Access Advance 2025 marked several significant milestones in the global video codec standard essential patent licensing landscape, with Access Advance delivering impressive results. Its mature HEVC Advance patent pool achieved 100% renewal rates for compliant licensees and over 80% device market coverage. The VVC Advance patent pool also attracted numerous Chinese companies, and the new VDP streaming patent pool gained immediate market adoption. Furthermore, the acquisition of the Via LA HEVC/VVC pool administrator marked the first step towards a “one-stop-shop” licensing solution. In addition, the commercialization of VVC (H.266) technology is accelerating, with Chinese companies becoming a core force in global video codec technology standard setting and patent ecosystem development. IPR Daily interviewed Dylan Zhou, Executive Vice President of Access Advance, to provide an in-depth analysis of the current state and future trends in this domain, focusing on key industry developments in 2025, VVC technology commercialization, and patent pool combination.
1. We have noticed that Access Advance achieved a series of milestones in 2025, while the video licensing domain also saw several key structural changes. Please tell us more about some of the key developments in the video codec licensing domain in 2025.
A: First, we sincerely thank IPR Daily and the readers for their interest and support. The year 2025 was a crucial year for both Access Advance and for the development of the entire video codec SEP licensing ecosystem. In 2025, Access Advance made several breakthrough developments in the growth of the existing patent pools, the launch of a new patent pool for video streaming, and the efforts to promote a “one-stop-shop” solution for video codec SEP licensing.
Let’s start with the HEVC Advance Pool, which is our most mature patent pool. The HEVC Advance Pool made very significant progress in the last twelve months. We added major Chinese companies such as Hisense, Skyworth, Transsion, and Xiaomi as Licensees. And we achieved a 100% renewal rate among compliant Licensees, including major companies such as Google, Huawei, OPPO, Samsung, and Sony. At this time, the HEVC Advance Pool has achieved more than 80% (in some cases more than 90%) of licensing coverage in all the major categories of the device markets, including mobile devices, TVs, PCs, set top boxes and streaming devices.
The VVC Advance Pool also made very significant progress. Major Chinese companies, including Honor, Huawei, OPPO, vivo, and Xiaomi joined as Licensees. Xiaomi also joined as a VVC Advance Licensor, and we expect other major Chinese companies to follow. Of course, the VVC Advance Pool previously already had major Chinese companies such as Alibaba, ByteDance, DJI, Kuaishou, and Tencent as Licensors and Licensees.
The VDP Pool, also known as our streaming patent pool, had a very successful launch. We covered this in our interview last year, but it is worth mentioning again that the VDP Pool’s innovative approach, offering 4 codecs for a single price, its royalty rate structure which adapts very well to the many different business models in internet streaming, and the fact that it strikes a very good balance between implementers and patent owners, have all been very well received in the market. It is also why the VDP Pool was able to sign up so many major streaming companies within the first year of its launch.
Another very important development which occurred at the end of the year was our acquisition of the administrator of the Via LA HEVC/VVC pool. For many years, implementers and patent owners have both expressed the desire for a single pool solution for the licensing of HEVC and VVC. And we do agree with them. While the existence of two pools is still better than if there is no pool and the only option in the market is bilateral licensing, it would be better for both Licensees and Licensors if a single pool can aggregate most of the HEVC and VVC SEPs, and Licensees and Licensors only have to deal with one patent pool. Ultimately, our goal is to offer a “one-stop-shop” solution. Of course, this doesn’t happen overnight. The former Via LA HEVC/VVC pool, now renamed the VCL Advance Pool (Video Codec Licensing), is still a separate patent pool, and the only thing that has changed is now the administrator is a subsidiary of Access Advance.
2. You mentioned that the number of VVC Advance Licensees is growing rapidly. Does this mean that VVC (H.266) technology has entered a substantial stage of large-scale commercialization? What is the current progress of its application in the market, both devices and content. When do you expect the inflection point for its large-scale commercialization to arrive?
A: Yes indeed, we had some very significant growth in our VVC Advance Licensees. If you look at our recent additions, almost all the major Chinese smartphone brands have joined our VVC Advance Pool. Most of these smartphone brands have not even started to adopt VVC yet. So these companies are taking our VVC license before they even have VVC products which is quite remarkable.
