Data Formats for High Efficiency Coding of Lytro-Illum Light Fields

Light fields captured by the Lytro-Illum camera are the first to appear in the consumer market, capable of providing refocused pictures at acceptable spatial resolution and quality. Since this is partially due to sampling of a huge number of light rays, efficient compression methods are required to store and exchange light field data. This paper presents a performance study of HEVC-compatible coding of Lytro-Illum light fields using different data formats for standard coding. The efficiency of 5 different light field data formats are evaluated using a data set of 12 light field images and the standard HEVC coding configurations of Still-Image Profile, All-Intra, Low Delay B and P and Random Access. Unexpectedly, the results show that relative performance is not consistent across all coding configurations, raising new research questions regarding standard coding of Lytro-Illum light fields using HEVC. Most importantly, the proposed data formats greatly increase HEVC performance.