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Tiers

The HEVC standard defines two tiers: Main and High.⁵⁶ The Main tier is a lower tier than the High tier.⁷⁸ The tiers were made to deal with applications that differ in terms of their maximum bit rate.⁹ The Main tier was designed for most applications while the High tier was designed for very demanding applications.¹⁰

Levels

The HEVC standard defines thirteen levels.¹¹¹² A level is a set of constraints for a bitstream.¹³¹⁴ For levels below level 4 only the Main tier is allowed.¹⁵¹⁶ A decoder that conforms to a given tier/level is required to be capable of decoding all bitstreams that are encoded for that tier/level and for all lower tiers/levels.¹⁷¹⁸

Tiers and levels with maximum property values¹⁹²⁰

Level	Max luma sample rate(samples/s)	Max luma picture size(samples)	Max bit rate for Mainand Main 10 profiles (1000bit/s)[A]		Max bit rate for Main 12profile (1000bit/s)		Max bit rate for Main 4:4:4 12profile (1000bit/s)		Max bit rate for Main 4:4:4 16Intra profile (1000bit/s)		Max bit rate for High Throughput4:4:4 16 Intraprofile (1000bit/s)		Example picture resolution @highest frame rate[B](MaxDpbSize[C]) Click here to hide/showadditional examples	MinCR[D]	Max numberof slicesegmentsper picture[E]	Max number of tile[F]
			Main tier	High tier	Main tier	High tier	Main tier	High tier	Main tier	High tier	Main tier	High tier				rows	columns
1	552,960	36,864	128	-	192	-	384	-	1,024	-	12,288	-	128×[email protected] (6) 176×[email protected] (6)	2	16	1	1
2	3,686,400	122,880	1,500	-	2,250	-	4,500	-	12,000	-	144,000	-	176×[email protected] (16) 320×[email protected] (6) 352×[email protected] (6) 352×[email protected] (6)	2	16	1	1
2.1	7,372,800	245,760	3,000	-	4,500	-	9,000	-	24,000	-	288,000	-	320×[email protected] (12) 352×[email protected] (12) 352×[email protected] (12) 352×[email protected] (6) 352×[email protected] (6) 640×[email protected] (6)	2	20	1	1
3	16,588,800	552,960	6,000	-	9,000	-	18,000	-	48,000	-	576,000	-	352×[email protected] (12) 352×[email protected] (12) 640×[email protected] (12) 720×[email protected] (8) 720×[email protected] (8) 960×[email protected] (6)	2	30	2	2
3.1	33,177,600	983,040	10,000	-	15,000	-	30,000	-	80,000	-	960,000	-	720×[email protected] (12) 720×[email protected] (12) 960×[email protected] (8) 1280×[email protected] (6)	2	40	3	3
4	66,846,720	2,228,224	12,000	30,000	18,000	45,000	36,000	90,000	96,000	240,000	1,152,000	2,880,000	1,280×[email protected] (12) 1,920×1,[email protected] (6) 2,048×1,[email protected] (6)	4	75	5	5
4.1	133,693,440		20,000	50,000	30,000	75,000	60,000	150,000	160,000	400,000	1,920,000	4,800,000	1,280×[email protected] (12) 1,920×1,[email protected] (6) 2,048×1,[email protected] (6)	4
5	267,386,880	8,912,896	25,000	100,000	37,500	150,000	75,000	300,000	200,000	800,000	2,400,000	9,600,000	1,920×1,[email protected] (16) 2,048×1,[email protected] (16) 3,840×2,[email protected] (6) 4,096×2,[email protected] (6)	6	200	11	10
5.1	534,773,760		40,000	160,000	60,000	240,000	120,000	480,000	320,000	1,280,000	3,840,000	15,360,000	1,920×1,[email protected] (16) 2,048×1,[email protected] (16) 3,840×2,[email protected] (6) 4,096×2,[email protected] (6)	8
5.2	1,069,547,520		60,000	240,000	90,000	360,000	180,000	720,000	480,000	1,920,000	5,760,000	23,040,000	1,920×1,[email protected] (16) 2,048×1,[email protected] (16) 3,840×2,[email protected] (6) 4,096×2,[email protected] (6)	8
6	1,069,547,520	35,651,584	60,000	240,000	90,000	360,000	180,000	720,000	480,000	1,920,000	5,760,000	23,040,000	3,840×2,[email protected] (16) 4,096×2,[email protected] (16) 7,680×4,[email protected] (6) 8,192×4,[email protected] (6)	8	600	22	20
6.1	2,139,095,040		120,000	480,000	180,000	720,000	360,000	1,440,000	960,000	3,840,000	11,520,000	46,080,000	3,840×2,[email protected] (16) 4,096×2,[email protected] (16) 7,680×4,[email protected] (6) 8,192×4,[email protected] (6)	8
6.2	4,278,190,080		240,000	800,000	360,000	1,200,000	720,000	2,400,000	1,920,000	6,400,000	23,040,000	76,800,000	3,840×2,[email protected] (16) 4,096×2,[email protected] (16) 7,680×4,[email protected] (6) 8,192×4,[email protected] (6)	6

