|ITU|2015}}
;Scalable Main 10
:The Scalable Main 10 profile allows for a base layer that conforms to the Main 10 profile of HEVC.{{sfn|ITU|2015}}
;Multiview Main
:The Multiview Main profile allows for a base layer that conforms to the Main profile of HEVC.{{sfn|ITU|2015}}

===Version 3 and higher profiles===
Version 3 of HEVC added one 3D profile: '''3D Main'''. The February 2016 draft of the screen content coding extensions added seven screen content coding extensions profiles, three high throughput extensions profiles, and four scalable extensions profiles: '''Screen-Extended Main''', '''Screen-Extended Main 10''', '''Screen-Extended Main 4:4:4''', '''Screen-Extended Main 4:4:4 10''', '''Screen-Extended High Throughput 4:4:4''', '''Screen-Extended High Throughput 4:4:4 10''', '''Screen-Extended High Throughput 4:4:4 14''', '''High Throughput 4:4:4''', '''High Throughput 4:4:4 10''', '''High Throughput 4:4:4 14''', '''Scalable Monochrome''', '''Scalable Monochrome 12''', '''Scalable Monochrome 16''', and '''Scalable Main 4:4:4'''.{{sfn|ITU|2015}}<ref name=HEVCFebruary2016W1005>{{cite news |title=HEVC Screen Content Coding Draft Text 6 |author=Rajan Joshi |author2=Shan Liu |author3=Gary Sullivan |author4=Gerhard Tech |author5=Ye-Kui Wang |author6=Jizheng Xu |author7=Yan Ye |publisher=JCT-VC |url=http://phenix.it-sudparis.eu/jct/doc_end_user/current_document.php?id=10481 |date=2016-03-24 |access-date=2016-03-26 |archive-date=November 18, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181118135433/http://phenix.it-sudparis.eu/jct/doc_end_user/current_document.php?id=10481 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
;3D Main
:The 3D Main profile allows for a base layer that conforms to the Main profile of HEVC.{{sfn|ITU|2015}}
;Screen-Extended Main
:The Screen-Extended Main profile allows for a bit depth of 8 bits per sample with support for 4:0:0 and 4:2:0 chroma sampling. HEVC decoders that conform to the Screen-Extended Main profile must be capable of decoding bitstreams made with the following profiles: Monochrome, Main, and Screen-Extended Main.<ref name=HEVCFebruary2016W1005/>
;Screen-Extended Main 10
:The Screen-Extended Main 10 profile allows for a bit depth of 8 bits to 10 bits per sample with support for 4:0:0 and 4:2:0 chroma sampling. HEVC decoders that conform to the Screen-Extended Main 10 profile must be capable of decoding bitstreams made with the following profiles: Monochrome, Main, Main 10, Screen-Extended Main, and Screen-Extended Main 10.<ref name=HEVCFebruary2016W1005/>
;Screen-Extended Main 4{{!:}}4{{!:}}4
:The Screen-Extended Main 4:4:4 profile allows for a bit depth of 8 bits per sample with support for 4:0:0, 4:2:0, 4:2:2, and 4:4:4 chroma sampling. HEVC decoders that conform to the Screen-Extended Main 4:4:4 profile must be capable of decoding bitstreams made with the following profiles: Monochrome, Main, Main 4:4:4, Screen-Extended Main, and Screen-Extended Main 4:4:4.<ref name=HEVCFebruary2016W1005/>
;Screen-Extended Main 4{{!:}}4{{!:}}4 10
:The Screen-Extended Main 4:4:4 10 profile allows for a bit depth of 8 bits to 10 bits per sample with support for 4:0:0, 4:2:0, 4:2:2, and 4:4:4 chroma sampling. HEVC decoders that conform to the Screen-Extended Main 4:4:4 10 profile must be capable of decoding bitstreams made with the following profiles: Monochrome, Main, Main 10, Main 4:2:2 10, Main 4:4:4, Main 4:4:4 10, Screen-Extended Main, Screen-Extended Main 10, Screen-Extended Main 4:4:4, and Screen-Extended Main 4:4:4 10.<ref name=HEVCFebruary2016W1005/>
;Screen-Extended High Throughput 4{{!:}}4{{!:}}4
:The Screen-Extended High Throughput 4:4:4 profile allows for a bit depth of 8 bits per sample with support for 4:0:0, 4:2:0, 4:2:2, and 4:4:4 chroma sampling. The Screen-Extended High Throughput 4:4:4 profile has an HbrFactor 6 times higher than most inter frame HEVC profiles allowing it to have a maximum bit rate 6 times higher than the Main 4:4:4 profile. HEVC decoders that conform to the Screen-Extended High Throughput 4:4:4 profile must be capable of decoding bitstreams made with the following profiles: Monochrome, Main, Main 4:4:4, Screen-Extended Main, Screen-Extended Main 4:4:4, Screen-Extended High Throughput 4:4:4, and High Throughput 4:4:4.<ref name=HEVCFebruary2016W1005/>
