Reference media frame scaling for video encoding

Abstract

Various embodiments include techniques for encoding media frames when changing resolution of a video stream being encoded, such as when encoding a video stream for a bandwidth limited communications channel. Video encoding includes a motion estimation stage that estimates the pixel data for a current media frame based on pixel data from a reference media frame, such as the previous media frame. Video encoding further includes a reconstruction stage that generates a proxy of the decoded media frame that a video decoder would generate from the encoded media frame. With the disclosed techniques, a video encoder performs reference media frame scaling for the reconstruction stage but does not perform reference media frame scaling for the motion estimation stage. Instead, the video encoder scales the resolution of the reference media frame resolution to the resolution of the current media frame and performs motion estimation directly on the scaled reference media frame.

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