An Overview of the MPEG Standard for Storage and Transport of Visual Volumetric Video-Based Coding

The increasing popularity of virtual, augmented, and mixed reality (VR/AR/MR) applications is driving the media industry to explore the creation and delivery of new immersive experiences. One of the trends is volumetric video, which allows users to explore content unconstrained by the traditional two-dimensional window of director’s view. The ISO/IEC joint technical committee 1 subcommittee 29, better known as the Moving Pictures Experts Group (MPEG), has recently finalized a group of standards, under the umbrella of Visual Volumetric Video-based Coding (V3C). These standards aim to efficiently code, store, and transport immersive content with 6 degrees of freedom. The V3C family of standards currently consists of three documents: 1) ISO/IEC 23090-5 defines the generic concepts of volumetric video-based coding and its application to dynamic point cloud data; 2) ISO/IEC 23090-12 specifies another application that enables compression of volumetric video content captured by multiple cameras; and 3) ISO/IEC 23090-10 describes how to store and deliver V3C compressed volumetric video content. Each standard leverages the capabilities of traditional 2D video coding and delivery solutions, allowing for re-use of existing infrastructures which facilitates fast deployment of volumetric video. This article provides an overview of the generic concepts of V3C, as defined in ISO/IEC 23090-5. Furthermore, it describes V3C carriage related functionalities specified in ISO/IEC 23090-10 and offers best practices for the community with respect to storage and delivery of volumetric video.