Unified loop filter for high-performance video coding

In this paper, we propose a unified loop filter for high-performance video coding, which suppresses the quantization noise optimally and improves the objective and subjective quality of the reconstructed picture simultaneously. The proposed filter unifies nonlinear enhancement filter (for removing blocking and ringing artifacts) and linear restoration filter (for improving coding efficiency) within the classical optimization framework of least mean square error (LMSE). Experimental results show that the proposed unified loop filter achieves on average 11.53% objective coding gain in combination with better visual quality improvement around edges and textures, compared with H.264/AVC High Profile.