MPEG Compression Standards

NAME- MD. SAHJAD FAROUQUI

CLASS- CS-S4(A)
REGISTRATION NO- 12150035

Video Coding Basics

Video signals differ from image signals in several important characteristics. Of
course the most important difference is that video signals have a camera frame rate
of anywhere from 15 to 60 frames/s, which provides the illusion of smooth motion
in the displayed signal. One another difference between images and video is the ability
to exploit temporal redundancy as well as spatial redundancy in designing compression
methods for video. For example, we can take advantage of the fact that objects
in video sequences tend to move in predictable patterns, and can therefore be
motion-compensated from frame-to-frame if we can detect the object and its motion
trajectory over time.

Need for Video Compression

Uncompressed video (and audio) data are huge. In HDTV, the bit rate easily exceeds 1 Gbps. -- big
problems for storage and network communications.

For example:One of the formats defined for HDTV broadcasting within the United States is 1920
pixels horizontally by 1080 lines vertically, at 30 frames per second.

If these numbers are all multiplied together, along with 8 bits for each of the three primary colors,
the total data rate required would be approximately 1.5 Gb/sec.

Because of the 6 MHz channel bandwidth allocated, each channel will only support a data rate of
19.2 Mb/sec, which is further reduced to 18 Mb/sec by the fact that the channel must also support
audio, transport, and ancillary data information.

As can be seen, this restriction in data rate means that the original signal must be compressed by a
figure of approximately 83:1. This number seems all the more impressive when it is realized that the
intent is to deliver very high quality video to the end user, with as few visible artifacts as possible.

MPEG
MPEG stands for MovingPictureExpertsGroup, and pronounced
m-peg, is a working group of the ISO. MPEG is a working
group of authorities that was formed by ISO and IEC to set standards
for audio and video compression and transmission. It was established
in 1988 by the initiative of Hiroshi Yasuda and Leonardo Chiariglione.
The term also refers to the family of digital video compression
standards and file formats developed by the group. MPEG generally
produces better-quality video than competing formats, such as Video
for Windows, Indeo and QuickTime. MPEG files previously on PCs
needed hardware decoders (codecs) for MPEG processing. Today,
however, PCs can use software-only codecs including products from
Real Networks, QuickTime or Windows Media Player.

Evolution Of MPEG

MPEG-1: The most common implementations of the MPEG-1 standard provide a

video resolution of 352-by-240 at 30 frames per second (fps). This produces video
quality slightly below the quality of conventional VCR videos.

MPEG-2: Offers resolutions of 720x480 and 1280x720 at 60 fps, with full CDquality audio. This is sufficient for all the major TV standards, including NTSC, and
even HDTV. MPEG-2 is used by DVD-ROMs. MPEG-2 can compress a 2 hour video
into a few gigabytes. While decompressing an MPEG-2 data stream requires only
modest computing power, encoding video in MPEG-2 format requires significantly
more processing power.

MPEG-3: Was designed for HDTV but was abandoned in place of using MPEG-2 for
HDTV.

MPEG-4: A graphics and video compression algorithm standard that is based on

MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 and Apple QuickTime technology. Wavelet-based MPEG-4
files are smaller than JPEG or QuickTime files, so they are designed to transmit video
and images over a narrower bandwidth and can mix video with text, graphics and 2-D
and 3-D animation layers. MPEG-4 was standardized in October 1998 in the ISO/IEC
document 14496.

MPEG-7: Formally called the Multimedia Content Description Interface, MPEG-7

provides a tool set for completely describing multimedia content. MPEG-7 is
designed to be generic and not targeted to a specific application.

MPEG-21: Includes a Rights Expression Language (REL) and a Rights Data

Dictionary. Unlike other MPEG standards that describe compression coding methods,
MPEG-21 describes a standard that defines the description of content and also
processes for accessing, searching, storing and protecting the copyrights of content.

Definitions

Bitrate

Information stored/transmitted per unit time

Usually measured in Mbps (Megabits per second)

Ranges from < 1 Mbps to > 40 Mbps

Resolution

Number of pixels per frame

Ranges from 160x120 to 1920x1080

FPS (frames per second)

Usually 24, 25, 30, or 60

Dont need more because of limitations of the human eye

Lossy Compression

It is the class ofdata encodingmethods that uses inexact approximations (or

partial data discarding) to represent the content. These techniques are used to
reduce data size for storage, handling, and transmitting content.

