How VVC Is Cutting Live‑Stream Bandwidth by 50% and Shaping the Future of Video

Alibaba's research team explains the evolution of international video standards, focusing on the latest sixth‑generation codec VVC (Versatile Video Coding, also known as H.266), its development history, technical objectives, and performance improvements.

Since the early 1990s, ITU‑T and ISO/IEC MPEG have released six generations of standards—from MPEG‑2 to H.264, H.265, and now VVC—each aiming to double coding efficiency while preserving visual quality.

VVC targets a 50 % bitrate reduction at equal quality and supports HDR, 360° immersive video, and AR/VR applications. Key terminology includes VVC, VTM (reference software), JVET (joint committee), and H.266.

VVC: Versatile Video Coding, flexible and multi‑functional.

VTM: Test model reference software platform.

JVET: Joint Video Exploration Team of ITU‑T and MPEG.

H.266: ITU‑T designation for VVC.

Pre‑standard research (JEM, 360Lib) demonstrated up to 34 % bitrate savings over HEVC under the same PSNR, and later subjective tests showed more than 50 % savings for HDR and 360° content.

Alibaba’s DAMO Academy contributed tools for low‑latency real‑time communication, screen content, lossless compression, HDR, inter‑frame prediction, and high‑level syntax, and actively participated in JVET meetings and performance validation.

Performance graphs (shown in the images) illustrate VVC’s coding gain versus increased encoder complexity, and its bandwidth savings of 38.9 % for SDR HD/Ultra‑HD and about 30 % for HDR content.

Future directions highlighted include deep‑learning‑enhanced codecs and end‑to‑end neural video coding, with MPEG establishing a DNNVC group to explore these possibilities.