;Screen-Extended High Throughput 4{{!:}}4{{!:}}4 10
:The Screen-Extended High Throughput 4:4:4 10 profile allows for a bit depth of 8 bits to 10 bits per sample with support for 4:0:0, 4:2:0, 4:2:2, and 4:4:4 chroma sampling. The Screen-Extended High Throughput 4:4:4 10 profile has an HbrFactor 6 times higher than most inter frame HEVC profiles allowing it to have a maximum bit rate 6 times higher than the Main 4:4:4 10 profile. HEVC decoders that conform to the Screen-Extended High Throughput 4:4:4 10 profile must be capable of decoding bitstreams made with the following profiles: Monochrome, Main, Main 10, Main 4:2:2 10, Main 4:4:4, Main 4:4:4 10, Screen-Extended Main, Screen-Extended Main 10, Screen-Extended Main 4:4:4, Screen-Extended Main 4:4:4 10, Screen-Extended High Throughput 4:4:4, Screen-Extended High Throughput 4:4:4 10, High Throughput 4:4:4, and High Throughput 4:4:4.<ref name=HEVCFebruary2016W1005/>
;Screen-Extended High Throughput 4{{!:}}4{{!:}}4 14
:The Screen-Extended High Throughput 4:4:4 14 profile allows for a bit depth of 8 bits to 14 bits per sample with support for 4:0:0, 4:2:0, 4:2:2, and 4:4:4 chroma sampling. The Screen-Extended High Throughput 4:4:4 14 profile has an HbrFactor 6 times higher than most inter frame HEVC profiles. HEVC decoders that conform to the Screen-Extended High Throughput 4:4:4 14 profile must be capable of decoding bitstreams made with the following profiles: Monochrome, Main, Main 10, Main 4:2:2 10, Main 4:4:4, Main 4:4:4 10, Screen-Extended Main, Screen-Extended Main 10, Screen-Extended Main 4:4:4, Screen-Extended Main 4:4:4 10, Screen-Extended High Throughput 4:4:4, Screen-Extended High Throughput 4:4:4 10, Screen-Extended High Throughput 4:4:4 14, High Throughput 4:4:4, High Throughput 4:4:4 10, and High Throughput 4:4:4 14.<ref name=HEVCFebruary2016W1005/>
;High Throughput 4{{!:}}4{{!:}}4
:The High Throughput 4:4:4 profile allows for a bit depth of 8 bits per sample with support for 4:0:0, 4:2:0, 4:2:2, and 4:4:4 chroma sampling. The High Throughput 4:4:4 profile has an HbrFactor 6 times higher than most inter frame HEVC profiles allowing it to have a maximum bit rate 6 times higher than the Main 4:4:4 profile. HEVC decoders that conform to the High Throughput 4:4:4 profile must be capable of decoding bitstreams made with the following profiles: High Throughput 4:4:4.<ref name=HEVCFebruary2016W1005/>
;High Throughput 4{{!:}}4{{!:}}4 10
:The High Throughput 4:4:4 10 profile allows for a bit depth of 8 bits to 10 bits per sample with support for 4:0:0, 4:2:0, 4:2:2, and 4:4:4 chroma sampling. The High Throughput 4:4:4 10 profile has an HbrFactor 6 times higher than most inter frame HEVC profiles allowing it to have a maximum bit rate 6 times higher than the Main 4:4:4 10 profile. HEVC decoders that conform to the High Throughput 4:4:4 10 profile must be capable of decoding bitstreams made with the following profiles: High Throughput 4:4:4 and High Throughput 4:4:4 10.<ref name=HEVCFebruary2016W1005/>
;High Throughput 4{{!:}}4{{!:}}4 14
:The High Throughput 4:4:4 14 profile allows for a bit depth of 8 bits to 14 bits per sample with support for 4:0:0, 4:2:0, 4:2:2, and 4:4:4 chroma sampling. The High Throughput 4:4:4 14 profile has an HbrFactor 6 times higher than most inter frame HEVC profiles. HEVC decoders that conform to the High Throughput 4:4:4 14 profile must be capable of decoding bitstreams made with the following profiles: High Throughput 4:4:4, High Throughput 4:4:4 10, and High Throughput 4:4:4 14.<ref name=HEVCFebruary2016W1005/>
;Scalable Monochrome
:The Scalable Monochrome profile allows for a base layer that conforms to the Monochrome profile of HEVC.<ref name=HEVCFebruary2016W1005/>
;Scalable Monochrome 12
:The Scalable Monochrome 12 profile allows for a base layer that conforms to the Monochrome 12 profile of HEVC.<ref name=HEVCFebruary2016W1005/>
;Scalable Monochrome 16
:The Scalable Monochrome 16 profile allows for a base layer that conforms to the Monochrome 16 profile of HEVC.<ref name=HEVCFebruary2016W1005/>
;Scalable Main 4{{!:}}4{{!:}}4
:The Scalable Main 4:4:4 profile allows for a base layer that conforms to the Main 4:4:4 profile of HEVC.<ref name=HEVCFebruary2016W1005/>

