Rate control algorithm for H.264/AVC video coding standard based on rate-quantization model

Rate control is an essential part of video coding algorithms, to maintain uniform picture quality for the given coding constraints. We propose a new rate control algorithm for the H.264 video coding standard. We derive a rate-quantization model from the rate-distortion function, based on the distribution of source data to be quantized. We also classify macro-blocks in each frame into three groups according to their characteristics, and decide the quantization parameter for each macroblock. Experimental results show that the proposed scheme generates coding bits very close to target bits and provides improved coding efficiency at low bit rates.