Comparing V-Nova LCEVC SDK with Practical Open-Source Video Codecs

Abstract

This paper presents a comparative evaluation of the V-Nova LCEVC SDK against several practical open-source video encoders, namely SVT-AV1, XEVE, VVenC, x265, and x264. We analyze the trade-offs between the compression efficiency and encoder/decoder runtime of these encoders for high-resolution (UHD and HD) 10-bit consumer applications under a random access configuration. Rate–distortion behavior is assessed using Video Multimethod Assessment Fusion (VMAF, and VMAF-NEG) and Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio (PSNR), while computational cost is measured through the encoder/decoder runtime. We also analyze the impact of LCEVC’s enhancement layer in terms of both bitrate increase and rate–distortion improvement. The results show that V-Nova LCEVC SDK delivers notable reductions in encoding time with respect to its base codecs, highlighting its suitability as a low-complexity enhancement layer. By comparison, VVenC exhibits a strong compression performance at the expense of high complexity, XEVE also displays considerable encoding times, and SVT-AV1 offers a more balanced compromise between efficiency and computational requirements.