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 | This article's factual accuracy may be compromised due to out-of-date information. The reason given is: This needs to be rewritten to primarily describe (and possibly be renamed to) VC-2, the SMPTE standard based on a subset of the Dirac spec intended for professional studio and post-production use. The original Dirac codec is more or less abandoned, but can and should be described in a §History section. (December 2023) |
| Filename extension |
drc |
|---|---|
| Developed by | BBC Research & Development |
| Initial release | 6 March 2008[1] |
| Latest release | 2.2.3[2] 23 September 2008 |
| Type of format | Video coding format |
| Contained by | |
| Extended to | VC-2 |
| Standard |
|
| Open format? | Yes |
| Free format? | Yes[3] |
Dirac (and Dirac Pro, a subset standardised as SMPTE VC-2) is an open and royalty-free video compression format, specification and software video codec developed by BBC Research & Development.[4][5][6] Dirac aimed to provide high-quality video compression for Ultra HDTV and competed with existing formats such as H.264.[3]
The specification was finalised in January 2008, and further developments were only bug fixes and constraints.[2] In September of that year, version 1.0.0 of an I-frame only subset known as Dirac Pro was released and was standardised by the SMPTE as VC-2.[7][4][8] Version 2.2.3 of the full Dirac specification, including motion compensation and inter-frame coding, was issued a few days later.[2] Dirac Pro was used internally by the BBC to transmit HDTV pictures at the Beijing Olympics in 2008.[9][10]
Two open source and royalty-free video codec software implementations, libschrodinger and dirac-research, were developed. The format implementations were named in honour of the theoretical physicists Paul Dirac and Erwin Schrödinger, who shared the 1933 Nobel Prize in Physics.
- ^ "Worlds first high performance Dirac video codec implementation available". Schrödinger project (Press release). SourceForge. 6 March 2008. Archived from the original on 14 December 2021. Retrieved 14 December 2021.
- ^ a b c "Dirac Specification, Version 2.2.3" (PDF). diracvideo.org. BBC Research & Development. 23 September 2008. Archived from the original on 3 May 2015. Retrieved 5 July 2009.
- ^ a b Davies, T.J.; Borer, Tim; Suraparaju, A. (September 2005). "White Paper 124: Dirac video compression". BBC Research & Development. BBC. Archived from the original on 29 June 2023. Retrieved 18 December 2023.
- ^ a b Borer, Tim (November 2007). "White Paper 159: Open Technology video compression for production and post production". BBC Research & Development. BBC. Archived from the original on 11 September 2017. Retrieved 18 December 2023.
- ^ "Frequently Asked Questions". diracvideo.org. BBC Research & Development. Archived from the original on 23 July 2010. Retrieved 30 August 2009.
- ^ "Project: VC-2". BBC Research & Development. BBC. January 2009. Archived from the original on 12 July 2022. Retrieved 18 December 2023.
- ^ Edge, Jake (17 September 2008). "Dirac 1.0.0 released". LWN.net. Archived from the original on 14 September 2016. Retrieved 7 July 2017.
- ^ "SMPTE Standard: 2042-1:2022, VC-2 Video Compression". Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers. 2022. Archived from the original on 18 December 2023. Retrieved 18 December 2023.
- ^ "Dirac Pro to bolster BBC HD links". Broadcast Magazine. East Midland Allied Press. 16 July 2008. Archived from the original on 2 December 2021. Retrieved 18 December 2023.
- ^ Yoshida, Junko (15 September 2008). "And now, Dirac from the Olympics, a new free codec!". EE Times. UBM Tech. Retrieved 18 December 2023.