As the media industry increasingly leverages the benefits of IP-based remote and distributed production workflows, the challenge it faces is pushing a relentlessly growing amount of data through a fiber-optic pipe with a fixed bandwidth while preserving broadcast-grade quality.

Support for the lossless JPEG XS compression technology in HD, 3G and UHD video-format resolutions will allow users of Lawo’s .edge Hyper-Density SDI/IP Conversion and Routing Platform to encode, process and decode compressed SMPTE ST2110-22 IP streams.

Lawo’s aim is to provide broadcasters with the ability to leverage compressed streams as and when required in order to accelerate high-quality distributed content creation. JPEG XS support for .edge is a licensable option that relies on Lawo’s edge-computing and software-licensable infrastructure strategy. The ability to encode and decode JPEG XS right at the IP network’s edge means that uncompressed streams no longer need to travel to a processor somewhere on the (increasingly vast) SMPTE ST2110-based IP network, and on to their destination, thus saving bandwidth.

JPEG XS delivers broadcast-grade compression ratios of up to 30:1. This makes it ideal for WAN-based IP networks where bandwidth is typically limited, while the number of camera feeds and video streams keeps rising. JPEG XS (ISO/IEC 21122) provides visually lossless quality with sub-millisecond (<1 video frame) delay and is designed for latency-critical applications, such as live remote event productions over wide-area networks.