Evolution of video codecs: a comparative analysis of HEVC, VVC, AV1, and AVM

In recent decades, the consumption of video content has increased exponentially, accounting for over 80% of global Internet traffic. This growth has come with a continuous evolution of video compression technologies, necessary to guarantee the efficient transmission of content across the multiple digital platforms and devices available today. Video compression actually plays a crucial role in reducing the amount of data required to represent visual content, balancing perceived quality, encoding efficiency, and computational complexity. This study’s aim is to analyze and compare four of the latest video codecs: HEVC (High Efficiency Video Coding), VVC (Versatile Video Coding), AV1, and AV2 (AOMedia Video 1 and 2). These video coding technologies and standards represent the state of the art in video compression and are used in a wide range of applications, including online streaming, television broadcasting, video conferencing, and multimedia content storage. Particular attention is given to AVM (AOMedia Video Model, usually called AV2), a newly introduced technology, designed to further enhance compression efficiency and address the ever-evolving market demands. The study is based on an experimental approach, which involves encoding and decoding video sequences under controlled conditions, using dedicated software tools and predefined test parameters. The comparative analysis focuses on objective quality metrics, including PSNR (Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio) and VMAF (Video Multi-Method Assessment Fusion), to assess the impact of compression on perceived quality. Additionally, the comparison takes into consideration aspects such as bitrate efficiency or computational complexity, which may be considered as key factors in determining the adoption of a codec in different application contexts.