MPEG news: a report from the 152nd meeting

 This version of the blog post is also available at ACM SIGMM Records

MPEG News Archive

The 152nd MPEG meeting took place in Geneva, Switzerland, from October 7 to October 11, 2025. The official MPEG press release can be found here. This column highlights key points from the meeting, amended with research aspects relevant to the ACM SIGMM community:

• MPEG Systems received an Emmy® Award for the Common Media Application Format (CMAF). A separate press release regarding this achievement is available here.
• JVET ratified new editions of VSEI, VVC, and HEVC
• The fourth edition of Visual Volumetric Video-based Coding (V3C and V-PCC) has been finalized
• Responses to the call for evidence on video compression with capability beyond VVC successfully evaluated

MPEG Systems received an Emmy® Award for the Common Media Application Format (CMAF)

On September 18, 2025, the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) announced that the MPEG Systems Working Group (ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 29/WG 3) had been selected as a recipient of a Technology & Engineering Emmy® Award for standardizing the Common Media Application Format (CMAF). But what is CMAF? CMAF (ISO/IEC 23000-19) is a media format standard designed to simplify and unify video streaming workflows across different delivery protocols and devices. Here’s a structured overview. Before CMAF, streaming services often had to produce multiple container formats, i.e., (i) ISO Base Media File Format (ISOBMFF) for MPEG-DASH and MPEG-2 Transport Stream (TS) for Apple HLS. This duplication resulted in additional encoding, packaging, and storage costs. I wrote a blog post about this some time ago here. CMAF’s main goal is to define a single, standardized segmented media format usable by both HLS and DASH, enabling “encode once, package once, deliver everywhere.”

The core concept of CMAF is that it is based on ISOBMFF, the foundation for MP4. Each CMAF stream consists of a CMAF header, CMAF media segments, and CMAF track files (a logical sequence of segments for one stream, e.g., video or audio). CMAF enables low-latency streaming by allowing progressive segment transfer, adopting chunked transfer encoding via CMAF chunks. CMAF defines interoperable profiles for codecs and presentation types for video, audio, and subtitles. Thanks to its compatibility with and adoption within existing streaming standards, CMAF bridges the gaps between DASH and HLS, creating a unified ecosystem.

Research aspects include – but are not limited to – low-latency tuning (segment/chunk size trade-offs, HTTP/3, QUIC), Quality of Experience (QoE) impact of chunk-based adaptation, synchronization of live and interactive CMAF streams, edge-assisted CMAF caching and prediction, and interoperability testing and compliance tools.

JVET ratified new editions of VSEI, VVC, and HEVC

At its 40th meeting, the Joint Video Experts Team (JVET, ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 29/WG 5) concluded the standardization work on the next editions of three key video coding standards, advancing them to the Final Draft International Standard (FDIS) stage. Corresponding twin-text versions have also been submitted to ITU-T for consent procedures. The finalized standards include:

• Versatile Supplemental Enhancement Information (VSEI) — ISO/IEC 23002-7 | ITU-T Rec. H.274
• Versatile Video Coding (VVC) — ISO/IEC 23090-3 | ITU-T Rec. H.266
• High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) — ISO/IEC 23008-2 | ITU-T Rec. H.265

The primary focus of these new editions is the extension and refinement of Supplemental Enhancement Information (SEI) messages, which provide metadata and auxiliary data to support advanced processing, interpretation, and quality management of coded video streams.

The updated VSEI specification introduces both new and refined SEI message types supporting advanced use cases:

• AI-driven processing: Extensions for neural-network-based post-filtering and film grain synthesis offer standardized signalling for machine learning components in decoding and rendering pipelines.
• Semantic and multimodal content: New SEI messages describe infrared, X-ray, and other modality indicators, region packing, and object mask encoding; creating interoperability points for multimodal fusion and object-aware compression research.
• Pipeline optimization: Messages defining processing order and post-processing nesting support research on joint encoder-decoder optimization and edge-cloud coordination in streaming architectures.
• Authenticity and generative media: A new set of messages supports digital signature embedding and generative-AI-based face encoding, raising questions for the SIGMM community about trust, authenticity, and ethical AI in media pipelines.
• Metadata and interpretability: New SEIs for text description, image format metadata, and AI usage restriction requests could facilitate research into explainable media, human-AI interaction, and regulatory compliance in multimedia systems.

All VSEI features are fully compatible with the new VVC edition, and most are also supported in HEVC. The new HEVC edition further refines its multi-view profiles, enabling more robust 3D and immersive video use cases.