Loosy Codecs

Most video codecs are necessarily lossy, because it is usually

impractical to store and transmit uncompressed video signals.
Even though most codecs lose some information in the video
signal, the goal is to make this information loss visually
imperceptible.

When codec algorithms are developed, they are fine-tuned

based on analyses of human vision and perception. For example,
if the human eye cannot differentiate between lots of subtle
variation in the red channel, a codec may throw away some of
that information and viewers may never notice.

MPEG Compression

MPEG encoding is based on eliminating redundant video information,

not only within a frame but over a period of time. In a shot where there
is little motion, such as an interview, most of the video content does
not change from frame to frame, and MPEG encoding can compress the
video by a huge ratio with little or no perceptible quality loss.
MPEG compression reduces video data rates in two ways:

Spatial (intraframe) compression:Compresses individual frames.

Temporal (interframe) compression:Compresses groups of frames

together by eliminating redundant visual data across multiple frames.

Intraframe and Interframe

Compression

Intraframe Compression

Within a single frame, areas of similar color and texture can be coded with
fewer bits than the original, thus reducing the data rate with minimal loss
in noticeable visual quality.

Interframe Compression

Instead of storing complete frames, temporal compression stores only

what has changed from one frame to the next, which dramatically reduces
the amount of data that needs to be stored while still achieving highquality images.

Working Of MPEG
MPEG

algorithms compress data to form small bits that

can be easily transmitted and then decompressed. MPEG
achieves its high compression rate by storing only the
changes from one frame to another, instead of each entire
frame. The video information is then encoded using a
technique called DiscreteCosineTransform (DCT).
MPEG uses a type of lossy compression, since some data
is removed. But the diminishment of data is generally
imperceptible to the human eye.

Types Of Frames

I frame (intra-coded)

Coded without reference to other frames

P frame (predictive-coded)

Coded with reference to a previous reference frame (either I

or P)

Size is usually about 1/3rd of an I frame

B frame (bi-directional predictive-coded)

Coded with reference to both previous and future reference

frames (either I or P)

Size is usually about 1/6th of an I frame

Group Of Pictures

Invideo coding, agroup of pictures, orGOP structure, specifies the

order in whichintra-andinter-framesare arranged. The GOP is a group
of successive pictures within a coded video stream. Each coded video
stream consists of successive GOPs. From the pictures contained in it,
the visible frames are generated.

Group Of Pictures (GOP)

A GOP can contain the following picture types:

I picture orI frame(intra coded picture) a picture that is coded independently of all other
pictures. Each GOP begins (in decoding order) with this type of picture.

P picture orP frame(predictive coded picture) containsmotion-compensateddifference

information relative to previously decoded pictures. In older designs such asMPEG1,H.262/MPEG-2andH.263, each P picture can only reference one picture, and that picture must
precede the P picture in display order as well as in decoding order and must be an I or P picture.
These constraints do not apply in the newer standardsH.264/MPEG-4 AVCandHEVC.

B picture orB frame(bipredictive coded picture) contains motion-compensated difference

information relative to previously decoded pictures. In older designs such as MPEG-1 and
H.262/MPEG-2, each B picture can only reference two pictures, one of which must precede the B
picture in display order and the other must follow the B picture in display order, and all pictures
that are referenced must be I or P pictures. These constraints do not apply in newer
standardsH.264/MPEG-4 AVCandHEVC.

D picture orD frame(DC direct coded picture) serves as a fast-access representation of a

picture for loss robustness or fast-forward. D pictures are only used inMPEG-1video.

Working Of GOP
An I frame indicates the beginning of a
GOP. Afterwards several P and B frames
follow. In older designs, the allowed
ordering and referencing structure is
relatively constrained.
The I frames contain the full image and do
not require any additional information to
reconstruct it. Typically, encoders use GOP
structures that cause each I frame to be a
"clean random access point", such that
any errors within the GOP structure are
corrected by the next I frame.
Generally, the more I frames the video
stream has, the more editable it is.
However, having more I frames
substantially increases bit rate needed to
code the video.

GOP Pattern

A GOP pattern is defined by the ratio of P- to B-frames within a GOP.

Common patterns used for DVD are IBP and IBBP. All three frame types
do not have to be used in a pattern. For example, an IP pattern can be
used. IBP and IBBP GOP patterns, in conjunction with longer GOP
lengths, encode video very efficiently. Smaller GOP patterns with
shorter GOP lengths work better with video that has quick movements,
but they dont compress the data rate as much.