==Tiers and levels==
{{Main|High Efficiency Video Coding tiers and levels}}

The HEVC standard defines two tiers, Main and High, and thirteen levels. A level is a set of constraints for a bitstream. For levels below level 4 only the Main tier is allowed. The Main tier is a lower tier than the High tier. The tiers were made to deal with applications that differ in terms of their maximum bit rate. The Main tier was designed for most applications while the High tier was designed for very demanding applications. A decoder that conforms to a given tier/level is required to be capable of decoding all bitstreams that are encoded for that tier/level and for all lower tiers/levels.{{sfn|Sullivan|2012}}{{sfn|ITU|2015}}
<!-- Please don't change the default state of the table to collapsed using the mw-collapsed option since that causes problems with some web browsers such as making the customtoggle in the table not work when the page is refreshed or revisited. -->
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:right; "
|+ Tiers and levels with maximum property values{{sfn|ITU|2015}}
|-
!rowspan="2"| Level
!rowspan="2"| Max luma sample rate<br>(samples/s)
!rowspan="2"| Max luma picture size<br>(samples)
!colspan="2"| Max bit rate for Main<br>and Main 10 profiles (kbit/s){{Ref label|MaxBitRate|A|A}}
!rowspan="2"| Example picture resolution @<br>highest frame rate{{Ref label|MaxFrameRate|B|B}}<br>(MaxDpbSize{{Ref label|MaxDpbSize|C|C}}) <div class="mw-customtoggle-HEVC" style="color: white; background-color: #347BFF; border: 1px solid #347BFF; border-radius: 2px; padding: 0.5em 1em;">More/Fewer examples</div>
|-
! Main tier
! High tier
|-
! 1
| 552,960
| 36,864
| 128
| –
|  <div class="mw-collapsible" id="mw-customcollapsible-HEVC"> 128×96@33.7 (6) </div> 176×144@15 (6)
|-
! 2
| 3,686,400
| 122,880
| 1,500
| –
| <div class="mw-collapsible" id="mw-customcollapsible-HEVC"> 176×144@100 (16) </div> 352×288@30 (6)
|-
! 2.1
| 7,372,800
| 245,760
| 3,000
| –
| <div class="mw-collapsible" id="mw-customcollapsible-HEVC"> 352×288@60 (12) </div> 640×360@30 (6)
|-
! 3
| 16,588,800
| 552,960
| 6,000
| –
| <div class="mw-collapsible" id="mw-customcollapsible-HEVC"> 640×360@67.5 (12) <br> 720×576@37.5 (8) </div> 960×540@30 (6)
|-
! 3.1
| 33,177,600
| 983,040
| 10,000
| –
| <div class="mw-collapsible" id="mw-customcollapsible-HEVC"> 720×576@75 (12) <br> 960×540@60 (8) </div> 1280×720@33.7 (6)
|-
! 4
| 66,846,720
| rowspan="2" | 2,228,224
| 12,000
| 30,000
| <div class="mw-collapsible" id="mw-customcollapsible-HEVC"> 1,280×720@68 (12)<br> 1,920×1,080@32 (6) </div> 2,048×1,080@30.0 (6)
|-
! 4.1
| 133,693,440
| 20,000
| 50,000
| <div class="mw-collapsible" id="mw-customcollapsible-HEVC"> 1,280×720@136 (12)<br> 1,920×1,080@64 (6) </div> 2,048×1,080@60 (6)
|-
! 5
| 267,386,880
| rowspan="3" | 8,912,896
| 25,000
| 100,000
| <div class="mw-collapsible" id="mw-customcollapsible-HEVC"> 1,920×1,080@128 (16) <br> 3,840×2,160@32 (6) </div> 4,096×2,160@30 (6)
|-
! 5.1
| 534,773,760
| 40,000
| 160,000
| <div class="mw-collapsible" id="mw-customcollapsible-HEVC"> 1,920×1,080@256 (16) <br> 3,840×2,160@64 (6) </div> 4,096×2,160@60 (6)
|-
! 5.2
| 1,069,547,520
| 60,000
| 240,000
| <div class="mw-collapsible" id="mw-customcollapsible-HEVC"> 1,920×1,080@300 (16) <br> 3,840×2,160@128 (6) </div> 4,096×2,160@120 (6)
|-
! 6
| 1,069,547,520
| rowspan="3" | 35,651,584
| 60,000
| 240,000
| <div class="mw-collapsible" id="mw-customcollapsible-HEVC"> 3,840×2,160@128 (16) <br> 7,680×4,320@32 (6) </div> 8,192×4,320@30 (6)
|-
! 6.1
| 2,139,095,040
| 120,000
| 480,000
| <div class="mw-collapsible" id="mw-customcollapsible-HEVC"> 3,840×2,160@256 (16) <br> 7,680×4,320@64 (6) </div>8,192×4,320@60 (6)
|-
! 6.2
| 4,278,190,080
| 240,000
| 800,000
| <div class="mw-collapsible" id="mw-customcollapsible-HEVC"> 3,840×2,160@300 (16) <br> 7,680×4,320@128 (6) </div> 8,192×4,320@120 (6)
|}
:{{note label|MaxBitRate|A|A}} The maximum bit rate of the profile is based on the combination of bit depth, chroma sampling, and the type of profile. For bit depth the maximum bit rate increases by 1.5× for 12-bit profiles and 2× for 16-bit profiles. For chroma sampling the maximum bit rate increases by 1.5× for 4:2:2 profiles and 2× for 4:4:4 profiles. For the Intra profiles the maximum bit rate increases by 2×.{{sfn|ITU|2015}}
:{{note label|MaxFrameRate|B|B}} The maximum frame rate supported by HEVC is 300 fps.{{sfn|ITU|2015}}
:{{note label|MaxDpbSize|C|C}} The MaxDpbSize is the maximum number of pictures in the decoded picture buffer.{{sfn|ITU|2015}}

