Video Compression Becomes Crucial for Global Connectivity

Espoo, Finland – Video compression technology is increasingly vital in our connected digital world as data demands surge. Nokia Oyj has played a significant role in the development of core video compression standards, facilitating high-quality video streaming and enabling new forms of machine-to-machine (M2M) communication.

At its core, video compression reduces the number of bits needed to represent video. Without it, modern streaming, online gaming, and video calls would not be feasible. Nokia, alongside industry partners, helped establish the Advanced Video Coding (AVC/H.264) standard in 2003, which remains widely used today.

As technology evolved, Nokia also contributed to the development of the High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC/H.265) standard in 2013. These standards are now embedded in over two billion devices. While beneficial for human consumption of quality content, the importance of video compression for machine vision and M2M communication is rapidly growing. It's estimated that half of global video traffic will soon be machine-to-machine, crucial for applications like autonomous vehicles and smart surveillance.

In response to the surge in demand, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, Nokia collaborated with industry partners to bring the next-generation Versatile Video Coding (VVC/H.266) standard to market. VVC offers 50 percent greater compression efficiency at the same picture quality and supports future resolutions up to 16K.

Furthermore, Nokia is pioneering technologies such as viewport-dependent streaming (VDS) and volumetric video-based coding (V3C), which enhance virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) experiences by improving data transfer efficiency and enabling more immersive interaction, crucial for future industrial and entertainment applications.