Brightcove zencoder cloud-based encodingBrightcove  a leading global provider of cloud services for video, and Rovi Corporation, announced on January 7, 2014 a collaboration designed to accelerate the adoption of next-generation video compression standards. Through the agreement, Brightcove has licensed the DivX High-Efficiency Video Encoding (HEVC) solution, which is critical for streaming high-quality video and will be a driving factor in the delivery of 4K content to new Ultra HD displays. Brightcove plans to support DivX HEVC within its Zencoder cloud-based encoding service.

“We look forward to working with Brightcove on further fueling the market adoption of HEVC and Ultra4D/4K across the entire video ecosystem and delivering high-quality digital content across multiple screens.”

“With our Zencoder service, we are focused on providing flexible, high performance encoding in the cloud,” said Jeff Whatcott, chief marketing officer at Brightcove. “Through our collaboration with Rovi, we will be able to expand our support for the established MPEG formats in use amongst broadcasters, while also providing a bridge to the future of high-quality video with HEVC. The integration of DivX HEVC into our Zencoder service will enable publishers to take advantage of the advanced compression efficiency of HEVC, and provide support for Ultra HD and 4K experiences across devices.”

HEVC is a video compression format and successor to H.264/MPEG-4 AVC that promises to as much as double the data compression ratio of prior standards, providing improved video quality at low bitrates. Brightcove is licensing the DivX HEVC format with the goal of supporting it in production in 2014 and using Zencoder’s scalable, leading cloud transcoding engine to bring HEVC encoding to the masses.

“Rovi continues to deliver an end-to-end HEVC solution that provides seamless streaming and breakthrough player experiences,” said Dr. Kanaan Jemili, senior vice president, product management at Rovi. “We look forward to working with Brightcove on further fueling the market adoption of HEVC and Ultra4D/4K across the entire video ecosystem and delivering high-quality digital content across multiple screens.”

DivX HEVC is part of an end-to-end solution designed to accelerate the adoption of the next-generation compression standard across the entire video distribution system. The solution includes MainConcept encoding SDKs for professional content creators, the DivX Video Service with studio-approved DivX DRM for protected content delivery across multi-screen devices, and popular DivX consumer software tools for PC-based content creation and playback. In addition, DivX HEVC is integrated into the DivX Certification program that allows customers to quickly bring to market mobile and consumer electronics products that enable consistently high-quality DivX HEVC video playback.

As part of the collaboration, Brightcove also plans to implement a number of formats and codecs based on the powerful MainConcept SDKs, including MainConcept’s HEVC SDK.