Hybrid video coding refers to the combination of various coding techniques to enhance video compression efficiency. This method integrates both predictive coding and transform coding, ensuring better data compression while maintaining video quality. It plays a critical role in modern video encoding standards such as H.264/AVC, HEVC, and VVC.

The primary goal of hybrid video coding is to reduce the amount of data required to represent video content without compromising visual quality. It is achieved through:

  • Inter-frame prediction for temporal redundancy reduction.
  • Intra-frame prediction to exploit spatial redundancies within frames.
  • Transform coding to convert spatial domain data into frequency domain.

Hybrid video coding allows for a balance between high compression rates and minimal loss of perceptual quality, crucial for applications like streaming, video conferencing, and digital broadcasting.

Key elements of hybrid coding systems include:

Component Description
Prediction Reduces temporal and spatial redundancy by predicting pixel values.
Transform Converts pixel values into coefficients that can be more efficiently encoded.
Quantization Reduces the precision of coefficients to further compress data.
Entropy Coding Encodes residual data in a way that minimizes storage requirements.