Some encoders can force I-frames to be added sporadically throughout

a streams GOPs. These I-frames can be placed manually during editing
or automatically by an encoder detecting abrupt visual changes such as
cuts, transitions, and fast camera movements.

GOP Length

Longer GOP lengths encode video more efficiently by reducing the number of Iframes but are less desirable during short-duration effects such as fast transitions
or quick camera pans. MPEG video may be classified aslong-GOPorshort-GOP.
The termlong-GOPrefers to the fact that several P- and B-frames are used
between I-frame intervals. At the other end of the spectrum, short-GOP MPEG is
synonymous with I-frameonly MPEG. Formats such as IMX use I-frameonly
MPEG-2, which reduces temporal artifacts and improves editing performance.
However, I-frameonly formats have a significantly higher data rate because
each frame must store enough data to be completely self-contained. Therefore,
although the decoding demands on your computer are decreased, there is a
greater demand for scratch disk speed and capacity.

Maximum GOP length depends on the specifications of the playback device. The
minimum GOP length depends on the GOP pattern. For example, an IP pattern
can have a length as short as two frames.

Motion Vector

Invideo compression, amotion vectoris the key element in themotion

estimationprocess. It is used to represent amacro blockin a picture
based on the position of this macro block (or a similar one) in another
picture, called the reference picture.

TheH.264/MPEG-4 AVCstandard defines motion vector as:

motion vector: A two-dimensional vector used for inter prediction that
provides an offset from the coordinates in the decoded picture to the
coordinates in a reference picture.

Prediction
Only

use motion vector if a close match can be found

Evaluate
Cant

closeness with MSE or other metric

search all possible blocks, so need a smart algorithm

If

no suitable match found, just code the macroblock as an Iblock

If

a scene change is detected, start fresh

Dont

want too many P or B frames in a row

Predictive

error will keep propagating until next I frame

Delay in decoding

Discrete Cosine Transform

Adiscrete cosine transform(DCT) expresses a finite sequence ofdata

pointsin terms of a sum ofcosinefunctions oscillating at differentfrequencies.
DCTs are important to numerous applications mainlylossy compression.

DCT Formula :

MPEG Block Diagram

MPEG-1

MPEG-1 is the earliest format specification in the family of MPEG formats. Because of its
low bit rate, MPEG-1 has been popular for online distribution and in formats such as Video
CD (VCD). DVDs can also store MPEG-1 video, though MPEG-2 is more commonly used.
Although the MPEG-1 standard actually allows high resolutions, almost all applications use
NTSC- or PAL-compatible image dimensions at quarter resolution or lower.

Common MPEG-1 formats include 320x240, 352x240 at 29.97fps (NTSC), and

352x288 at 25fps (PAL). Maximum data rates are often limited to around 1.5Mbps.
MPEG-1 only supports progressive-scan video.

MPEG-1 supports three layers of audio compression, calledMPEG-1 Layers 1, 2, and 3.

MPEG-1 Layer 2 audio is used in some formats such as HDV and DVD, but MPEG-1 Layer 3
(also known asMP3) is by far the most common. In fact, MP3 audio compression has
become so popular that it is usually used independently of video.

MPEG-1 elementary stream files often have extensions such as .m1v and .m1a, for video
and audio, respectively.

MPEG-2
The MPEG-2 standard made many improvements to the MPEG-1 standard,
including:

Support for interlaced video

Higher data rates and larger frame sizes, including internationally accepted
standard definition and high definition profiles

Two kinds of multiplexed system streamsTransport Streams (TS) for

unreliable network transmission such as broadcast digital television, and
Program Streams (PS) for local, reliable media access (such as DVD
playback)

MPEG-4

MPEG-4 inherited many of the features in MPEG-1 and MPEG-2

and then added a rich set of multimedia features such as
discrete object encoding, scene description, rich metadata, and
digital rights management (DRM). Most applications support
only a subset of all the features available in MPEG-4.

Compared to MPEG-1 and MPEG-2, MPEG-4 video compression

(known asMPEG-4 Part 2) provides superior quality at low bit
rates. However, MPEG-4 supports high-resolution video as well.
For example, Sony HDCAM SR uses a form of MPEG-4
compression.

Advantages and Disadvantages

Advantages

Occupies less disk space.

Reading and writing is faster.

Disadvantages

File transferring is faster.

The order of bytes is independent.

Overall sharp picture

Audio and video stay in sync with each

other

Picture flashes, blurs when there is too

much movement on screen

Higher bitrate often does not solve this

problem