ISO/IEC 23090-21:2024

Information technology — Coded representation of immersive media — Part 21: Reference software for Geometry-based Point Cloud Compression (G-PCC)

This document provides accompanying reference software for ISO/IEC 23090-9. The use of this reference software is not required for making an implementation of an encoder or decoder in conformance to ISO/IEC 23090-9. Requirements established in ISO/IEC 23090-9 take precedence over the behaviour of the reference software.

Technologies de l'information — Représentation codée de média immersifs — Partie 21: Logiciel de référence pour la compression des nuages de points basée sur la géométrie (G-PCC)

General Information

• Status: Published
• Publication Date: 14-Mar-2024
• ICS: 35.040.40 - Coding of audio, video, multimedia and hypermedia information
• Technical Committee: ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 29 - Coding of audio, picture, multimedia and hypermedia information
• Drafting Committee: ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 29 - Coding of audio, picture, multimedia and hypermedia information
• Current Stage: 6060 - International Standard published
• Start Date: 15-Mar-2024
• Due Date: 18-Apr-2024
• Completion Date: 15-Mar-2024

Overview

ISO/IEC 23090-21:2024 provides accompanying reference software for Geometry-based Point Cloud Compression (G-PCC), as specified in ISO/IEC 23090-9. The package includes both encoder and decoder implementations intended to aid study, testing and implementation of the G-PCC coding standard. Source code is published at the official ISO standards site (https://standards.iso.org/iso-iec/23090/-21/ed-1/en/).

Note: use of the reference software is optional. Requirements in ISO/IEC 23090-9 take precedence over the behavior of the reference software.

Key Topics

• Reference software purpose: Demonstrates encoder and decoder processes conforming to the G-PCC specification and serves as an educational and testbed resource.
• Included package: The release contains the mpeg-pcc-tmc13 software with support for the Simple, Predictive, Dense, and Main profiles.
• Conformance guidance: The reference decoder can detect many bitstream conformance violations and produce identical decoded sample values for conforming decoders that support the used profile and level.
• Limitations and disclaimers: The reference software does not guarantee encoder quality levels and may not detect every possible conformance violation. ISO/IEC disclaims warranties and limits liability for use of the software.

Applications

The reference software is practical for multiple real-world uses:

• Conformance testing: Generate and decode bitstreams to verify compliance with ISO/IEC 23090-9 bitstream constraints and decoder behavior.
• Interoperability validation: Use the reference decoder as a baseline to confirm consistent decoded point ordering and sample values across implementations.
• Implementation bootstrap: Serve as a starting codebase for developing production encoders or decoders that target G-PCC compliance.
• Quality evaluation and demonstrations: Produce example bitstreams to evaluate achievable visual or compression results from encoder configurations, while noting that conformance does not define minimum or maximum quality.
• Educational resource: Study the encoding/decoding workflows and sample implementations to learn G-PCC concepts and profiles.

Related Standards

• ISO/IEC 23090-9:2021 - Geometry-based Point Cloud Compression (G-PCC): normative reference specifying the coding syntax and constraints that the reference software implements or illustrates.
• Other parts of the ISO/IEC 23090 series provide complementary definitions and formats for coded representation of immersive media.

The reference package and documentation are intended to accelerate adoption, facilitate conformance testing and improve interoperability for applications using G-PCC, point cloud compression, and encoder/decoder development under the ISO/IEC 23090 family.

Standards Content (Sample)

International
Standard
ISO/IEC 23090-21
First edition
Information technology — Coded
2024-03
representation of immersive
media —
Part 21:
Reference software for Geometry-
based Point Cloud Compression
(G-PCC)
Technologies de l'information — Représentation codée de média
immersifs —
Partie 21: Logiciel de référence pour la compression des nuages
de points basée sur la géométrie (G-PCC)
Reference number
© ISO/IEC 2024
All rights reserved. Unless otherwise specified, or required in the context of its implementation, no part of this publication may
be reproduced or utilized otherwise in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, or posting on
the internet or an intranet, without prior written permission. Permission can be requested from either ISO at the address below
or ISO’s member body in the country of the requester.
ISO copyright office
CP 401 • Ch. de Blandonnet 8
CH-1214 Vernier, Geneva
Phone: [phone]
Email: [e-mail]
Website: www.iso.org
Published in Switzerland
© ISO/IEC 2024 – All rights reserved
ii
Contents Page
Foreword .iv
Introduction .v
1 Scope . 1
2 Normative references . 1
3 Terms and definitions . 1
4 Conventions . 1
5 Reference software for ISO/IEC 23090-9 . 2
6 Examples of use . 2
6.1 Decoder software .2
6.2 Encoder software .2

© ISO/IEC 2024 – All rights reserved
iii
Foreword
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This document was prepared by Joint Technical Committee ISO/IEC JTC 1, Information technology,
Subcommittee SC 29, Coding of audio, picture, multimedia and hypermedia information.
A list of all parts in the ISO/IEC 23090 series can be found on the ISO and IEC websites.
Any feedback or questions on this document should be directed to the user’s national standards
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