The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has ratified a new codec, which it claims will “unleash a new phase of innovation in video production for mobile devices through to ultra-highdefinition TV”.

Known formally as ITU-T H.265 or ISO/IEC 23008-2, High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) is the result of collaboration between the ITU Video Coding Experts Group (VCEG) and the ISO/IEC Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG).

The new codec is expected to ease the burden on global networks by halving the bit rate of H.264, which the ITU estimates accounts for more than 80% of all web video.