Page 5 - ITU Journal, ICT Discoveries, Volume 3, No. 1, June 2020 Special issue: The future of video and immersive media

ITU Journal: ICT Discoveries, Vol. 3(1), June 2020

Foreword

Video has come to account for over 80 per cent of
Internet traffic. The majority of this video is coded
using international standards developed in
collaboration by the world’s three leading standards
bodies, ITU, ISO and IEC.
This work has been honoured with two Primetime
Emmy Awards, recognizing ITU H.264 | MPEG-4
Advanced Video Coding (AVC) and High Efficiency
Video Coding (HEVC, published as ITU H.265 |
ISO/IEC 23008-2).
This special issue of the ITU Journal analyzes the state
of the art in multimedia as well as innovations
appearing on the horizon.
It also tells the story behind the first JPEG image compression standard, another Emmy-winning success
story that played a formative role in establishing the user-centric approach to multimedia
standardization that endures today.
This special issue is fortunate to draw on the expertise of the community responsible for this strong
tradition of work, a tradition that has always featured key contributions from academia.
ITU is the United Nations specialized agency for ICTs. Our global membership includes 193 Member
States and over 900 companies, universities, and international and regional organizations.
Researchers participate alongside policymakers and industry-leading engineers in ITU expert groups
responsible for radiocommunication, standardization and development. Contributions from research
communities bring greater strength to the work of ITU, and participation in ITU helps these
communities to increase the impact of their research.
I would like to express my gratitude to all contributors to this special issue of the ITU Journal.
In contributing to the Journal and the work of ITU, leading minds in science and engineering are
providing decision-makers in the public and private sector with unique insight into the latest
developments in ICT and prospects for future innovation.
I would especially like to thank the ITU Journal’s Editor-in-Chief, Professor Jian Song of Tsinghua
University, for the great dedication with which he has led the ITU Journal.
The success of the ITU Journal has motivated ITU and Tsinghua University to expand our collaboration
with the launch of a new journal titled Intelligent and Converged Networks.
The new joint journal, co-published by ITU and Tsinghua University Press, is the first of what will
grow into a series of specialized journals affiliated with the ITU Journal.

Houlin Zhao
Secretary-General
International Telecommunication Union

– iii –