IBC 2025: Enhancing Mobile Video QoE with VVC at the Edge

Yan Ye, Alibaba

Aytac Biber, MC-IF

AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS, September 13, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Consumer demand for video content, even when they are “on the go”, is at an all time high. According to the latest Ericsson Mobility Report, nearly 74% of total mobile data traffic falls into the video category. This rising trend sets that stage for new requirements within the mobile sector particularly in the context of quality of experience (QoE) and operational expenses for service providers. The challenge before mobile network operators is how best to balance these variables as new media and connectivity technologies such as 4G/5G and adaptive streaming offer greater accessibility to video content on mobile devices through edge computing.

In a recent vidcast interview Yan Ye, with Alibaba’s DAMO Academy, and Aytac Biber, MC-IF board member and Qualcomm Standards and Industry Alliances, discussed mobile devices, edge computing and where Versatile Video Coding (VVC) plays a role in enabling mobile network operators to meet the demand for video content.

“Smartphones, tablets and IoT devices operate at the edge of the mobile network which is often where bandwidth, power and compute are an issue,” said Biber. “In a resource constrained environment at the edge, mobile network operators will look at means to remedy any negative effect of incremental traffic growth. The advanced compression that VVC offers can certainly help to address these challenges.”

Scale of bandwidth-related issues can rise rapidly when a larger portion of the population uses network resources simultaneously, which is often the case with live sports and other popular events.

“Commuting in many countries means using public transportation which provides commuters with an excellent opportunity to watch video content on their phones,” explained Ye. “Peak bandwidth usage driven by this type of consumer behavior is what mobile network operators are constantly working to manage.”

According to Ye and Biber, potential for reduction in bandwidth usage at even 20% or 30% represents a significant cost savings and decreased burden on resources for mobile network operators seeking to manage infrastructure during these peaks. These efforts have the added benefit of affecting the quality of the consumer experience as well.

“In crowded areas such as transit or high-traffic retail centers, bandwidth availability per user tends to decrease and latency increases,” Ye said. “Optimizing video delivery for the last mile is critical because these improvements could manifest in faster startup times for streaming and fewer disconnections during video calls. Overall, it provides a significant improvement in the user experience.”

The Technological Advantage That VVC Provides

As video technology has evolved with hardware and software upgrade improvements, the standard of quality has risen for video resolution as well. What was once the expectation for good video at 540p resolution, no longer applies. Compression is the key that mobile network operators need to address the voracious appetite for video content while maintaining QoE and reigning in costs. This is especially important as operators strive to maintain service for older devices and support of advanced video via software decoder on these legacy devices could help.

“Today, 720p and even 1080p resolution represents the baseline of quality for mobile devices. Taking 1080p video and VVC software decoding on a mainstream brand device powered by a Snapdragon system-on-chip from two years ago, we can see that the software decoding on a single thread execution–or single CPU core–can reach more than 120 frames per second with no problems,” Ye explained. “Memory usage is less than 100 megabytes which is very reasonable.”

Mobile devices capable of delivering video in these higher resolutions at higher frame rates creates a desirable experience for consumers that want to enjoy bandwidth intensive content such as gaming or live sports.

“Looking at the example of 1080p again, the software encoding process is more intensive on the device,” Ye continued. “But even at four threads, running on a phone that's two years old, you can reach 30 frames per second and achieve 50% rate reduction compared to HEVC on that same device.”

Increased development of video content as well as emerging applications such as 360 video, augmented reality and virtual reality point to the growing need for mobile network operators to focus on reducing bandwidth usage.

Towards VVC Adoption and Deployment

“Currently, VVC is being used alongside earlier codecs such as AV1, HEVC, AVC,” said Biber. ”I expect that VVC will continue to expand its share of delivered bits throughout this year and into the coming years.”
With any new technological advance, there are questions surrounding the adoption and deployment of VVC across various pockets of the industry.

“Rather than rip and replace I see VVC finding its place as an additional service that will be provided. It will be alongside HEVC and AVC deployments to serve those legacy devices,” Ye said. “Certain types of content or applications, a software-based VVC solution can already be deployed onto existing mobile devices or other types of devices. A small amount of changes will need to be made to your operation to enable VVC.”

Exploring the Role of Content Distributors

Beyond mobile network operators, devices, and consumers, the ecosystem also includes broadcasters and streaming service providers. These content providers are exploring how the latest technologies can support the distribution of live sports and events which are in high demand with consumers and represent a cornerstone of content distribution strategy. The benefits that VVC offers can also play a role in supporting these platforms is this segment of the video value chain.

“Broadcasters operate within constrained resources, specifically with limited spectrum based on allocations for each broadcaster,” Biber stated. “If broadcasters adopt a more efficient video compression such as VVC and achieve 20 to 30% bitrate reduction, that would directly translate into more TV or radio channels while staying within the bounds of their allocated spectrum.”

As executives of content service providers look ahead, considerations will be given as to whether a new standard offers competitive advantage or improves revenue generation.

“Whether its compute cost versus bandwidth or cost versus size of user base, every service provider, based on their own secret formula, has to decide whether it makes financial sense to add VVC to their content,” said Ye. “In our experience, the threshold is not very high. In our calculation, long form or short form content providers can all benefit, depending on whether the service provider has a sufficient base of popular content.”

Overall, the coming years will prove to be exciting as innovative services and applications emerge and new standards such as VVC are adopted and deployed.

“I believe we have reached a tipping point where it makes sense for most content platforms to incorporate VVC to their services, especially given the growing footprint of legacy devices that could be served quickly with an efficient VVC software decoder,” Biber said.

Click Here to Read the Q&A.

Airrion Andrews
Mindshare Capture
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