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In MSU Hardware Video Codecs Express Comparison 2020, we analyzed 4 hardware and 4 software codecs. For hardware acceleration, both GPU codecs and FPGA codecs were used. The minimum speed of the selected presets is 60 fps.

In the objective part of the report, 50 sequences were used, the metrics used: SSIM, PSNR and VMAF. In the subjective part of the report, we selected 10 videos and conducted an experiment on the Subjectify.us platform.

According to the results of the research, Tencent YaoChiV500 outperforms other codecs both in objective and subjective comparison.

Participated codecs

Codec testing objectives

The main goal of this report is the presentation of a comparative evaluation of the quality of hardware-accelerated codecs and software codecs using objective measures of assessment. All presets satisfied minimum speed requirement — 60 fps. The main task of the comparison is to analyze different encoders for the task of transcoding video.

Test Hardware Characteristics

• CPU: Intel Socket 1151 Core i7 8700K (Coffee Lake) (3.7Ghz, 6C12T, TDP 95W)
• Mainboard: ASRock Z370M Pro4
• RAM: Crucial CT16G4DFD824A 2x16GB (totally 32 GB) DIMM DDR4 2400MHz CL15
• OS: Windows 10 x64

For hardware acceleration we used:

• FPGA — Xilinx Alveo U250
• FPGA — AWS f1.2large instance
• GPU — NVIDIA Titan RTX

Videos

We used the same 50 sequences as in the Main report. Read more on the Main report page: MSU Video Codecs Comparison 2020 Part 1: FullHD, objective.

Computer Graphics and Multimedia Laboratory of Moscow State University:

• 15+ years working in the area of video codec analysis and tuning using objective quality metrics and subjective comparisons.
• 27+ reports of video codec comparisons and analysis (H.265, H.264, AV1, VP9, MPEG-4, MPEG-2, decoders' error recovery).
• Methods and algorithms for codec comparison and analysis development, separate codec's features and codec's options analysis.

Strong and Weak Points of Your Codec

• Deep encoder parts analysis (ME, RC on GOP, mode decision, etc).
• Weak and strong points for your encoder and complete information about encoding quality on different content types.
• Encoding Quality improvement by the pre and post filtering (including technologies licensing).

Independent Codec Estimation Comparing to Other Codecs for Different Use-cases

• Comparative analysis of your encoder and other encoders.
• We have direct contact with many codec developers.
• You will know place of your encoder between other newest well-known encoders (compare encoding quality, speed, bitrate handling, etc.).

Encoder Features Implementation Optimality Analysis

Thanks

Materials about MSU Codec Comparison

MSU video codecs comparisons resources:

• Introduction to Video Codecs Comparison
• Lossless Video Codecs Comparison 2004 (October 2004)
• MPEG-4 SP/ASP Video Codecs Comparison (March 2005)
• JPEG 2000 Image Codecs Comparison (September 2005)
• First Annual MPEG-4 AVC/ H.264 Video Codecs Comparison (January 2005)
• FAQ of First MPEG-4 AVC/ H.264 Comparison
• Selected Comments for First MPEG-4 AVC/ H.264 Comparison
• Second Annual MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 Video Codec Comparison (December 2005)
• FAQ of Second Annual MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 Video Codec Comparison
• Subjective Comparison of Modern Video Codecs (February 2006)
• MPEG-2 Video Decoders Comparison (May 2006)
• WMP and JPEG2000 Comparison (October 2006)
• Third Annual MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 Comparison (December 2006) (All versions for free!)
• Lossless Video Codecs Comparison 2007 (March 2007)
• Fourth Annual MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 Comparison (December 2007) (All versions for free!)
• Options Analysis of MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 Codec x264 (December 2008)
• Fifth MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 Comparison (May 2009) (All versions for free!)
• Sixth MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 Comparison (May 2010)
• Seventh MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 Comparison (May 2011)
• Eighth MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 Comparison (May 2012)
• Ninth MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 Comparison (Dec 2013)
• Tenth Video Codec Comparison (HEVC) (Oct 2015)
• Eleventh Video Codec Comparison (HEVC) (Aug 2016)
• Twelfth Video Codec Comparison (HEVC) (Aug 2017)
• Thirteen Video Codec Comparison (HEVC) (Aug 2018)
• Fourteen Video Codec Comparison (HEVC) (Sept 2019)
• Cloud Encoding Servoces Comparison 2019 (Dec 2019)
• Fifteen Video Codec Comparison (HEVC) (Dec 2020)
• Sixteen Video Codec Comparison (Dec 2021)
• Seventeen Video Codecs Comparisons (Nov 2022)
• Eighteenth Video Codecs Comparisons (Apr 2025)
• Nineteenth Video Codecs Comparisons (2025)
• Codec Analysis for Companies:
  • Private Video Codec Comparison
  • MSU Video Quality Measurement Tool

Other Materials

Project updated by
Server Team and MSU Video Group

Project sponsored by YUVsoft Corp.

Project supported by MSU Graphics & Media Lab