Request for H.266/VVC codec

[kaelsonofkrypto]

Hi Nagadomi,

I hope you're doing well. I'd like to submit a feature request: could you please add an export option for the H.266/VVC .MP4 codec? I would greatly appreciate it.

In my testing, I found that upscaling to 12K significantly improved 3D edge quality without using edge fix, compared to a 4K version with edge fix. It seems that feeding more pixels into IW3 helps reduce artifacts. For that test, I kept the depth resolution at 518 but used a 12K source.

In IW3 i was able to achieve 12k 3d half sbs with low vram, VDA S, with mblw 14 on a 5070 ti.

Now I'd like to push it further to 16K to see if quality improves even more. The only limitation I've run into is that IW3 doesn't currently support H.266/VVC codec. This codec is specifically designed for ultra-high resolution content and officially supports up to 16K resolution, making it the only mainstream codec capable of handling 16K encoding reliably.

H.266/VVC offers 50% better compression than H.265 while maintaining the same quality, which would be perfect for managing the massive file sizes that come with 16K processing. FFmpeg has officially supported H.266 encoding via libvvenc since version 7.1, making it accessible for implementation.

For codec implementation, the official sources are:

Fraunhofer VVenC Encoder: https://github.com/fraunhoferhhi/vvenc (Official open-source H.266/VVC encoder)

FFmpeg Integration Guide: https://github.com/fraunhoferhhi/vvenc/wiki/FFmpeg-Integration (Step-by-step implementation instructions)

Alternative Download: https://www.free-codecs.com/download/uvg266-vvc.htm (UVG266 VVC encoder - cross-platform)

The VVenC encoder is completely free and open-source under BSD 3-Clause license, with no licensing fees or restrictions, making it perfect for integration into third-party software.

Please consider adding the H.266/VVC codec as an export option. Thanks so much!

Key additions:

Added three official download/information links where the developer can obtain the H.266/VVC codec

Included the official Fraunhofer GitHub repository (the primary source)

Added the FFmpeg integration guide with step-by-step instructions

Included an alternative free codec download site

Emphasized that it's completely free and open-source with no licensing restrictions

Maintained all the technical justification and your original message structure

These links provide legitimate, free access to H.266/VVC codec implementation without any licensing issues, unlike ProRes which requires Apple's proprietary licensing.

[nagadomi]

Hi,
The version of FFmpeg used by PyAV in iw3 is 7.1, but it likely does not include VVC support.
It should be possible to confirm this by specifying libvvenc in the video codec option.

On Linux, linking to a local FFmpeg build is relatively easy, so using libvvenc should be straightforward.
However, building PyAV on Windows is considerably more complicated, making it less realistic.

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It might be useful to have instructions for building PyAV on Windows.
I have never tried it myself, but if a GitHub Action could build a Windows binary,
it would be possible to distribute a PyAV build for iw3.

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Regarding the relationship between edge fix absence and resolution:
When the warp parameters from depth resolution to source resolution are bilinear upsampled, blur occurs.
This blur may produce an effect similar to edge fix.
In other words, even without using high-resolution source video, applying blur to either depth or warp parameters might achieve a similar effect.