Telestream Launches HEVC Encoder

Telestream, a provider of digital media tools and workflow solutions, announced the public availability of an open source H.265 (HEVC) encoder. The new x265 project is aimed at the creation of the world’s most efficient, highest quality H.265 codec. Conceived by Telestream, the x265 project was co-founded and is being managed by the company’s development partner, MulticoreWare. The H.265 initiative is being introduced under both an open source and commercial license model.

“Telestream and Multicoreware have had great success in the acceleration and commercial deployment of x264 and believe that a similar approach with the collaborative development of the next generation of high-efficiency codecs will benefit the industry,” says Shawn Carnahan, CTO at Telestream. “The x264 project proved the effectiveness of developing a codec of this complexity. Leveraging the x264 technology in this new project will ensure that the new codec is as robust, efficient and high quality as its predecessor.”

“Previous collaboration between Telestream and MulticoreWare led to successful work on the GPU acceleration of x264, a task deemed by many to be incredibly difficult, if not impossible,” remarks Jason Garrett-Glaser, lead developer of the x264 project. “With these accomplishments in mind, I am excited to support Telestream in the founding of the x265 project, which follows in the x264 tradition of high performance, quality, and flexibility under an open source license and business model.”

Interested individuals and companies are encouraged to contribute to the project and are invited to learn more at x265.org. As an open source project, access is free under GNU LGPL licensing, and commercial licenses are available for companies wishing to use the resulting implementation in their products.

Telestream will demonstrate HEVC transcoding at the International Broadcasters Convention (IBC) in Amsterdam, September 13-17 in stand 7.C12.