===Decoded picture buffer===
Previously decoded pictures are stored in a decoded picture buffer (DPB), and are used by HEVC encoders to form predictions for subsequent pictures. The maximum number of pictures that can be stored in the DPB, called the DPB capacity, is 6 (including the current picture) for all HEVC levels when operating at the maximum picture size supported by the level. The DPB capacity (in units of pictures) increases from 6 to 8, 12, or 16 as the picture size decreases from the maximum picture size supported by the level. The encoder selects which specific pictures are retained in the DPB on a picture-by-picture basis, so the encoder has the flexibility to determine for itself the best way to use the DPB capacity when encoding the video content.{{sfn|ITU|2015}}

==Containers==
MPEG has published an amendment which added HEVC support to the [[MPEG transport stream]] used by [[ATSC standards|ATSC]], [[DVB]], and Blu-ray Disc; MPEG decided not to update the [[MPEG program stream]] used by [[Engineering:DVD-Video|DVD-Video]].<ref name=MPEGApril2013WorkPlan>{{cite news |title=Work plan and time line |publisher=MPEG |url=http://mpeg.chiariglione.org/docs/work-plan-and-time-line-0 |access-date=2013-05-31 |archive-date=February 21, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200221042228/http://mpeg.chiariglione.org/docs/work-plan-and-time-line-0 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=HEVCApril2014Amd3MPEG2>{{cite news |title=ISO/IEC 13818-1:2013/Amd 3:2014 |publisher=[[Organization:International Organization for Standardization|International Organization for Standardization]] |url=http://www.iso.org/iso/home/store/catalogue_tc/catalogue_detail.htm?csnumber=62129 |date=2014-04-10 |access-date=2014-04-20}}</ref> MPEG has also added HEVC support to the [[ISO base media file format]].<ref name="HEVCJune2013ISO14496-15">{{cite news |title=ISO/IEC 14496-15:2014 |publisher=International Organization for Standardization |url=http://www.iso.org/iso/home/store/catalogue_tc/catalogue_detail.htm?csnumber=65216 |date=2014-06-24 |access-date=2014-06-28}}</ref><ref name=HEVCNovember2013DCOR1ISO>{{cite news |title=Text of ISO/IEC 14496-15:2013/DCOR 1 |publisher=MPEG |url=http://mpeg.chiariglione.org/standards/mpeg-4/avc-file-format/text-isoiec-14496-152013dcor-1 |date=2013-11-05 |access-date=2013-12-14 |archive-date=February 21, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200221034611/http://mpeg.chiariglione.org/standards/mpeg-4/avc-file-format/text-isoiec-14496-152013dcor-1 |url-status=dead }}</ref> HEVC is also supported by the [[MPEG media transport]] standard.<ref name=MPEGApril2013WorkPlan/><ref name=MMTNovember2014>{{cite news |title=ISO/IEC 23008-1:2014 |publisher=International Organization for Standardization |url=http://www.iso.org/iso/home/store/catalogue_tc/catalogue_detail.htm?csnumber=62835 |date=2014-05-23 |access-date=2014-11-01}}</ref> Support for HEVC was added to [[Matroska]] starting with the release of [[Software:MKVToolNix|MKVToolNix]] v6.8.0 after a patch from DivX was merged.<ref name=DivxHEVCMatroskaJune2013DivxMKV>{{cite news |title=DivX HEVC Support in MKV |publisher=DivX |url=http://labs.divx.com/node/127905 |access-date=2013-06-05}}</ref><ref name=DivxHEVCMatroskaJune2013MKVToolNix>{{cite news |title=Using MKVToolNix |publisher=DivX |url=http://labs.divx.com/node/127907 |access-date=2013-06-05}}</ref> A draft document has been submitted to the [[Organization:Internet Engineering Task Force|Internet Engineering Task Force]] which describes a method to add HEVC support to the [[Real-time Transport Protocol]].<ref name=HEVCJune2013RTP>{{cite news |title=RTP Payload Format for High Efficiency Video Coding |publisher=[[Organization:Internet Engineering Task Force|Internet Engineering Task Force]] |url=http://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-ietf-payload-rtp-h265/ |date=2013-09-06 |access-date=2013-12-15}}</ref>

Using HEVC's intra frame encoding, a still-image coded format called [[Better Portable Graphics]] (BPG) has been proposed by the programmer Fabrice Bellard.<ref name=BPGSpecification>{{cite news |title=BPG Specification |author=Fabrice Bellard |publisher=Fabrice Bellard |url=http://bellard.org/bpg/bpg_spec.txt |access-date=2014-12-14}}</ref> It is essentially a wrapper for images coded using the HEVC Main 4:4:4 16 Still Picture profile with up to 14 bits per sample, although it uses an abbreviated header syntax and adds explicit support for [[Exif]], [[ICC profile]]s, and [[Extensible Metadata Platform|XMP]] metadata.<ref name=BPGSpecification/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://lwn.net/Articles/625535/|title=BPG, a still-image format from video compression|website=LWN.net|first=Nathan|last=Willis|date=2014-12-10}}</ref>

