YUV, YCbCr image formats supported by Breeze

Currently Breeze supports 42 YCbCr image formats.

Theese image formats are widely used in the popular video applications such as MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, H.261, H.262, H.263, H.264, JPEG, JPEG-2000 etc. Click here to see the selection table showing major applications using YUV / YCbCr color formats supported by Breeze.

All supported YCbCr formats are based on the “ITU-R BT.601-5 [1] and ITU-R BT.709-5[2] standards, and share the following features:

  • planar grouping of samples (not interleaved), with 3 color planes: 1 luma plane (Y) and 2 chroma planes (Cb,Cr)
  • Progressive order of scan lines (not interlaced)
  • Each sample is 8 bit per luma and 8 bit per each chroma, Cb and Cr
  • Horizontal scan line length alignment for luma color plane is 2 bytes
  • Vertical image hight alignment for luma color plane is 2 bytes.

Each YCbCb formats supported by Breeze is characterized by the specific combination of "Sub Sampling Ratio", "YCbCb Sub Sampling Pattern" and "Data Ranges of Luma and Chromas samples".

There are 3 variants of "Sub Sampling Ratio"

  • 4:4:4
  • 4:2:2
  • 4:2:0

7 variants of "YCbCb Sub Sampling Pattern"

  • 4:4:4 - uniform
  • 4:2:2 - co site even
  • 4:2:2 - co site odd
  • 4:2:2 - centered
  • 4:2:0 - co site even
  • 4:2:0 - co site odd
  • 4:2:0 - centered

and 3 variants of "Data Ranges of Luma and Chromas samples" used in the YUV formats supporte by Breeze.

  • 0 - 255, 0 - 255
  • 16 - 255, 16 - 255
  • 16 - 235, 16 - 240

Table 1: YCbCr image formats supported by Breeze
RGB-YUV conversion base Sub sampling ratio Sub sampling pattern Data range Color format / image format / File type name
Luma Chromas
ITU-T 601 4:4:4 Uniform 0 – 255 0 – 255 YCbCr 444 ITU601 8bit 0-255
4:4:4 Uniform 16 – 255 16 – 255 YCbCr 444 ITU601 8bit 16-255
4:4:4 Uniform 16 – 235 16 – 240 YCbCr 444 ITU601 8bit 16-235-240
4:2:2 Co site Even 0 – 255 0 – 255 YCbCr 422 ITU601 8bit 0-255 CosEven
4:2:2 Co site Even 16 – 255 16 – 255 YCbCr 422 ITU601 8bit 16-255 CosEven
4:2:2 Co site Even 16 – 235 16 – 240 YCbCr 422 ITU601 8bit 16-235-240 CosEven
4:2:2 Co site Odd 0 – 255 0 – 255 YCbCr 422 ITU601 8bit 0-255 CosOdd
4:2:2 Co site Odd 16 – 255 16 – 255 YCbCr 422 ITU601 8bit 16-255 CosOdd
4:2:2 Co site Odd 16 – 235 16 – 240 YCbCr 422 ITU601 8bit 16-235-240 CosOdd
4:2:2 Centered 0 – 255 0 – 255 YCbCr 422 ITU601 8bit 0-255 Center
4:2:2 Centered 16 – 255 16 – 255 YCbCr 422 ITU601 8bit 16-255 Center
4:2:2 Centered 16 – 235 16 – 240 YCbCr 422 ITU601 8bit 16-235-240 Center
4:2:0 Co site Even 0 – 255 0 – 255 YCbCr 420 ITU601 8bit 0-255 CosEven
4:2:0 Co site Even 16 – 255 16 – 255 YCbCr 420 ITU601 8bit 16-255 CosEven
4:2:0 Co site Even 16 – 235 16 – 240 YCbCr 420 ITU601 8bit 16-235-240 CosEven
4:2:0 Co site Odd 0 – 255 0 – 255 YCbCr 420 ITU601 8bit 0-255 CosOdd
4:2:0 Co site Odd 16 – 255 16 – 255 YCbCr 420 ITU601 8bit 16-255 CosOdd
4:2:0 Co site Odd 16 – 235 16 – 240 YCbCr 420 ITU601 8bit 16-235-240 CosOdd
4:2:0 Centered 0 – 255 0 – 255 YCbCr 420 ITU601 8bit 0-255 Center
4:2:0 Centered 16 – 255 16 – 255 YCbCr 420 ITU601 8bit 16-255 Center
4:2:0 Centered 16 – 235 16 – 240 YCbCr 420 ITU601 8bit 16-235-240 Center
ITU-T 709 4:4:4 Uniform 0 – 255 0 – 255 YCbCr 444 ITU709 8bit 0-255
4:4:4 Uniform 16 – 255 16 – 255 YCbCr 444 ITU709 8bit 16-255
4:4:4 Uniform 16 – 235 16 – 240 YCbCr 444 ITU709 8bit 16-235-240
4:2:2 Co site Even 0 – 255 0 – 255 YCbCr 422 ITU709 8bit 0-255 CosEven
4:2:2 Co site Even 16 – 255 16 – 255 YCbCr 422 ITU709 8bit 16-255 CosEven
4:2:2 Co site Even 16 – 235 16 – 240 YCbCr 422 ITU709 8bit 16-235-240 CosEven
4:2:2 Co site Odd 0 – 255 0 – 255 YCbCr 422 ITU709 8bit 0-255 CosOdd
4:2:2 Co site Odd 16 – 255 16 – 255 YCbCr 422 ITU709 8bit 16-255 CosOdd
4:2:2 Co site Odd 16 – 235 16 – 240 YCbCr 422 ITU709 8bit 16-235-240 CosOdd
4:2:2 Centered 0 – 255 0 – 255 YCbCr 422 ITU709 8bit 0-255 Center
4:2:2 Centered 16 – 255 16 – 255 YCbCr 422 ITU709 8bit 16-255 Center
4:2:2 Centered 16 – 235 16 – 240 YCbCr 422 ITU709 8bit 16-235-240 Center
4:2:0 Co site Even 0 – 255 0 – 255 YCbCr 420 ITU709 8bit 0-255 CosEven
4:2:0 Co site Even 16 – 255 16 – 255 YCbCr 420 ITU709 8bit 16-255 CosEven
4:2:0 Co site Even 16 – 235 16 – 240 YCbCr 420 ITU709 8bit 16-235-240 CosEven
4:2:0 Co site Odd 0 – 255 0 – 255 YCbCr 420 ITU709 8bit 0-255 CosOdd
4:2:0 Co site Odd 16 – 255 16 – 255 YCbCr 420 ITU709 8bit 16-255 CosOdd
4:2:0 Co site Odd 16 – 235 16 – 240 YCbCr 420 ITU709 8bit 16-235-240 CosOdd
4:2:0 Centered 0 – 255 0 – 255 YCbCr 420 ITU709 8bit 0-255 Center
4:2:0 Centered 16 – 255 16 – 255 YCbCr 420 ITU709 8bit 16-255 Center
4:2:0 Centered 16 – 235 16 – 240 YCbCr 420 ITU709 8bit 16-235-240 Center

References:

  1. RECOMMENDATION ITU-R BT.601-5, 1982-1995.
  2. RECOMMENDATION ITU-R BT.709-5, 1990-2002.

The following below topics give more detailed technical information about YUV formats implemented in the Breeze media software. Click highlighted links to learn more: