Internet Video Codec

NETVC was the name assigned to an Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) effort to investigate and potentially standardize a royalty-free video codec. The initiative emerged from concern that widely deployed commercial video standards, including H.264/AVC and HEVC, could involve licensing payments and patent obligations for some users and applications. Its objective was not to operate as a conventional commercial brand, but to establish technical requirements, evaluate candidate designs, and determine whether an Internet-oriented codec could be developed under terms more compatible with open implementation and broad deployment. The project was associated with the former Internet Video Codec working group of the IETF. Matthew Miller of Outer Planes and Mo Zanaty of Cisco served as working-group chairs. The group considered a range of technical requirements intended to balance compression efficiency, implementation practicality, and usefulness across real-time and offline applications. Draft requirements published in October 2015 called for support for 8-bit through 10-bit samples, 4:2:0 and 4:4:4 chroma formats, low coding delay, practical real-time decoder and encoder implementations, temporal scalability, and error-resilience mechanisms. Optional goals included higher bit depths, 4:2:2 chroma, RGB video, auxiliary planes, high-dynamic-range content, and tools that could support parallel processing. NETVC did not mature into a completed codec specification or a separately deployed product. Instead, the working group evaluated or discussed candidate technologies from several contributors. Xiph.org presented its Daala codec to the IETF in March 2015, while Cisco presented Thor in July of the same year. At IETF meeting 101 in March 2018, Divideon presented xvc as another candidate. The discussions reflected the wider evolution of open video coding: several teams associated with candidate formats became involved in AV1 development through the Alliance for Open Media, which pursued related royalty-free objectives. In 2018, the working group agreed to pause physical meetings while the market and ecosystem for royalty-free video formats developed. The effort ultimately concentrated on documenting requirements and evaluation methodology rather than producing a final NETVC codec. The resulting Informational RFC 8761, published in April 2020, recorded requirements and evaluation methods for a possible Internet video codec. Following its publication, the Internet Video Codec working group was closed. NETVC is therefore best understood as a concluded IETF standards project and a historical framework for open video-codec research, rather than as a finished codec, consumer product, or active operating organization.

NETVC developed within the IETF's effort to examine whether a modern Internet video codec could be standardized with royalty-free licensing goals. The project was motivated by the practical and economic constraints associated with established standards such as H.264/AVC and HEVC, which can require licensing payments or involve patent-licensing considerations. Rather than beginning as a commercial product, NETVC functioned as a technical coordination and standards-research project. The initial work focused on defining what such a codec should be able to do. Draft requirements circulated in October 2015 called for support for common delivery formats such as 4:2:0, higher-quality 4:4:4 video, sample depths from 8 to 10 bits, low-delay operation, feasible real-time encoding and decoding, temporal scalability, and resilience against transmission errors. The optional requirements expanded the intended scope to include sample depths of up to 16 bits, 4:2:2 and RGB formats, auxiliary image planes, high-dynamic-range content, and parallel-processing tools. Candidate technologies were brought to the IETF for consideration. Xiph.org presented Daala on March 24, 2015. Cisco presented Thor on July 22, 2015. Thor incorporated Cisco-developed elements and shared some technical experimentation with Daala, including work involving constrained low-pass filtering and motion compensation. Other participants also contributed to the broader evaluation process. At IETF meeting 101 in March 2018, Divideon presented xvc. During that discussion, Thor developer Steinar Midtskogen indicated that a subset of xvc regarded by Divideon as royalty-free could provide better compression than Thor at comparable complexity settings. The project was affected by developments outside the working group. Several teams associated with proposed royalty-free formats joined the Alliance for Open Media's AV1 development effort, which pursued a similar broad objective. Against that changing ecosystem, the NETVC participants agreed in 2018 to pause physical working-group meetings and observe how royalty-free video formats developed in the market. The originally planned schedule anticipated an informational requirements and evaluation document in April 2018, an initial codec specification and reference implementation by July 2018, and standards documents covering a codec and storage format by December 2018. The latter codec-standardization goals were not completed under NETVC. Instead, RFC 8761, titled “Video Codec Requirements and Evaluation Methodology,” was published as an Informational RFC in April 2020. After the document was issued, the Internet Video Codec working group was closed. NETVC consequently remains a concluded standards initiative whose principal durable output was requirements and evaluation guidance, rather than a final deployed codec.

• 2020

  RFC 8761 published and working group closed

  [1]NETVCen.wikipedia.org

  The IETF published RFC 8761 on codec requirements and evaluation methodology, after which the Internet Video Codec working group was closed.

• 2018

  xvc presented to the working group

  [1]NETVCen.wikipedia.org

  Divideon presented xvc at IETF meeting 101 as an additional candidate for consideration.

• 2018

  Physical meetings paused

  [1]NETVCen.wikipedia.org

  The working group paused physical meetings while participants evaluated the changing royalty-free codec landscape and the rise of related AV1 work.

• 2015

  Daala proposed as a NETVC candidate

  [1]NETVCen.wikipedia.org

  Xiph.org presented Daala to the IETF as a candidate codec for the planned royalty-free Internet video standard.

• 2015

  Thor proposed as a NETVC candidate

  [1]NETVCen.wikipedia.org

  Cisco presented Thor to the IETF for consideration in the NETVC process.

• 2015

  Draft technical requirements defined

  [1]NETVCen.wikipedia.org

  The project outlined basic and optional requirements covering bit depth, chroma formats, delay, scalability, resilience, HDR, RGB, and parallel processing.

An open, Internet-oriented video-codec standardization effort intended to provide a royalty-free alternative to proprietary or licensing-dependent video standards.

• Candidate video codec

  Daala

  Daala was an open video-codec project from Xiph.org presented to the IETF as a possible technical basis for NETVC. Its coding techniques were discussed and tested in relation to other candidate technologies, but Daala itself did not become a finalized NETVC product.

• Candidate video codec

  Thor

  Thor was a video codec developed by Cisco and presented to the IETF in 2015 as a candidate for NETVC. Its work included Cisco-developed elements and technical experimentation involving filtering and motion compensation. Thor remained a candidate rather than becoming the completed NETVC standard.

• Candidate video codec · 2018

  xvc

  xvc was presented by Divideon at IETF meeting 101 in 2018 as another possible basis for the proposed Internet video codec. Discussion compared a royalty-free subset identified by Divideon with other candidate technologies, but no final NETVC codec was adopted.

• Technical requirements and evaluation document · 2020

  RFC 8761

  RFC 8761 is an Informational IETF document describing requirements and an evaluation methodology for an Internet video codec. It represents the principal documented output of the NETVC effort, rather than a codec implementation or completed product.

• 2020

  Publish requirements and close the working groupOther

  Background

  The project had not produced a finalized NETVC codec specification, while the requirements and evaluation work had reached a publishable form.

  Action taken

  The IETF published RFC 8761 as an Informational document and closed the Internet Video Codec working group.

  Aftermath

  NETVC ended as a completed requirements and evaluation initiative rather than a deployed codec standard.

  Source

• 2018

  Pause physical working-group meetingsStrategy

  Background

  The royalty-free video ecosystem was changing, and several groups associated with candidate formats had joined AV1 development through the Alliance for Open Media.

  Action taken

  Participants agreed to pause physical meetings and observe how the market and related open-format efforts developed.

  Aftermath

  The effort did not proceed to the planned codec and storage-format standards. It instead produced requirements and evaluation guidance before the working group was closed.

  Source

1. 1NETVCen.wikipedia.org