Vvenc: An Open And Optimized Vvc Encoder Implementation
Adam Wieckowski, Jens Brandenburg, Tobias Hinz, Christian Bartnik, Valeri George, Gabriel Hege, Christian R. Helmrich, Anastasia Henkel, Christian Lehmann, Christian Stoffers, I. Zupančić, Benjamin Bross, Detlev Marpe
Abstract
The recently finalized Versatile Video Coding (VVC) standard promises to reduce the video bitrate by 50% compared to its predecessor, High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC). The increased efficiency comes at a cost of increased computational burden. The Fraunhofer Versatile Video Encoder VVenC is the first openly available optimized implementation providing access to VVC’s efficiency at only 46% of the runtime of the VVC test model VTM, when not using multi-threading. An alternative operating point allows $30 \times$ faster encoding for the price of around 12% bitrate increase, while still providing around 38% bitrate reduction compared to HEVC test model HM. In the fastest configuration, VVenC runs over $140 \times$ faster than VTM while still providing over 10% bitrate reduction compared to HM. Even faster encoding is possible with multi-threading. This paper provides an overview of VVenC’s main features and some evaluation results.