How to decode HEVC files to YUV?

Question

I would like to decode HEVC encoded files to YUV files.

Is there any simple way to do this yet? An executable would be nice but I would make do with source code that is easily compilable.

Answer 1

It's as simple as (guide assumed linux, tweek it to your needs)

1. Clone the official reference codec (the official-official is a svn-repo found at https://hevc.hhi.fraunhofer.de/svn/svn_HEVCSoftware/trunk/ but a read-only git-repo that is kept in sync with the svn is provided by BBC which is so much easier to work with IMHO)

   git clone git://hevc.kw.bbc.co.uk/git/jctvc-hm.git
   

2. To create the executables:

   cd jctvc-hm/build/linux && make -f makefile
   

3. Binaries are now placed in

   jctvc-hm/bin
   

4. Now, to decode a HEVC-encoded binary file into YCbCr, do

   ./TAppDecoderStatic -b encoded_file.bin -o reconstructed.yuv
   

If you are not on a linux system, just goto the build folder and you will hopefully find something you can use for your system:

$ cd jctvc-hm/build && ls
HM_vc10.sln  HM_vc8.sln  HM_vc9.sln  linux/  vc10/  vc8/  vc9/

Answer 2

Follow the instructions on https://hevc.hhi.fraunhofer.de/svn/svn_HEVCSoftware/branches/HM-9.2-dev/doc/software-manual.pdf, the source code can be downloaded from https://hevc.hhi.fraunhofer.de/svn/svn_HEVCSoftware/trunk/ by using any subversion software.

You can build it on both Windows and Linux based OS. After you built the software, you may run the exe files as it is instructed on the software manual.

Answer 3

You can download the ffmpeg windows build exe file simply decoding HEVC bitstream.

ffmpeg.exe -i xxx.bin out.yuv

Answer 4

Alternatively, you can use libde265 as a much faster decoder.

1. Get the latest version from its github release page.
2. Configure with ./configure --disable-sherlock265
3. Compile: make

Generate the YUV file with

./dec265/dec265 hevc-file.bin -o output.yuv -t4

The option -t4 is for multi-threaded decoding. You can also do more things like input NAL-unit streams, dump the headers, directly display the video, or check the SEI hashes.