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evolve, established compression stan-
dards are proving adaptable to these
emerging content types.
“Codecs that we have relied on for our
content up until now, such as HEVC/H.264
and VVC/H.266 are proving that they are
more than well suited for short form con-
tent,” noted Shirley. “It is likely that the
industry will see an increased adoption
in these well-performing codecs for short
form content distribution on a wide scale,
in the same way that they have been trans-
forming live event coverage for years.”
Next-generation compression
technologies
The industry continues to advance com-
pression efficiency with new encoding
methods designed to reduce bandwidth
and storage requirements.
“Emerging encoding technologies and
new codecs are enhancing compression
efficiency, reducing storage and bandwidth
needs, and ultimately helping companies
serve their stakeholders more effective-
ly,” said Richard Andes, vice president of
product management at Telestream.
Beyond traditional video compression,
specialized codecs for immersive media
are also gaining attention.
“With immersive content (such as AR,
XR and VR) taking the front line in recent
years after the release of Apple Vision Pro,
codecs such as MV-HEVC with high in-
teroperability capabilities are proving that
new forms of content are effective, pop-
ular and even easy to create and manage
with the right technology and support,”
Shirley added.
The industry is also seeing further adop-
tion of newer standards that promise bet-
ter efficiency.
“The industry is poised for the wider
adoption of efficient compression stan-
dards like AV1 and the growing prevalence
of 4K video,” said Anupama Ananthara-
man, vice president of product manage-
ment at Interra Systems.
HDR workflow integration
High Dynamic Range (HDR) production
has become a standard requirement, but
implementing efficient workflows that ac-
commodate both HDR and SDR delivery
remains challenging.
“There is no doubt that HDR is now a
dominant trend impacting broadcast pro-
duction. Many streaming platforms are
now offering HDR as a default option, but
at the same time they also need to contin-
ue to provide SDR,” said Kevin Salvidge,
sales engineering and technical marketing
manager at Leader Electronics of Europe.
Production companies are developing
new approaches to manage these parallel
delivery requirements.
“Unlike the days of simultaneous 2D and
3D production, where we saw two inde-
pendent productions occurring, Leader is
helping production companies in design-
ing creative and innovative production
workflows to overcome these challenges,”
Salvidge explained.
For live sports production, a “single
master” approach is gaining popularity.
“Live sports productions have been
adopting what is commonly referred to
as a Single Master workflow that sees
all signal converted to 1080p HDR,” said
Salvidge.
“With
down-conversion
to
1080p, live sport production companies
have a process they feel very comfortable
with — whilst also retaining artistic intent
and emotional impact.”
AI enhancing codec
implementation
Artificial intelligence is beginning to in-
fluence how compression technologies
are implemented and managed within
workflows.
“We also expect to see how AI is evolv-
ing beyond metadata generation to ac-
tively control processes and automate
workflows at the 2025 NAB Show,” said
Andes. “Real-time analytics and business
process requirements are driving auto-
mation strategies, ensuring smarter, more
efficient media operations.”
These AI applications extend to quality
control and optimization of compressed
content.
“AI-driven solutions for personalization,
content classification, real-time analyt-
ics, and automated QC will see increased
adoption – especially when they provide
cost savings or a competitive advantage,”
noted Anantharaman.
As the industry gathers at NAB Show
2025, the evolution of codecs, formats and
compression technologies will remain
central to discussions about how content
moves through increasingly complex and
distributed production and distribution
networks. These technologies will con-
tinue to adapt to emerging content types
while enabling more efficient operations
across the content supply chain.
ically allocate resources and adapt to differ-
ent production demands on the fly ensures
that broadcasters, networks, and indepen-
dent creators alike can take on projects with
agility and efficiency, regardless of location.
For large networks, this means being
able to scale operations without expanding
physical facilities. A broadcaster that once
had to choose between investing in addi-
tional control rooms or capping the number
of productions it could support can now al-
locate cloud resources dynamically.
For smaller production teams and even
individual content creators, cloud work-
flows open doors that were previously
closed due to cost and complexity. Free-
lance operators, corporate event produc-
ers, and independent sports leagues can
now access professional-grade production
tools without the need for massive upfront
investment. Whether it’s a veteran freelanc-
er looking to expand their business or a new
content creator aiming for broadcast-qual-
ity production, cloud-enabled production
offers a pathway to higher-quality outputs
with lower barriers to entry.
Looking ahead
The industry’s move toward cloud-en-
abled production and software-defined
tools is the next logical step in the evolution
of live broadcasting. By combining the best
elements of traditional workflows with the
scalability and flexibility of the cloud, pro-
duction teams can maintain high standards
while working more efficiently.
As the technology continues to mature,
expect to see even greater adoption across
a wide range of productions. Giving con-
tent producers the ability to build, custom-
ize, and deploy production environments
on demand, cloud-enabled workflows are
reshaping the way live content is created.
Anyone, anywhere, can produce broad-
cast-quality content with greater flexibility,
reliability, and control.
Matt Antalek is the director of
engineering at BitFire.
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CODECS
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TRENDS