High Efficiency Video Coding

HEVC / H.265 / MPEG-H Part 2
High Efficiency Video Coding
Status	In force
Year started	7 June 2013
First published	July 7, 2013
Latest version	9.0; September 13, 2023
Organization	ITU-T, ISO, IEC
Committee	SG16 (Secretary: Simao Campos) (VCEG), MPEG
Base standards	H.261, H.262, H.263, ISO/IEC 14496-2, H.264
Related standards	H.266, MPEG-5, MPEG-H
Domain	Video compression
License	MPEG LA
Website	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 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). In comparison to AVC, HEVC offers from 25% to 50% better data compression at the same level of video quality, or substantially improved video quality at the same bit rate. It supports resolutions up to 8192×4320, including 8K UHD, and unlike the primarily 8-bit AVC, HEVC's higher fidelity Main 10 profile has been incorporated into nearly all supporting hardware.

While AVC uses the integer discrete cosine transform (DCT) with 4×4 and 8×8 block sizes, HEVC uses both integer DCT and discrete sine transform (DST) with varied block sizes between 4×4 and 32×32. The High Efficiency Image Format (HEIF) is based on HEVC.^[2]

^ High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) Family, H.265, MPEG-H Part 2 (Preliminary draft). Sustainability of Digital Formats. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress. November 19, 2020. Retrieved December 1, 2021.
^ Thomson, Gavin; Shah, Athar (2017). "Introducing HEIF and HEVC" (PDF). Apple Inc. Retrieved August 5, 2019.

[1] High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) Family, H.265, MPEG-H Part 2 (Preliminary draft). Sustainability of Digital Formats. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress. November 19, 2020. Retrieved December 1, 2021.

[apple-2] Thomson, Gavin; Shah, Athar (2017). "Introducing HEIF and HEVC" (PDF). Apple Inc. Retrieved August 5, 2019.

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