VP8 SDK update increases multi-core performance

THE ROYALTY FREE audio-visual format WebM has released its second VP8 codec software development kit (SDK).

The WebM project announced the release of the Bali VP8 SDK, citing improvements in encoding performance for both X86 and ARM architectures. The project confirmed that there is no change to the VP8 video format, only to the SDK.

Of particular note is WebM's work on improving performance for Nvidia's Tegra 2 chip, claiming an impressive 21 to 36 per cent improvement in real-time encoding. Bali also includes multi-threading optimisations for ARM chips, with 15 per cent and 26 per cent improvements in dual and quad-core ARM Cortex A9 performance, respectively, compared to the first release of the VP8 SDK.

There are also picture quality improvements in the VP8 video codec, with the project claiming a six per cent increase in quality. Bali has been optimised to provide a "more consistent high video quality" and uses an improved two-pass rate control. The project also made improvements to noise reduction algorithms and scene transition quality in this release.

With a large number of Tegra 2 smartphones coming out in the coming months, the project's work to improve encoding performance should make the open WebM standard more attractive for smartphone OS developers and online services.

Google anticipates that its open royalty-free WebM format will help banish the use of closed standards audio and video encoders. By following an aggressive development strategy through the WebM project, it might just achieve that goal. µ