Systems and methods for encoding spherical media content

A computer-implemented method, comprising:

• identifying a plurality of versions of a plurality of frames of a spherical media content item, wherein each version of the plurality of versions is associated with one of a plurality of resolutions and one of a plurality of video qualities;
• encoding the plurality of versions of the plurality of frames to obtain encoding data, wherein the encoding data comprises, for each resolution of the plurality of resolutions, a respective version comprising:
• a group of pictures (GOP) comprising intra-tiles and predictive tiles;
• and
• residual data;
• providing, over a network, a first frame of the spherical media content item to a computing device, wherein the first frame comprises tiles of a first resolution of the plurality of resolutions of the encoding data and tiles of a second resolution of the plurality of resolutions of the encoding data, wherein the first resolution is higher than the second resolution, and wherein the tiles of the first frame of the first resolution are provided at a region of interest (ROI) in a viewport associated with the computing device;
• determining a change in the region of interest (ROI);
• and
• based on the determining, providing, over the network, a second frame of the spherical media content item to the computing device, wherein the second frame comprises at least a portion of the residual data which is used to upgrade a video quality of tiles of the second frame that correspond to the changed ROI;
• and
• based on the determining, providing a third frame of the spherical media content item to the computing device, wherein the third frame is provided to the computing device prior to the second frame, wherein tiles of the third frame corresponding to the changed ROI are provided in a higher resolution, of the plurality of resolutions of the encoding data, than corresponding tiles of the first frame, and wherein the resolution of the tiles of the third frame corresponding to the changed ROI matches the resolution of the tiles of the second frame corresponding to the changed ROI,
• wherein the tiles of the third frame comprise only intra-tiles for a lowest video quality of the resolution of the tiles of the third frame.

A system, comprising:

• control circuitry configured to:
• identify a plurality of versions of a plurality of frames of a spherical media content item, wherein each version of the plurality of versions is associated with one of a plurality of resolutions and one of a plurality of video qualities;
• encode the plurality of versions of the plurality of frames to obtain encoding data, wherein;
• the encoding data comprises, for each resolution of the plurality of resolutions, a respective version comprising:
• a group of pictures (GOP) comprising intra-tiles and predictive tiles;
• and
• residual data;
• and
• the control circuitry, in performing the encoding, is configured to:
• cause a first portion of the GOP to comprise intra-tiles;
• cause a second portion of the GOP to comprise bidirectional predictive tiles;
• cause a third portion of the GOP to comprise predictive tiles;
• and
• cause the residual data to comprise companion streams for the first portion of the GOP comprising intra-tiles and the third portion of the GOP comprising predictive tiles, respectively, and to not comprise a companion stream for the second portion of the GOP comprising bidirectional predictive tiles;
• provide, over a network, a first frame of the spherical media content item to a computing device, wherein the first frame comprises tiles of a first resolution of the plurality of resolutions of the encoding data and tiles of a second resolution of the plurality of resolutions of the encoding data, wherein the first resolution is higher than the second resolution, and wherein the tiles of the first frame of the first resolution are provided at a region of interest (ROI) in a viewport associated with the computing device;
• determine a change in the region of interest (ROI);
• and
• based on the determining, provide, over the network, a second frame of the spherical media content item to the computing device, wherein the second frame comprises at least a portion of the residual data which is used to upgrade a video quality of tiles of the second frame that correspond to the changed ROI.