A The maximum bit rate of the profile is based on the combination of bit depth, chroma sampling, and the type of profile.²¹ For bit depth the maximum bit rate increases by 1.5x for 12-bit profiles and 2x for 16-bit profiles.²² For chroma sampling the maximum bit rate increases by 1.5x for 4:2:2 profiles and 2x for 4:4:4 profiles.²³ For the Intra profiles the maximum bit rate increases by 2x.²⁴ B The maximum frame rate supported by HEVC is 300 frames per second (fps).²⁵ C The MaxDpbSize, maximum number of pictures in the decoded picture buffer, for the maximum luma picture size of that level is 6 for all levels.²⁶²⁷ The MaxDpbSize can increase to a maximum of 16 frames, if the luma picture size of the video is smaller than the maximum luma picture size of that level, in incremental steps of 4/3×, 2×, or 4×.²⁸²⁹ D The MinCR, minimum compression ratio, for that level.³⁰ The MinCR constraint is reduced to half its base value for the 4:2:2 and 4:4:4 chroma sampling profiles and is reduced by an additional half for the Intra profiles.³¹ The MinCR is reduced to 1/24th of its base value with the High Throughput 4:4:4 16 Intra profile.³²³³ E The maximum number of slice segments is the number of slices allowed per picture at both the maximum resolution and maximum frame rate.³⁴³⁵ F The maximum number of tiles allowed per picture.³⁶ The maximum number of tiles allowed per second is the maximum number of tiles allowed per picture times 120.³⁷³⁸

See also

• High Efficiency Video Coding
• UHDTV - Digital video formats with resolutions of 4K (3840×2160) and 8K (7680×4320)
• Rec. 2020 - ITU-R Recommendation for UHDTV
• H.264/MPEG-4 AVC - The predecessor video standard of HEVC
• VC-1 - A video standard developed by Microsoft

External links

• Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute HEVC website
• Joint Collaborative Team on Video Coding (JCT-VC)
• JCT-VC Document Management System

References

1. G.J. Sullivan; J.-R. Ohm; W.-J. Han; T. Wiegand (2012-05-25). "Overview of the High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) Standard" (PDF). IEEE Trans. on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology. Retrieved 2012-09-14. /wiki/Thomas_Wiegand ↩

2. "H.265 : High efficiency video coding". ITU. 2013-06-07. Retrieved 2013-06-07. http://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-H.265 ↩

3. G.J. Sullivan; J.-R. Ohm; W.-J. Han; T. Wiegand (2012-05-25). "Overview of the High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) Standard" (PDF). IEEE Trans. on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology. Retrieved 2012-09-14. /wiki/Thomas_Wiegand ↩

4. "H.265 : High efficiency video coding". ITU. 2013-06-07. Retrieved 2013-06-07. http://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-H.265 ↩

5. G.J. Sullivan; J.-R. Ohm; W.-J. Han; T. Wiegand (2012-05-25). "Overview of the High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) Standard" (PDF). IEEE Trans. on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology. Retrieved 2012-09-14. /wiki/Thomas_Wiegand ↩

6. "H.265 : High efficiency video coding". ITU. 2013-06-07. Retrieved 2013-06-07. http://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-H.265 ↩

7. G.J. Sullivan; J.-R. Ohm; W.-J. Han; T. Wiegand (2012-05-25). "Overview of the High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) Standard" (PDF). IEEE Trans. on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology. Retrieved 2012-09-14. /wiki/Thomas_Wiegand ↩

8. "H.265 : High efficiency video coding". ITU. 2013-06-07. Retrieved 2013-06-07. http://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-H.265 ↩

