eXtra-fast Essential Video Encoder (XEVE)

The eXtra-fast Essential Video Encoder (XEVE) is an opensource and fast MPEG-5 EVC encoder.

MPEG-5 Essential Video Coding (EVC) is a video compression standard of ISO/IEC Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG). The main goal of the EVC is to provide a significantly improved compression capability over existing video coding standards with timely publication of terms. The EVC defines two profiles, including "Baseline Profile" and "Main Profile". The "Baseline profile" contains only technologies that are older than 20 years or otherwise freely available for use in the standard. In addition, the "Main profile" adds a small number of additional tools, each of which can be either cleanly disabled or switched to the corresponding baseline tool on an individual basis.

MPEG-5 EVC Baseline Profile can show 2-times better coding gain over MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 codec and superior quality on the same bitrate

(CC) Blender Foundation | mango.blender.org

MPEG-5 EVC Main Profile can show 2-times better coding gain over HEVC/H.265 codec and superior quality on the same bitrate

(CC) Blender Foundation | mango.blender.org

• Build Requirements

  • CMake 3.12 or later (download from https://cmake.org/)
  • GCC 5.4.0 or later

• Build Instructions for Baseline Profile

  mkdir build
  cd build
  cmake .. -DSET_PROF=BASE
  make
  sudo make install
  

  • Output Location
    • Executable application (xeveb_app) can be found under build/bin/.
    • Library files (libxeveb.so and libxeveb.a) can be found under build/lib/.

• Build Instructions for Main Profile

  mkdir build
  cd build
  cmake ..
  make
  sudo make install
  

  • Output Location
    • Executable application (xeve_app) can be found under build/bin/.
    • Library files (libxeve.so and libxeve.a) can be found under build/lib/.

  Application and libraries built with Main Profile can also support Baseline Profile operation.

• Build Requirements

  • CMake 3.5 or later (download from https://cmake.org/)
  • MinGW-64 or Microsoft Visual Studio

• Build Instructions for Baseline Profile

  • MinGW-64

    mkdir build
    cd build
    cmake .. -G "MinGW Makefiles" -DSET_PROF=BASE
    make
    make install
    

  • Microsoft Visual Studio

    mkdir build
    cd build
    cmake .. -G "Visual Studio 15 2017 Win64" -DSET_PROF=BASE
    make
    

    You can change '-G' option with proper version of Visual Studio.

• Build Instructions for Main Profile

  • MinGW-64

    mkdir build
    cd build
    cmake .. -G "MinGW Makefiles"
    make
    make install
    

  • Microsoft Visual Studio

    mkdir build
    cd build
    cmake .. -G "Visual Studio 15 2017 Win64"
    make
    

    You can change '-G' option with proper version of Visual Studio.

  Application and libraries built with Main Profile can also support Baseline Profile operation.

On an aarch64 host no special option is needed: the architecture is detected automatically, so the Linux instructions above apply as-is. Architectures without SIMD support build automatically with a plain C fallback. The instructions below are for cross-compiling on an x86 host.

• Build Requirements

  • CMake 3.12 or later (download from https://cmake.org/)
  • gcc-aarch64-linux-gnu
  • binutils-aarch64-linux-gnu

• Build Instructions for Baseline Profile

  mkdir build-arm
  cd build-arm
  cmake .. -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER=aarch64-linux-gnu-gcc -DCMAKE_SYSTEM_PROCESSOR=aarch64 -DARM=TRUE -DSET_PROF=BASE 
  make
  sudo make install
  

  • Output Location
    • Executable application (xeveb_app) can be found under build-arm/bin/.
    • Library files (libxeveb.so and libxeveb.a) can be found under build-arm/lib/.

• Build Instructions for Main Profile

  mkdir build-arm
  cd build-arm
  cmake .. -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER=aarch64-linux-gnu-gcc -DCMAKE_SYSTEM_PROCESSOR=aarch64 -DARM=TRUE
  make
  sudo make install
  

  • Output Location
    • Executable application (xeve_app) can be found under build-arm/bin/.
    • Library files (libxeve.so and libxeve.a) can be found under build-arm/lib/.

  Application and libraries built with Main Profile can also support Baseline Profile operation.

• Generation of DEB packages instructions

  • Follow build instruction and build the project
  • Generate DEB packages

    make package
    

    or

    cpack -G "DEB"
    

  • Output
    • Base DEB package for Baseline Profile:
      • package: xeve-base-dev_1.0.0_amd64.deb
      • checksum file: xeve-base-dev_1.0.0_amd64.deb.md5
    • Developer DEB package for Baseline Profile::
      • package: xeve-base_1.0.0_amd64.deb
      • checksum file: xeve-base_1.0.0_amd64.deb.md5 generated.
    • Base DEB package for Main Profile:
      • package: xeve-main-dev_1.0.0_amd64.deb
      • checksum file: xeve-main-dev_1.0.0_amd64.deb.md5
    • Developer DEB package for Main Profile:
      • package: xeve-main_1.0.0_amd64.deb
      • checksum file: xeve-base_1.0.0_amd64.deb.md5 generated.

• Generation of RPM packages

  • Follow build instruction and build the project
  • Generate RPM packages

    cpack -G "RPM" ..
    

• Generation of ZIP archives

  • Follow build instruction and build the project
  • Generate ZIP archive

    cpack -G "ZIP" ..
    

• Requirements

  • NSIS 3.08 or later (download from https://nsis.sourceforge.io/Download)

• Generation of NSIS windows installer instructions

  • Follow build instruction and build the project
  • Generate NSIS Windows installer

    • Command Prompt for Visual Studio

      • Go to the build directory and issue the following command

        msbuild /P:Configuration=Release PACKAGE.vcxproj
        

    • Visual Studio IDE

      • Open up the generated solution (XEVE.sln)
      • Change build type from Debug to Release
      • Go to the Solution Explorer, then select and mouse right click on the PACKAGE project located in CMakePredefinedTargets folder
      • Choose Build item, when a pop down menu appears

      As a result CPack processing message should appear and NSIS installer as well as as checksum file are generated into build directory.