==Patent license terms==

License terms and fees for HEVC patents, compared with its main competitors:
{{Update|date=January 2026|reason=In December 2025 Access Advance acquired Via Licensing Alliance’s HEVC and VVC patent pools}}
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Video<br>format !! Licensor !! Codec<br>royalties !! Codec<br>royalty exemptions !! Codec<br>royalty annual cap !! Content<br>distribution fee
|-
|rowspan=5| '''HEVC''' || [[Company:Via-LA|Via-LA]]|| ▪ US$0.20 per unit || ▪ First 100k units each year<ref name="MPEGLAHEVCLicensePDFSeptember2014"/> || ▪ US$25 million || ▪ US$0 
|-
| Access Advance || '''Region 1''':<br>▪ US$0.40 (mobile)<br>▪ US$1.20 (4K TV)<br>▪ US$0.20-0.80 (other)<br>'''Region 2''':<br>▪ US$0.20 (mobile)<br>▪ US$0.60 (4K TV)<br>▪ US$0.20–0.40 (other)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hevcadvance.com/pdfnew/RoyaltyRatesSummary.pdf|title=Royalty Rates Summary|website=epdf.hevcadvance.com|access-date=April 11, 2018|archive-date=April 6, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190406173933/https://www.hevcadvance.com/pdfnew/RoyaltyRatesSummary.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> || ▪ US$25,000 each year<ref>{{cite web|url=http://epdf.hevcadvance.com/pdf/embed?hash=45b481aa5e22256d59fb6de7f22f03cb#23|title=Licensing Rates and Structure|website=epdf.hevcadvance.com|access-date=November 27, 2016|archive-date=January 30, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190130113918/http://epdf.hevcadvance.com/pdf/embed?hash=45b481aa5e22256d59fb6de7f22f03cb#23|url-status=dead}}</ref><br><br> ▪ Most software HEVC implementation distributed to consumer devices after first sale<ref>{{Cite web|title=HEVC Advance|url=https://www.hevcadvance.com/hevc-advance-announces-royalty-free-hevc-software-2/|website=www.hevcadvance.com|access-date=2020-05-09|archive-date=August 14, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200814221658/https://www.hevcadvance.com/hevc-advance-announces-royalty-free-hevc-software-2/|url-status=dead}}</ref>|| ▪ US$40 million || '''Physical distribution''':<br> ▪ $0.0225 per disc/title (Region 1)<ref name="hevc-advance-royalties"/><br> ▪ $0.01125 per disc/title (Region 2)<ref name="hevc-advance-royalties"/><br> '''Non-physical distribution''':<br> ▪ US$0<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.streamingmedia.com/Articles/News/Online-Video-News/HEVC-Advance-Cuts-Content-Fees-on-Streaming-123828.aspx|title=HEVC Advance Cuts Content Fees on Streaming|publisher=Streaming Media Magazine}}</ref>
|-
| Technicolor
|colspan=3| tailor-made agreements<ref name="why_technicolor_left_pool"/> || ▪ US$0<ref name="why_technicolor_left_pool"/>
|-
| Velos Media<ref name=VelosHEVCMarch2017Yahoo/>
|colspan=3 {{dunno}} || ▪ Presumed to charge royalty<ref>{{cite news|quote=Since they haven’t, many producers presume that the pool will impose content royalties.|url=http://www.streamingmedia.com/Articles/Editorial/Featured-Articles/Return-of-the-Codec-Wars-A-New-Hope-a-Streaming-Summer-Sequel-126339.aspx|title=Return of the Codec Wars: A New Hope—a Streaming Summer Sequel|last=Ozer|first=Jan|date=17 July 2018|publisher=Streaming Media Magazine}}</ref>
|-
| others (AT&T, Microsoft, Motorola, Nokia, Cisco, ...)<ref name="streaming"/><ref name="x265_proposal">{{cite web|last1=Vaughan|first1=Tom|title=A Proposal to Accelerate HEVC Adoption|url=http://x265.org/proposal-accelerate-hevc-adoption/|access-date=25 January 2017|date=August 30, 2016|quote=A number of important companies with HEVC patents have not yet joined one of the patent pools. (…) To accelerate HEVC adoption, I propose that HEVC patent licensors agree to the following principles; · Software decoding on consumer devices must be royalty free. · Software encoding on consumer devices must be royalty free. · Content distribution must be royalty free.}}</ref><ref name="thor_ipr">{{cite web|author1=Arild Fuldseth|author2=Gisle Bjøntegaard|title=Thor — High Efficiency, Moderate Complexity Video Codec using only RF IPR|url=https://www.ietf.org/proceedings/93/slides/slides-93-netvc-4.pdf|access-date=28 May 2017|date=2015-07-01|quote=Transforms are identical to H.265/HEVC (Cisco IPR)}}</ref>
|colspan=4 {{dunno}}
|-
|rowspan=2| '''AVC''' || [[Company:Via-LA|Via-LA]]
| '''Codecs to end users and OEM for PC but not part of PC OS''':<br>▪ US$0.20: 100k+ units/year<br>▪ US$0.10: 5M+ units/year<br><br>'''Branded OEM Codecs for PC OS''':<br>▪ US$0.20: 100k+ units/year<br>▪ US$0.10: 5M+ units/year<ref name="AVCPatentPortfolio"/>
| '''Codecs to end users and OEM for PC but not part of PC OS''':<br>▪ First 100k units each year<br><br>'''Branded OEM Codecs for PC OS''':<br>▪ First 100k units each year<ref name="AVCPatentPortfolio">{{cite web|url=http://www.mpegla.com/main/programs/AVC/Documents/avcweb.pdf|date=2016-05-02|access-date=2016-11-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161128050907/http://www.mpegla.com/main/programs/AVC/Documents/avcweb.pdf|archive-date=2016-11-28|url-status=live|title=AVC Patent Portfolio License Briefing|publisher=[[Company:MPEG LA|MPEG LA]]}}</ref>
| '''Codecs to end users and OEM for PC but not part of PC OS''':<br>▪ US$9.75 million (for 2017-20 period)<br><br>'''Branded OEM Codecs for PC OS''':<br>▪ US$9.75 million (for 2017-20 period)<ref name="AVCPatentPortfolio"/>
| '''Free Television''':<br>▪ one time $2,500 per transmission encoder, or<br>▪ $2,500...$10,000 annual fee <br>'''Internet Broadcast''':<br> ▪ US$0<br>'''Paid Subscriber Model''':<br>▪ &nbsp;{{0}}{{0}}{{0}}{{0}}{{0}}$0/yr: {{0}}{{0}}0k...100k subscribers<br>▪ {{0}}$25,000/yr: 100k...250k subscribers<br>▪ {{0}}$50,000/yr: 250k...500k subscribers<br>▪ {{0}}$75,000/yr: 500k...1M subscribers<br>▪ $100,000/yr: 1M+ subscribers<br>'''Paid by Title Model''':<br>▪ 0...12 min: no royalty<br>▪ 12+ min: lower of 2% or US$0.02/title<br>'''Maximum Annual Content Related Royalty''':<br>▪ US$8.125 million 
|-
| others (Nokia, Qualcomm, Broadcomm, Blackberry, Texas Instruments, MIT)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.itu.int/ITU-T/recommendations/related_ps.aspx?id_prod=6312|title=ITU-T Recommendation declared patent(s)|website=ITU}}</ref>
|colspan=4 {{dunno}}
|-
| '''AV1''' || Alliance for Open Media || ▪ US$0
|colspan="2" {{N/A}} || ▪ US$0
|-
| '''Daala''' || Mozilla & Xiph.org || ▪ US$0
|colspan="2" {{N/A}} || ▪ US$0
|-
| '''VP9''' || Google || ▪ US$0
|colspan="2" {{N/A}} || ▪ US$0
|}

