A fast Intra prediction mode decision algorithm for H.264/AVC

Intra coding is used for reducing the spatial redundancy in video coding. H.264/AVC supports several MB (macroblock) predictions for intra coding. These intra predictions have also several directional prediction modes, which significantly improve intra coding efficiency, but increase the encoding complexity. In this paper, a fast intra prediction mode decision algorithm is proposed for the H.264/AVC intra coding. The proposed algorithm selects one representative prediction mode among all intra predictions using the existing DCT and quantization schemes of H.264/AVC, and only the representative mode is used for RDO (rate distortion optimization) process. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm achieves an encoding time saving of 64% with negligible loss of PSNR (peak signal-to-noise ratio).