Research aspects of these new standard’s editions can be summarized as follows: (i) Define new standardized interfaces between neural post-processing and conventional video coding, fostering reproducible and interoperable research on learned enhancement models. (ii) Encourage exploration of metadata-driven adaptation and QoE optimization using SEI-based signals in streaming systems. (iii) Open possibilities for cross-layer system research, connecting compression, transport, and AI-based decision layers. (iv) Introduce a formal foundation for authenticity verification, content provenance, and AI-generated media signalling, relevant to current debates on trustworthy multimedia.

These updates highlight how ongoing MPEG/ITU standardization is evolving toward a more AI-aware, multimodal, and semantically rich media ecosystem, providing fertile ground for experimental and applied research in multimedia systems, coding, and intelligent media delivery.

The fourth edition of Visual Volumetric Video-based Coding (V3C and V-PCC) has been finalized

MPEG Coding of 3D Graphics and Haptics (ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 29/WG7) has advanced MPEG-I Part 5 – Visual Volumetric Video-based Coding (V3C and V-PCC) to the Final Draft International Standard (FDIS) stage, marking its fourth edition. This revision introduces major updates to the Video-based Coding of Volumetric Content (V3C) framework, particularly enabling support for an additional bitstream instance: V-DMC (Video-based Dynamic Mesh Compression).

Previously, V3C served as the structural foundation for V-PCC (Video-based Point Cloud Compression) and MIV (MPEG Immersive Video). The new edition extends this flexibility by allowing V-DMC integration, reinforcing V3C as a generic, extensible framework for volumetric and 3D video coding. All instances follow a shared principle, i.e., using conventional 2D video codecs (e.g., HEVC, VVC) for projection-based compression, complemented by specialized tools for mapping, geometry, and metadata handling.

While V-PCC remains co-specified within Part 5, MIV (Part 12) and V-DMC (Part 29) are standardized separately. The progression to FDIS confirms the technical maturity and architectural stability of the framework.

This evolution opens new research directions as follows: (i) Unified 3D content representation, enabling comparative evaluation of point cloud, mesh, and view-based methods under one coding architecture. (ii) Efficient use of 2D codecs for 3D media, raising questions on mapping optimization, distortion modeling, and geometry-texture compression. (iii) Dynamic and interactive volumetric streaming, relevant to AR/VR, telepresence, and immersive communication research.

The fourth edition of MPEG-I Part 5 thus positions V3C as a cornerstone for future volumetric, AI-assisted, and immersive video systems, bridging standardization and cutting-edge multimedia research.

Responses to the call for evidence on video compression with capability beyond VVC successfully evaluated

The Joint Video Experts Team (JVET, ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 29/WG 5) has completed the evaluation of submissions to its Call for Evidence (CfE) on video compression with capability beyond VVC. The CfE investigated coding technologies that may surpass the performance of the current Versatile Video Coding (VVC) standard in compression efficiency, computational complexity, and extended functionality.

A total of five submissions were assessed, complemented by ECM16 reference encodings and VTM anchor sequences with multiple runtime variants. The evaluation addressed both compression capability and encoding runtime, as well as low-latency and error-resilience features. All technologies were derived from VTM, ECM, or NNVC frameworks, featuring modified encoder configurations and coding tools rather than entirely new architectures.

Key Findings

• In the compression capability test, 76 out of 120 test cases showed at least one submission with a non-overlapping confidence interval compared to the VTM anchor. Several methods outperformed ECM16 in visual quality and achieved notable compression gains at lower complexity. Neural-network-based approaches demonstrated clear perceptual improvements, particularly for 8K HDR content, while gains were smaller for gaming scenarios.
• In the encoding runtime test, significant improvements were observed even under strict complexity constraints: 37 of 60 test points (at both 1× and 0.2× runtime) showed statistically significant benefits over VTM. Some submissions achieved faster encoding than VTM, with only a 35% increase in decoder runtime.

Research Relevance and Outlook

The CfE results illustrate a maturing convergence between model-based and data-driven video coding, raising research questions highly relevant for the ACM SIGMM community:

• How can learned prediction and filtering networks be integrated into standard codecs while preserving interoperability and runtime control?
• What methodologies can best evaluate perceptual quality beyond PSNR, especially for HDR and immersive content?
• How can complexity-quality trade-offs be optimized for diverse hardware and latency requirements?

Building on these outcomes, JVET is preparing a Call for Proposals (CfP) for the next-generation video coding standard, with a draft planned for early 2026 and evaluation through 2027. Upcoming activities include refining test material, adding Reference Picture Resampling (RPR), and forming a new ad hoc group on hardware implementation complexity.

For multimedia researchers, this CfE marks a pivotal step toward AI-assisted, complexity-adaptive, and perceptually optimized compression systems, which are considered a key frontier where codec standardization meets intelligent multimedia research.

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The 153rd MPEG meeting will be held online from January 19 to January 23, 2026. Click here for more information about MPEG meetings and their developments.