===Provision for costless software===

As with its predecessor AVC, software distributors that implement HEVC in products must pay a price per distributed copy.{{ref|regardless|[i]}} While this licensing model is manageable for paid software, it is an obstacle to most [[Free and open-source software|free and open-source software]], which is meant to be freely distributable. In the opinion of [[Company:MulticoreWare|MulticoreWare]], the developer of [[Software:X265|x265]], enabling royalty-free software encoders and decoders is in the interest of accelerating HEVC adoption.<ref name="x265_proposal"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.streamingmedia.com/Articles/Editorial/Featured-Articles/Its-Time-to-Move-Forward-with-HEVC-113278.aspx|title=It's Time to Move Forward with HEVC |website=Streaming Media Magazine|first=Tom|last=Vaughan|date=August 31, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.streamingmedia.com/Articles/Editorial/Featured-Articles/Opinion-Is-A-Codec-War-in-Our-Future-112919.aspx|title=Opinion: Is A Codec War in Our Future? |website=Streaming Media Magazine|first=Thierry|last=Fautier|date=August 12, 2016}}</ref> HEVC Advance made an exception that specifically waives the royalties on software-only implementations (both decoders and encoders) when not bundled with hardware.<ref name="HEVC_advance_sw_roy">{{cite news|last1=Ozer|first1=Jan|title=HEVC Advance Makes Some Software Royalty Free|url=http://www.streamingmedia.com/Articles/News/Online-Video-News/HEVC-Advance-Makes-Some-Software-Royalty-Free-114938.aspx|access-date=3 December 2016|date=22 November 2016}}</ref> However, the exempted software is not free from the licensing obligations of other patent holders (e.g. members of the MPEG LA pool).

While the obstacle to free software is no concern in for example TV broadcast networks, this problem, combined with the prospect of future [[Social:Vendor lock-in#Collective vendor lock-in|collective lock-in]] to the format, makes several organizations like Mozilla (see [[Software:OpenH264|OpenH264]]) and the [[Organization:Free Software Foundation Europe|Free Software Foundation Europe]]<ref name="fsfe_on_frand">{{cite web|title=Why is FRAND bad for Free Software?|url=https://fsfe.org/activities/os/why-frand-is-bad-for-free-software.en.html|website=Free Software Foundation Europe|access-date=2017-03-07|date=2016-06-20}}</ref> wary of royalty-bearing formats for internet use. Competing formats intended for internet use (VP9 and AV1) are intended to steer clear of these concerns by being royalty free (provided there are no third-party claims of patent rights).

