Predictions on mobile video consumption are ever increasing. Different studies point to dominance of video traffic in 5G networks reaching from 65% total traffic in the short-term all the way to 90% by the end of the decade. Video is expected to be integral for services such as enhanced mobile media (such as mobile streaming services), home broadband and TV (for example in the context of 5G fixed wireless access services), immersive and interactive media in the context of eXtended Realities (XR) and cloud gaming as well as new media services from new verticals. This indicates that the user experience and efficiency of 5G networks will be heavily impacted by the quality of video compression technologies that are used with 5G services. Efficient video compression and decompression technologies required dedicated hardware for power and resource efficient real-time execution but are at the same time complex and costly in terms of implementation on integrated platforms. Hence, typically state-of-the-art video compression technologies last for several years and are used as generic service enablers for different applications and services, including traditional streaming and conversational services, but also new media services. This document analyzes the currently defined 3GPP-defined video compression technologies for their suitability for existing and emerging services in the context of 5G and identifies gaps and optimization potentials that would warrant the introduction of new video compression technologies.

The present technical report documents relevant interoperability requirements, performance characteristics and implementation constraints of video codecs in 5G services, and characterizes video codecs, in particular 3GPP defined codecs H.264/AVC and H.265/HEVC in order to have a benchmark for the addition of potential future video codecs. For this purpose, the document:

• Collects a summary of the video coding capabilities in 3GPP services.
• Collects a subset of relevant scenarios for video codecs in 5G-based services and applications, including video formats (resolution, frame rates, colour space, etc.), encoding and decoding requirements, adaptive streaming requirements.
• Collects relevant and exemplary test conditions and material for such scenarios, including test sequences.
• Defines performance metrics for such scenarios with focus on objective performance metrics.
• Collects relevant interoperability functionalities and enabling elements for video codecs in different 5G services such as MTSI and Telepresence (i.e. RTP based conversational communications), or 5G media streaming (e.g. based on DASH/CMAF) supporting the identified scenarios.
• Collects relevant criteria and key performance indicators for the integration of video codecs in 5G processing platforms, taking into account factors such as encoding and decoding complexity in the context of the defined scenarios.
• Provides anchors for the existing codecs H.264/AVC and H.265/HEVC in the context of the above scenarios and document the findings in a consistent manner and characterizes H.265/HEVC against H.264/AVC
• Provides initial information on EVC video codec developed in ISO/IEC SC29 WG 4 and H.266/VVC video codec developed in JVET (ITU-T SG16 Q6 and ISO/IEC SC29 WG 5) in the context of the above scenarios, including test streams and characterization results.
• Provides initial information AV1 video codec developed by the Alliance for Open Media in the context of the above scenarios, including test streams and characterization results.

The following documents contain provisions which, through reference in this text, constitute provisions of the present document.

• References are either specific (identified by date of publication, edition number, version number, etc.) or non-specific.
• For a specific reference, subsequent revisions do not apply.
• For a non-specific reference, the latest version applies. In the case of a reference to a 3GPP document (including a GSM document), a non-specific reference implicitly refers to the latest version of that document in the same Release as the present document.