Nokia, Ericsson and Fraunhofer HHI join forces to make 6G-era video streaming/encoding better

Nokia, Ericsson and Fraunhofer HHI plan to make a European codec to power 6G-era video streaming

Nokia has teamed up with Ericsson and Fraunhofer HHI to combine their expertise to create a next-generation video codec for the 6G streaming era. This is a European effort to pioneer the next generation of streaming, promising higher-quality streaming and greater power efficiency.

This partnership aims to strengthen Europe’s role in next-generation standardisation. So far, the joint team has demonstrated a new codec that delivers “considerably higher compression efficiency” than existing standards. This includes H.264/AVC, H.265/HEVC, and H.266/VVC. This was achieved without significant increases in codec complexity. Furthermore, the new standard is said to deliver improved energy efficiency and scalability.

While exact details about this new codec remain unknown, it has already been submitted to and evaluated by codec oversight bodies. Overall, these early evaluations have been positive.

European connectivity leaders Nokia and Ericsson have partnered with Berlin’s Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute (HHI), to shape and drive the next generation of video coding standardization; for better immersive media and mobile video user experiences in the 6G era.

The three partners combined video codec research expertise for the first time, aiming to strengthen Europe’s role in next generation standardization. Partnership researchers jointly demonstrated a new video codec with considerably higher compression efficiency than the current standards (H.264/AVC, H.265/HEVC, and H.266/VVC) without significantly increasing complexity, while also improving energy efficiency and scalability.

The documented research provides early evidence of technology capable of meeting the requirements for the next video coding standardization phase – an important milestone that helps initiate the process towards future decision-making.

The partners’ joint submission to the oversight bodies; the ITU-T Video Coding Experts Group and the ISO/IEC Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG), was positively evaluated and is expected to help catalyze progress towards evaluation and decision-making by the standardization committee.

– Nokia

Nokia’s new video codec will be released as new 6G networking technologies are deployed. The new video codec should be operational in 2029-2030, and aims to “define the digital media landscape for the following decade.” Until then, the industry will rely on standards like VVC (H.266) to deliver enhanced video streaming.

You can join the discussion on Nokia’s planned 6G video encoder on the OC3D Forums.