9. G.J. Sullivan; J.-R. Ohm; W.-J. Han; T. Wiegand (2012-05-25). "Overview of the High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) Standard" (PDF). IEEE Trans. on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology. Retrieved 2012-09-14. /wiki/Thomas_Wiegand ↩

10. G.J. Sullivan; J.-R. Ohm; W.-J. Han; T. Wiegand (2012-05-25). "Overview of the High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) Standard" (PDF). IEEE Trans. on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology. Retrieved 2012-09-14. /wiki/Thomas_Wiegand ↩

11. G.J. Sullivan; J.-R. Ohm; W.-J. Han; T. Wiegand (2012-05-25). "Overview of the High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) Standard" (PDF). IEEE Trans. on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology. Retrieved 2012-09-14. /wiki/Thomas_Wiegand ↩

12. "H.265 : High efficiency video coding". ITU. 2013-06-07. Retrieved 2013-06-07. http://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-H.265 ↩

13. G.J. Sullivan; J.-R. Ohm; W.-J. Han; T. Wiegand (2012-05-25). "Overview of the High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) Standard" (PDF). IEEE Trans. on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology. Retrieved 2012-09-14. /wiki/Thomas_Wiegand ↩

14. "H.265 : High efficiency video coding". ITU. 2013-06-07. Retrieved 2013-06-07. http://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-H.265 ↩

15. G.J. Sullivan; J.-R. Ohm; W.-J. Han; T. Wiegand (2012-05-25). "Overview of the High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) Standard" (PDF). IEEE Trans. on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology. Retrieved 2012-09-14. /wiki/Thomas_Wiegand ↩

16. "H.265 : High efficiency video coding". ITU. 2013-06-07. Retrieved 2013-06-07. http://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-H.265 ↩

17. G.J. Sullivan; J.-R. Ohm; W.-J. Han; T. Wiegand (2012-05-25). "Overview of the High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) Standard" (PDF). IEEE Trans. on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology. Retrieved 2012-09-14. /wiki/Thomas_Wiegand ↩

18. "H.265 : High efficiency video coding". ITU. 2013-06-07. Retrieved 2013-06-07. http://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-H.265 ↩

19. "H.265 : High efficiency video coding". ITU. 2013-06-07. Retrieved 2013-06-07. http://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-H.265 ↩

20. Jill Boyce; Jianle Chen; Ying Chen; David Flynn; Miska M. Hannuksela; Matteo Naccari; Chris Rosewarne; Karl Sharman; Joel Sole; Gary J. Sullivan; Teruhiko Suzuki; Gerhard Tech; Ye-Kui Wang; Krzysztof Wegner; Yan Ye (2014-07-11). "Draft high efficiency video coding (HEVC) version 2, combined format range extensions (RExt), scalability (SHVC), and multi-view (MV-HEVC) extensions". JCT-VC. Retrieved 2014-07-11. /wiki/Jill_Boyce ↩

21. Jill Boyce; Jianle Chen; Ying Chen; David Flynn; Miska M. Hannuksela; Matteo Naccari; Chris Rosewarne; Karl Sharman; Joel Sole; Gary J. Sullivan; Teruhiko Suzuki; Gerhard Tech; Ye-Kui Wang; Krzysztof Wegner; Yan Ye (2014-07-11). "Draft high efficiency video coding (HEVC) version 2, combined format range extensions (RExt), scalability (SHVC), and multi-view (MV-HEVC) extensions". JCT-VC. Retrieved 2014-07-11. /wiki/Jill_Boyce ↩

22. Jill Boyce; Jianle Chen; Ying Chen; David Flynn; Miska M. Hannuksela; Matteo Naccari; Chris Rosewarne; Karl Sharman; Joel Sole; Gary J. Sullivan; Teruhiko Suzuki; Gerhard Tech; Ye-Kui Wang; Krzysztof Wegner; Yan Ye (2014-07-11). "Draft high efficiency video coding (HEVC) version 2, combined format range extensions (RExt), scalability (SHVC), and multi-view (MV-HEVC) extensions". JCT-VC. Retrieved 2014-07-11. /wiki/Jill_Boyce ↩

23. Jill Boyce; Jianle Chen; Ying Chen; David Flynn; Miska M. Hannuksela; Matteo Naccari; Chris Rosewarne; Karl Sharman; Joel Sole; Gary J. Sullivan; Teruhiko Suzuki; Gerhard Tech; Ye-Kui Wang; Krzysztof Wegner; Yan Ye (2014-07-11). "Draft high efficiency video coding (HEVC) version 2, combined format range extensions (RExt), scalability (SHVC), and multi-view (MV-HEVC) extensions". JCT-VC. Retrieved 2014-07-11. /wiki/Jill_Boyce ↩

