New MPEG-5 part 2 (LCEVC) plugin for GStreamer | GStreamer Conference 2023

MPEG-5 part 2 LCEVC (Low Complexity Enhancement Video Coding) is the latest standard by MPEG and ISO. However, this one is different to typical codecs, instead it acts as a layer on top of existing codecs to improve their compression efficiency (better quality at lower bitrates) and reduce transcoding compute requirements. The LCEVC data is carried along with metadata in the actual video stream (e.g. in SEI messages for H264). By complementing other codecs rather than competing with them it rather circumvents the codec wars, and is changing the video processing landscape we know. In this talk, from Collabora and in collaboration with V-Nova who were the primary originators of the standard, Julian will describe how LCEVC was implemented in GStreamer, and the challenges he faced when integrating such an enhancement codec while keeping the GStreamer modularity and flexibility intact. He will also describe why new LCEVC caps were introduced for autoplugging elements to work, and how the LCEVC enhancement data is passed through the base decoder using a new type of GstMeta. When concluding the talk, Julian will also talk about the future plans of the new LCEVC plugin for GStreamer, and will show a demo of a working GStreamer pipeline decoding LCEVC video.

Presented by Julian Bouzas.

#GStreamer #LCEVC #VideoCompression