Install vvdec with Homebrew

Project links

• Homepage
• Repository
• Upstream docs
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• vvdecapp

Project history

The VVC standard was finalized in July 2020 by JVET, the joint ITU-T VCEG and ISO/IEC MPEG effort, as the successor to HEVC/H.265. Fraunhofer HHI presents VVC as ITU-T H.266 / ISO/IEC 23090-3 and describes the standard as targeting about 50 percent bit-rate reduction at comparable subjective quality.

VVdeC was initiated to provide a publicly available and fast VVC decoder. Its wiki says it is based on the VVC Test Model reference software, then redesigned with performance-oriented changes such as SIMD optimization and multi-threading. The public GitHub repository was created in September 2020, shortly after standard finalization, and early public releases appeared in October 2020.

Adoption history

Fraunhofer positions VVdeC as the decoder half of its practical VVC software stack. The project documentation points to integration in frameworks and applications, including FFmpeg and MPV pages, and notes support across desktop platforms, mobile targets, and WebAssembly builds where platform support allows.

How it is used

Typical use is decoding raw VVC bitstreams produced by standards-compliant encoders such as VVenC or VTM, or linking the standalone core decoding library into media applications that need VVC playback. For codec developers it also provides a faster, more practical decoder for experiments than the reference model.

Why package nerds care

VVdeC is a useful package because new video standards need installable command-line and library implementations before they can be tested in real pipelines. It gives developers a BSD-licensed decoder for H.266/VVC bitstreams without depending on heavyweight proprietary playback stacks.

Timeline

• 2015-2017: VVC exploration work ran under JVET's predecessor activity.
• July 2020: VVC/H.266 was finalized as a new video coding standard.
• September 2020: The public fraunhoferhhi/vvdec repository was created.
• October 2020: Early VVdeC public releases were published.

Related projects

• VVenC is Fraunhofer HHI's companion VVC encoder; VTM is the VVC reference software; FFmpeg, MPV, and browser/WebAssembly experiments are common integration targets for practical playback.

Sources

• https://api.github.com/repos/fraunhoferhhi/vvdec
• https://github.com/fraunhoferhhi/vvdec/wiki
• https://www.hhi.fraunhofer.de/en/departments/vca/technologies-and-solutions/h266-vvc.html
• https://www.hhi.fraunhofer.de/en/departments/vca/technologies-and-solutions/h266-vvc/fraunhofer-versatile-video-decoder-vvdec.html
• https://www.hhi.fraunhofer.de/en/departments/vca/technologies-and-solutions/h266-vvc/vvc-overview.html