{{note|regardless|i}}: Regardless of how the software is licensed from the software authors (see software licensing), if what it does is patented, its use remains bound by the patent holders' rights unless the use of the patents has been authorized by a license.

===Controversy===
Since November 2025, [[Company:Dell|Dell]] and [[Company:HP Inc.|HP]] announced they will disable HEVC hardware decoding features in UEFI/BIOS level for some entry and middle-end laptops, due to HEVC license fee increases.<ref>{{cite web | title=HP and Dell disable HEVC support built into their laptops' CPUs | date=November 20, 2025 | url=https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/11/hp-and-dell-disable-hevc-support-built-into-their-laptops-cpus/ }}</ref>

==Versatile Video Coding==
{{main|Versatile Video Coding}}

In October 2015, MPEG and VCEG formed Joint Video Exploration Team (JVET)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-T/studygroups/2017-2020/16/Pages/video/jvet.aspx|title=JVET - Joint Video Experts Team|website=ITU.int}}</ref> to evaluate available compression technologies and study the requirements for a next-generation video compression standard. The new algorithm should have 30–50% better compression rate for the same perceptual quality, with support for lossless and subjectively lossless compression. It should also support YCbCr 4:4:4, 4:2:2 and 4:2:0 with 10 to 16 bits per component, BT.2100 wide color gamut and high dynamic range (HDR) of more than 16 stops (with peak brightness of 1,000, 4,000 and 10,000 nits), auxiliary channels (for depth, transparency, etc.), variable and fractional frame rates from 0 to 120&nbsp;Hz, scalable video coding for temporal (frame rate), spatial (resolution), SNR, color gamut and dynamic range differences, stereo/multiview coding, panoramic formats, and still picture coding. Encoding complexity of 10 times that of HEVC is expected. JVET issued a final "Call for Proposals" in October 2017, with the first working draft of the Versatile Video Coding (VVC) standard released in April 2018.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://mpeg.chiariglione.org/standards/mpeg-i/versatile-video-coding|title=Versatile Video Coding|website=The Moving Picture Experts Group website}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.itu.int/versatile-video-coding-project-starts-strongly/|date=2018-04-27|title=Beyond HEVC: Versatile Video Coding project starts strongly in Joint Video Experts Team|website=ITU News|access-date=June 30, 2018|archive-date=December 24, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181224215709/https://news.itu.int/versatile-video-coding-project-starts-strongly/|url-status=dead}}</ref> The VVC standard was finalized on July 6, 2020.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-T/studygroups/2017-2020/16/Pages/video/jvet.aspx|title=JVET - Joint Video Experts Team|website=www.itu.int|access-date=2021-09-08}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Engineering:Ultra-high-definition television|UHDTV]] – digital television formats with resolutions of 4K / 2160p (3840×2160) and 8K / 4320p (7680×4320)
**[[Rec. 2020]] – ITU-R Recommendation for UHDTV with standard dynamic range
**[[Engineering:Rec. 2100|Rec. 2100]] – ITU-R Recommendation for HDTV and UHDTV with [[Engineering:High-dynamic-range video|high dynamic range]]
*Image file formats based on HEVC
**[[Better Portable Graphics]] – a file format for images based on HEVC
**[[High Efficiency Image File Format]] – a file format for images and image sequences based on HEVC
* [[Comparison of video codecs]]
* [[Software:List of open-source codecs|List of open-source codecs]]
**[[Software:X265|x265]] – an open-source software implementation of HEVC
* [[List of codecs|List of multimedia (audio/video) codecs]]
**H.264/MPEG-4 AVC – a codec develop by MPEG and ITU
**[[Software:AV1|AV1]] – an open format developed by the [[Organization:Alliance for Open Media|Alliance for Open Media]] as a successor to VP9
**[[VP9]] – an [[Open format|open format]] developed by [[Company:Google|Google]]
** [[Versatile Video Coding]] – a codec develop by MPEG and ITU
**[[Daala]] – an open format that is being developed by [[Organization:Mozilla Foundation|Mozilla Foundation]] and [[Organization:Xiph.Org Foundation|Xiph.Org Foundation]] as a competitor to HEVC
**[[Software:Dirac (video compression format)|Dirac (video compression format)]] – an open format that is being developed by the [[Organization:BBC Research & Development|BBC Research & Development]] as a competitor to HEVC
**[[Thor (video codec)]] – an open format that is being developed by [[Company:Cisco|Cisco]] as a competitor to HEVC
* [[LCEVC]] – differential overlays that can improve performance

==References==
{{Reflist|refs =

<ref name="AV1 Finalized">{{cite web
  |url=https://aomedia.org/the-alliance-for-open-media-kickstarts-video-innovation-era-with-av1-release/
  |title=The Alliance for Open Media Kickstarts Video Innovation Era with AV1 Release
  |publisher=Alliance for Open Media
  |date=28 March 2018
  |access-date=5 February 2020
  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180711042216/https://aomedia.org/the-alliance-for-open-media-kickstarts-video-innovation-era-with-av1-release/
  |archive-date=11 July 2018}}</ref>

