MPEG ratifies immersive audio, video, and DASH standards to final drafts
At its 149th meeting, MPEG promoted three key standards to Final Draft International Standard (FDIS) status: MPEG-I Immersive Audio, MPEG Immersive Video (Second Edition), and MPEG-DASH (Sixth Edition). These advancements bring significant improvements to immersive content coding, adaptive streaming, and low-latency delivery. Additionally, MPEG issued a Call for Proposals for Lenslet Video Coding and reached a Committee Draft for Avatar representation format, alongside adding new SEI Messages to HEVC.
Key Takeaways
- MPEG-I Immersive Audio reached FDIS status, enabling realistic 3D sound with six degrees of freedom (6DoF) for VR and AR applications.
- MPEG-DASH Sixth Edition adds Low-Latency DASH (L3D) extensions and content steering across multiple CDNs to optimize high-traffic live streaming.
- The Second Edition of MPEG Immersive Video (MIV) introduces two new profiles, including a Simple MPI profile for playback using a single 2D decoder.
- A new Call for Proposals (CfP) was issued for Lenslet Video Coding (LVC) to push boundaries in light field video for head-mounted displays.
- MPEG reached the Committee Draft milestone for the Avatar Representation Format (ISO/IEC 23090-39), targeting a full FDIS status by early 2026.
Why It Matters
These ratifications move immersive media from proprietary silos into a standardized interoperable ecosystem. The shift to 6DoF support in both audio and video allows developers to build more interactive environments that remain functional across diverse hardware like the Apple Vision Pro or Meta Quest 3. For streaming operators, the Sixth Edition of DASH provides a standardized bridge to reduce latency by up to 1.8 seconds, directly challenging Apple's LL-HLS dominance. Market observers should watch for the first commercial implementations of the MIV Simple MPI profile, which could significantly lower the hardware entry bar for volumetric video content on mobile devices.
Additional Context
The finalization of these standards occurs as the immersive technology market shows aggressive growth. Per research from SNS Insider in June 2026, the global 3D audio market alone is projected to reach approximately $60.94 billion by 2035, driven by the rollout of consumer products like the AirPods Pro 3 and Eclipsa Audio from Samsung and Google. These hardware trends are increasingly metadata-reliant, requiring the precise spatial anchors defined in the newly ratified MPEG-I Immersive Audio standard to ensure that sounds react in real-time to a user's head movement and physical position (6DoF). In the streaming delivery sector, major players are already aligning with the new DASH updates to resolve long-standing fragmentation. Per reports from Qualabs in early 2025, Comcast researchers and other industry leads emphasize that the Sixth Edition's use of Common Media Client Data (CMCD) v2 and L3D extensions is critical for bridging the gap between DASH and LL-HLS. These tools allow streamers to use a single encoded source to serve both Apple and non-Apple ecosystems, significantly reducing storage and egress costs while achieving the sub-two-second latencies required for live sports. Simultaneously, the development of the Avatar Representation Format (ARF) addresses a key friction point in the metaverse segment: digital identity portability. Per IETF and MPEG documentation from 2025, the ARF aims to use a JSON-based data model to allow users to export and import personalized models across different services. This standard, alongside the latest SEI metadata updates for HEVC that support neural network post-filtering and infrared imaging, signals MPEG's strategy to expand high-efficiency video coding into specialized domains such as medical imaging and industrial digital twins.
Read full article at mpeg.org
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