What Is HEVC Video Format

Eleanor Reed
4 min readJan 12, 2021

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Photo by James McKinven on Unsplash

What Is HEVC?

HEVC is a new form of video compression that gives better performance than previously used standards. The source video is compressed using an HEVC encoder. It creates and stores a compressed bitstream that can be decoded into a sequence of frames using a video decoder. High-Efficiency Video Coding is similar to the previous H.264/AVC and MPEG-2 but has improved vastly.

A video is HEVC-compatible if it meets the compressed format requirements and if it can be decoded easily through the method described. You can store HEVC videos as files, transmit them through broadcast or stream them over the internet.

HEVC has many new features and improvisations over previous standards:

  • More flexibility and both small and bigger partition size.
  • Better filters for deblocking and interpolation.
  • It can support parallel processing and gives better mode signaling, prediction, and motion vectors.
  • With it, you will be able to compress videos better, but you will need more power in your processor.

Why HEVC Matter?

HEVC matters a lot in today’s world, and you will get a lot of benefits and advantages by using this standard.

  • You will save almost half the money and bitrate if you choose to stream HEVC videos instead of an AVC encoder. You can run the same quality of media at almost half the data.
  • At many places, where WiFi connection is very slow, by using HEVC, you can stream HD videos using fewer data. If you used to run 480p content at 1.5 Mb/s, you can run 720p content at the same rate using H.265.
  • The file format gives much more efficiency to video compression, and it is imminent for the future.

The global demand and support for HEVC videos are still developing, but it is clear that it is the future in this field.

How HEVC Works?

High-Efficiency Video Coding is basically similar to the previous standards and involves a source video with a sequence of frames. An encoder encodes the video into a compressed bitstream and proceeds to store or transmit it. Then the decoder creates a sequence of frames by decompressing the bitstream.

Video Encoder

The encoder will, first of all, divide every picture into many smaller units. Then it predicts each unit through inter prediction and removes the prediction from the original unit. The residue left after this subtraction is transformed, and entropy encoding is done to all the information.

Video Decoder

The decoder will reverse the steps performed by the encoder. First, it performs entropy decoding and extracts various elements of the encoded bitstream. It rescales and inverts the transforming stage before predicting the units and adding the prediction to the inverted transform. Finally, it will reconstruct the decoded video for you.

Why Prefer to HEVC Format?

Nowadays, the world is moving towards 4K content, especially on TVs. However, these media are hard to download and watch because they take up big spaces. But, with the use of High-Efficiency Video Coding or H.265 format, this issue can be resolved.

  • It uses the basics of previous compression standards that result in high-quality and better compression.
  • The video is decomposed into smaller parts that can be easily remembered by the algorithm. This helps in decreasing the overall size of the file. You will save a lot of money and data by using HEVC.
  • You can run media at a higher quality and resolution using the same amount of data as before.

Because of the improved efficiency, HEVC is the future, and you should upgrade as soon as possible to stay updated in the digital world.

Useful Tip: Best HEVC Windows 10 Players

Let us learn about some of the best High-Efficiency Video Coding format media players for Windows 10 available for use now. It will help you to run the videos in the compatible player.

VLC Media Player

The open-source media player is developed by VideoLAN and is widely used all over the world. It has many versions, and the codec is in-built. It works on most operating systems, but you may need to install the codec pack yourself. You can even use it on Android and Apple smartphones.

Potplayer

It can be used to play HEVC files on both and Windows and Mac systems without any issues. 4K and 3D files play without any lags and stutters on this media player.

5KPlayer

This is another top media player because it is supported by many operating systems and can play H.265 files with relative ease. The user-interface is charming, and it supports 360-degree playback.

Originally published at https://recoverit.wondershare.com.

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Eleanor Reed

I am specialized in picture, video, camera and SD card fixes. I ‘d love to translate complicated solutions into easy-to-understand ones.