<ref name="hevc-advance-royalties">{{cite web |title=Royalty Rate Structure forTrademark Licensees In-Compliance |url=https://www.hevcadvance.com/pdfnew/RoyaltyRatesSummary.pdf |website=HEVC Advance |access-date=12 June 2019 |date=March 2018 |archive-date=August 8, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190808084708/https://www.hevcadvance.com/pdfnew/RoyaltyRatesSummary.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

}}

===Bibliography===
* {{cite journal|title=Overview of the High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) Standard |author=G. J. Sullivan |author2=J.-R. Ohm |author3=W.-J. Han |author4-link=Thomas Wiegand |author4=T. Wiegand |journal=IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology |publisher=IEEE |volume=22 |issue=12 |pages=1649–1668 |date=December 2012 |ref=CITEREFSullivan2012|doi=10.1109/TCSVT.2012.2221191 |bibcode=2012ITCSV..22.1649S |doi-access=free }}
* {{cite news |title=H.265: High efficiency video coding |publisher=ITU |url=http://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-H.265|date=2015-07-09 |access-date=2015-08-02 |ref=CITEREFITU2015}}
* {{cite journal |title=Comparison of the Coding Efficiency of Video Coding Standards – Including High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) |author=J.-R. Ohm |author2=G. J. Sullivan |author3=H. Schwarz |author4=T. K. Tan |author5=T. Wiegand |journal=IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology |publisher=IEEE |url=http://iphome.hhi.de/wiegand/assets/pdfs/2012_12_IEEE-HEVC-Performance.pdf |volume=22 |issue=12 |date=December 2012 |page=1669 |doi=10.1109/TCSVT.2012.2221192 |bibcode=2012ITCSV..22.1669O |access-date=2012-09-22 |ref=CITEREFOhm2012}}
* {{cite news |title=Subjective quality evaluation of the upcoming HEVC video compression standard |author=Philippe Hanhart |author2=Martin Rerabek |author3=Francesca De Simone |author4=Touradj Ebrahimi |publisher=École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) |url=http://infoscience.epfl.ch/record/180494/files/hanhart_SPIE2012_1.pdf |date=2012-08-13 |access-date=2012-11-08 |ref=CITEREFHanhart2012}}
::Related slides: {{cite news |title=Subjective quality evaluation of the upcoming HEVC video compression standard |author=Philippe Hanhart |author2=Martin Rerabek |author3=Francesca De Simone |author4=Touradj Ebrahimi |publisher=slideshare.com |url=http://www.slideshare.net/touradj_ebrahimi/subjective-quality-evaluation-of-the-upcoming-hevc-video-compression-standard |date=2012-08-15 |access-date=2012-11-08 |ref=CITEREFSlides2012}}
* {{cite journal|title=High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC): Algorithms and Architectures  |author=Vivienne Sze |author2=Madhukar Budagavi |author3=G. J. Sullivan  |journal=Integrated Circuit and Systems |series=Integrated Circuits and Systems |publisher=[[Company:Springer Science+Business Media|Springer]] |url=https://www.springer.com/us/book/9783319068947 |date=2014 |doi=10.1007/978-3-319-06895-4 |isbn=978-3-319-06894-7 |ref=CITEREFSze2014|url-access=subscription }}
::Related slides: {{cite news |title=Design and Implementation of Next Generation Video Coding Systems (H.265/HEVC Tutorial)|author=Vivienne Sze |author2=Madhukar Budagavi| publisher=IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems (ISCAS) |url=http://www.rle.mit.edu/eems/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/H.265-HEVC-Tutorial-2014-ISCAS.pdf |date=2014-06-01 |ref=CITEREFSlides2014}}
* {{cite journal|title=Overview of the Multiview and 3D Extensions of High Efficiency Video Coding |author=Gerhard Tech |author2=Ying Chen |author3=Karsten Müller |author4=Jens-Rainer Ohm|author5=Anthony Vetro |author6=Ye-Kui Wang |journal=IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology |publisher=IEEE |volume=26 |issue=1 |pages=35–49 |date=January 2016 |ref=CITEREFTech2016|doi=10.1109/TCSVT.2015.2477935 |bibcode=2016ITCSV..26...35T |s2cid=750942 |url=http://publications.rwth-aachen.de/record/667981/files/07258339.pdf }}

==External links==
* [http://hevc.info Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute's HEVC website]
* [https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-T/studygroups/2017-2020/16/Pages/video/jctvc.aspx ITU web page for Joint Collaborative Team on Video Coding (JCT-VC)]
* [https://mpeg.chiariglione.org/standards/mpeg-h/high-efficiency-video-coding Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) publications on HEVC]
* [http://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-H.265 ITU-T Recommendation H.265: High Efficiency Video Coding]

{{Compression formats}}
{{Graphics file formats}}
{{ISO standards}}
{{ITU standards}}
{{High-definition}}
{{MPEG}}

[[Category:Computer file formats]]
[[Category:Graphics file formats]]
[[Category:High-definition television]]
[[Category:Lossy compression algorithms]]
[[Category:Ultra-high-definition television]]
[[Category:Video codecs]]
[[Category:Video compression]]
[[Category:IEC standards]]
[[Category:ISO standards]]

{{Sourceattribution|High Efficiency Video Coding}}