MainConcept at IBC2026: Codec SDK 17.0, New Partnerships, and a Clearer View of Stream Quality

Every year, IBC brings the same conversation back into focus: operators need more streams, on more hardware, without getting boxed into whichever vendor they built for first. This year, MainConcept is bringing the answers to that conversation, and they're created to work together.

We're introducing MainConcept Codec SDK 17.0, extending our partnership ecosystem, and showing, with Qualabs, what it actually takes to see stream quality in real time instead of guessing it. Visit us at Booth 1.C15, September 11–14 at the RAI Amsterdam, to see it all in action.

What's new in MainConcept Codec SDK 17.0

Codec SDK 17.0 focuses on the two things that matter most to anyone running video infrastructure at scale: getting more efficiency out of the hardware you already have and not getting boxed in by any single vendor's roadmap.

Faster, more efficient live encoding
Live-optimized improvements to our HEVC encoder, compression efficiency gains in VVC, and encoder performance tuning for AVC/XAVC workflows all mean lower bitrate and compute costs for the same visual quality, without re-architecting your pipeline.

Hardware flexibility, including on Arm
Easy Video API (EVA) now supports on-VPU transcoding with NETINT and on-GPU transcoding on Linux Arm with NVIDIA. As encoding and playback increasingly move onto Arm-based servers, edge devices, and client silicon, this keeps you covered without a separate integration path.

Support for where video is actually going
MP4 files can now carry C2PA manifests for content provenance and authenticity, and a new MPEG-H Contribution Audio decoder extends our audio support further into broadcast contribution chains.

Solving problems together

A codec SDK only matters if it solves a real operational problem, so this year we're showing three partnerships built around exactly that.

With Qualabs, we're tackling a different problem: most delivery dashboards show infrastructure health, not what viewers are actually seeing. Our HEVC/H.265 and AVC/H.264 encoders now embed per-frame VMAF-E perceptual quality scores directly in the bitstream. Qualabs' origin server reads those scores from standard DASH segments, and the result is a live, per-session quality dashboard built entirely on open CMSD/CMCD standards; no re-encoding or proprietary reporting required. As Frank Schoenberger, Director of Strategic Partnerships at MainConcept, describes it: "Qualabs and MainConcept built this POC in just a few days, tackling a real problem for OTT providers... giving operators real-time feedback they can act on."

With Colorfront, we're solving a different kind of pipeline problem: shipping immersive, spatial video for Apple Vision Pro without building the encoding pipeline from scratch. The MainConcept MV-HEVC Encoder handles the stereoscopic capture-to-playback chain while staying backward compatible with standard HEVC/H.265, so one file serves both Vision Pro and 2D viewers. It's already proven in production, powering Apple Vision Pro delivery inside Colorfront's Transkoder and On-Set Dailies today.

With Dolby, Jünger Audio, and Techex, we're showing that immersive, personalized audio doesn't have to stay tied to expensive hardware. The group is demonstrating a live production workflow, letting viewers choose languages, dialog levels, and audio description, that runs entirely in the cloud, powered in part by MainConcept's video encoders. We're also extending our Dolby partnership, with MainConcept's own Dolby Atmos and AC-4 encoder SDKs coming soon. For broadcasters and streaming service providers, that means richer audio experiences without buying hardware they'd only use a few times a year.

See it live at Booth 1.C15

Our Solutions Showcase highlights the Qualabs and Colorfront solutions and much more. Plus, our new Codec Benchmarks tool, an interactive, rate-distortion-speed explorer comparing our encoders against x264, x265, and NVENC across real content, will be running live at our booth throughout the show, along with the collaborative Dolby AC-4 immersive audio demo shown across all the partner booths.

If you're rethinking how your team handles vendor lock-in, GPU cost pressure, or blind spots in stream quality, stop by Booth 1.C15 at IBC2026. You can also visit mainconcept.com/ibc to book a meeting or start a free trial.