    • MinGW-64

      • Go to the build directory and issue the following command

      make package
      

  • Output:

    • Baseline Profile:

      • xeve-base-1.0.0-win64.exe
      • xeve-base-1.0.0-win64.exe.md5

    • Main Profile:

      • xeve-main-1.0.0-win64.exe
      • xeve-main-1.0.0-win64.exe.md5

Full help message will be presented if xeve application is executed with '--help' option.

Syntax:
  xeve_app -i 'input-file' [ options ]

Options:
  --help
    : list options
  -v, --verbose [INTEGER] (optional) [1]
    : verbose (log) level
      - 0: no message
      - 1: simple messages
      - 2: frame-level messages
  -i, --input [STRING]
    : file name of input video
  -o, --output [STRING] (optional) [None]
    : file name of output bitstream
  -r, --recon [STRING] (optional) [None]
    : file name of reconstructed video
  -w, --width [INTEGER]
    : pixel width of input video
  -h, --height [INTEGER]
    : pixel height of input video
  -q, --qp [INTEGER] (optional) [32]
    : QP value (0~51)
  -z, --fps [STRING]
    : frame rate (Hz), e.g. 30, 29.97 or 30000/1001
  -I, --keyint [INTEGER] (optional) [0]
    : I-picture period
  -b, --bframes [INTEGER] (optional) [15]
    : maximum number of B frames (1,3,7,15)
  -m, --threads [INTEGER] (optional) [1]
    : force to use a specific number of threads
  -d, --input-depth [INTEGER] (optional) [8]
    : input bit depth (8, 10)
  --codec-bit-depth [INTEGER] (optional) [10]
    : codec internal bit depth (10, 12)
  --input-csp [INTEGER] (optional) [1]
    : input color space (chroma format)
      - 0: YUV400
      - 1: YUV420
  --profile [STRING] (optional) [baseline]
    : profile setting flag  (main, baseline)
  --level-idc [INTEGER] (optional) [0]
    : level setting
  --preset [STRING] (optional) [medium]
    : Encoder PRESET	 [fast, medium, slow, placebo]
  --tune [STRING] (optional) [None]
    : Encoder TUNE	 [psnr, zerolatency]

  AND MORE...

xeve_app -i RaceHorses_416x240_30.yuv -w 416 -h 240 -z 30 -o xeve.evc
xeve_app -i RaceHorses_416x240_30.y4m -o xeve.evc

The following code is a pseudo code for understanding how to use the library

#include <xeve.h>

#define MAX_BITSTREAM_SIZE (10*1000*1000) /* 10Mbyte, need to be set properly */

/* prepare coding parameters ***************************/
XEVE_CDSC cdsc;
cdsc.max_bs_buf_size = MAX_BITSTREAM_SIZE;

/* get default parameters */
xeve_param_default(&cdsc.param);

/* set specific profile, preset, tune, if needs */
xeve_param_ppt(&cdsc.param, XEVE_PROFILE_BASELINE, XEVE_PRESET_SLOW, XEVE_TUNE_NONE);

/* create new instance *********************************/
XEVE id = xeve_create(&cdsc, NULL);

/* encode pictures *************************************/
XEVE_BITB bitb; /* bitstream buffer */
memset(&bitb, 0, sizeof(XEVE_BITB));
bitb.addr = malloc(MAX_BITSTREAM_SIZE); /* assign buffer */
bitb.bsize = MAX_BITSTREAM_SIZE;

XEVE_STAT stat; /* encoding status */
XEVE_IMGB image; /* input picture */

while (!end_of_sequence)
{
    end_of_sequence = read_image(&image); /* read new image */

    xeve_push(id, &image); /* input new image to encoder */
    ret = xeve_encode(id, &bitb, &stat); /* actual encode image to bitstream */

    if (ret == XEVE_OK && stat.write > 0)
    {
        write_bitstream(bitb.addr, stat.write); /* write encoded bitstream */
    }
}

/* clean-up ********************************************/
xeve_delete(id);

SEI payloads (e.g. HDR metadata such as mastering display colour volume, content light level or ITU-T T.35 messages) can be attached per picture. Attach them to the input picture before xeve_push(); the payload bytes are copied inside the call and are written into the access unit of that picture, so the association survives frame reordering.

unsigned char t35_data[] = { 0xB5, /* ... payload bytes ... */ };

XEVE_SEI_PAYLOAD payload;
payload.payload_type = XEVE_SEI_USER_DATA_REGISTERED_ITU_T_T35;
payload.payload_size = sizeof(t35_data);
payload.payload      = t35_data;

XEVE_SEI sei;
sei.num_payloads = 1;
sei.payloads     = &payload;

image.pdata[XEVE_IMGB_SEI_SLOT] = &sei;
image.ndata[XEVE_IMGB_SEI_SLOT] = XEVE_SEI_MAGIC;

xeve_push(id, &image); /* sei can be released after this returns */

Contributions are welcome through GitHub pull requests.

• Fork the repository and create a topic branch from master.
• Keep each PR focused; put unrelated fixes into separate PRs.
• Make sure both profiles still build before submitting (-DSET_PROF=MAIN and -DSET_PROF=BASE).
• Sign off your commits (git commit -s).
• Please enable "Allow edits from maintainers" when opening a pull request. This lets maintainers push small fixes (build tweaks, rebases, style cleanups) directly to your branch instead of going through another round of review comments, which can significantly shorten the review cycle.

See COPYING file for details.