24. Jill Boyce; Jianle Chen; Ying Chen; David Flynn; Miska M. Hannuksela; Matteo Naccari; Chris Rosewarne; Karl Sharman; Joel Sole; Gary J. Sullivan; Teruhiko Suzuki; Gerhard Tech; Ye-Kui Wang; Krzysztof Wegner; Yan Ye (2014-07-11). "Draft high efficiency video coding (HEVC) version 2, combined format range extensions (RExt), scalability (SHVC), and multi-view (MV-HEVC) extensions". JCT-VC. Retrieved 2014-07-11. /wiki/Jill_Boyce ↩

25. "H.265 : High efficiency video coding". ITU. 2013-06-07. Retrieved 2013-06-07. http://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-H.265 ↩

26. G.J. Sullivan; J.-R. Ohm; W.-J. Han; T. Wiegand (2012-05-25). "Overview of the High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) Standard" (PDF). IEEE Trans. on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology. Retrieved 2012-09-14. /wiki/Thomas_Wiegand ↩

27. "H.265 : High efficiency video coding". ITU. 2013-06-07. Retrieved 2013-06-07. http://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-H.265 ↩

28. G.J. Sullivan; J.-R. Ohm; W.-J. Han; T. Wiegand (2012-05-25). "Overview of the High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) Standard" (PDF). IEEE Trans. on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology. Retrieved 2012-09-14. /wiki/Thomas_Wiegand ↩

29. "H.265 : High efficiency video coding". ITU. 2013-06-07. Retrieved 2013-06-07. http://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-H.265 ↩

30. "H.265 : High efficiency video coding". ITU. 2013-06-07. Retrieved 2013-06-07. http://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-H.265 ↩

31. Jill Boyce; Jianle Chen; Ying Chen; David Flynn; Miska M. Hannuksela; Matteo Naccari; Chris Rosewarne; Karl Sharman; Joel Sole; Gary J. Sullivan; Teruhiko Suzuki; Gerhard Tech; Ye-Kui Wang; Krzysztof Wegner; Yan Ye (2014-07-11). "Draft high efficiency video coding (HEVC) version 2, combined format range extensions (RExt), scalability (SHVC), and multi-view (MV-HEVC) extensions". JCT-VC. Retrieved 2014-07-11. /wiki/Jill_Boyce ↩

32. Jill Boyce; Jianle Chen; Ying Chen; David Flynn; Miska M. Hannuksela; Matteo Naccari; Chris Rosewarne; Karl Sharman; Joel Sole; Gary J. Sullivan; Teruhiko Suzuki; Gerhard Tech; Ye-Kui Wang; Krzysztof Wegner; Yan Ye (2014-07-11). "Draft high efficiency video coding (HEVC) version 2, combined format range extensions (RExt), scalability (SHVC), and multi-view (MV-HEVC) extensions". JCT-VC. Retrieved 2014-07-11. /wiki/Jill_Boyce ↩

33. K. Sharman; N. Saunders; J. Gamei; T. Suzuki; A. Tabatabai (2014-06-20). "High 4:4:4 16 Intra profile specification". JCT-VC. Retrieved 2014-07-13. http://phenix.it-sudparis.eu/jct/doc_end_user/current_document.php?id=9198 ↩

34. "H.265 : High efficiency video coding". ITU. 2013-06-07. Retrieved 2013-06-07. http://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-H.265 ↩

35. Minhua Zhou (2012-10-01). "AHG9: on number of slices constraint". JCT-VC. Retrieved 2012-11-27. http://phenix.it-sudparis.eu/jct/doc_end_user/current_document.php?id=6572 ↩

36. "H.265 : High efficiency video coding". ITU. 2013-06-07. Retrieved 2013-06-07. http://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-H.265 ↩

37. "H.265 : High efficiency video coding". ITU. 2013-06-07. Retrieved 2013-06-07. http://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-H.265 ↩

38. Minhua Zhou (2012-10-01). "AHG9: on number of tiles constraint". JCT-VC. Retrieved 2012-11-27. http://phenix.it-sudparis.eu/jct/doc_end_user/current_document.php?id=6573 ↩