But back to your question about VVC commercialization. In the content ecosystem, we already have major Chinese companies promoting the VVC standard and distributing VVC content. On the device side, TVs with VVC chip support are already available, but in limited volume so far. In the mobile phone market, Google recently officially integrated VVC support into its Android 17 operating system; and it is expected that in the second half of 2026, smartphone manufacturers will gradually launch the deployment of VVC hardware decoding capabilities in their mainstream flagship models. In addition, PCs with VVC capable CPUs are now also available in the market. So the ecosystem is finally coming together, and we are finally getting past the chicken and egg problem. We believe that in late 2026 and beginning of 2027, we are likely to see VVC emerging as a mainstream codec rather than an experimental next generation codec. And around 2027-2028, VVC technology is expected to reach a turning point in large-scale commercialization. At that time, it will be widely adopted in mid-range models, with mature and widespread SoC chip-level hardware decoding solutions and a sufficient supply of high-quality VVC encoded content. The technology’s application will steadily penetrate from the high-end market to the mainstream consumer market.
3. It is very interesting that the VVC Advance patent pool appears to have a lot of support from Chinese companies both as Licensors and Licensees. And it is also very interesting that these companies decided to take a license before they even have VVC products. Can you share with us what motivated them to do so?
A: Indeed, we have a lot of support from our Chinese Licensors and Licensees. And we are very thankful for their support and trust.
The early success of the VVC Advance Pool is mainly driven by our multi-codec bridging agreement, or MCBA. The design logic of the MCBA mechanism is to proactively respond to the industry trend of devices evolving to support both HEVC and VVC. The design of the MCBA reduces the cumulative costs and complexity of reporting and paying separate royalties for two generations of codecs and simplifies the licensing. It was designed to help the industry achieve a smooth technology transition from HEVC to VVC.
Regarding royalty rates: If a licensee joins both the HEVC Advance and VVC Advance patent pools and sign the MCBA, they receive a discount on the total of the two pool’s royalty rates resulting in their paying a rate that is equal to the VVC Advance royalty rate for their licenses to both codecs. Thus, their combined licensing rate for both codecs under the MCBA will be significantly lower than the sum of the rates of the two pools individually. So the key motivator for many of the companies that have joined the VVC Advance Pool is to make sure that they can take advantage of the MCBA rates from the very first day they sell VVC products. Given that many of them are planning to launch VVC products this year, it makes sense for them to lock in the benefits of the MCBA before that happens.
4. Would you say another reason why they proactively supported your VVC pool is because they are also major contributors to and beneficiaries of the VVC standards? Could you please elaborate on the contributions, status, and latest progress of Chinese companies in VVC standard setting, technological innovation, and licensing cooperation in China?
A: Yes. Chinese companies are a core force in the development and commercialization of the VVC standard. Major Chinese companies and research institutions are deeply involved in the work of international standardization organizations such as ITU-T, MPEG, and ISO/IEC, contributing their technology and invention and promoting the adaptation of the standard to all kinds of application scenarios such as ultra-high-definition video, mobile devices, and streaming media. As a result, these major Chinese companies and research institutions own a large number of standard-essential patents in key technology areas such as core encoding and decoding algorithms. So naturally these companies actively participate in the development of the licensing ecosystem in order to promote technology adoption and monetize their intellectual property. This is why many Chinese companies joined the Access Advance HEVC Advance, VVC Advance and VDP pools, as both Licensors and Licensees, contributing their intellectual property rights and obtaining global licenses, effectively enhancing the voice and influence of Chinese companies in global video technology. We are really proud to have earned the trust of many Chinese companies, device manufacturers such as DJI, Hisense, Honor, Huawei, OPPO, Skyworth, TCL, Transsion, vivo, Xiaomi, and ZTE, as well as internet platform companies such as Alibaba, ByteDance, Kuaishou, and Tencent, have all established multi-faceted, wide-ranging licensing collaborations with Access Advance, covering the entire value chain of hardware product manufacturing and sales, and the distribution of streaming media content.
5. The other big news is Access Advance’s acquisition of the Via LA HEVC/VVC pool, which has attracted a lot of interest in the industry. Can you explain the strategic considerations of this acquisition, and the integration plan of the HEVC and VVC patent pools with the former Via LA pool after the acquisition?
A: Yes. First, I want to clarify and emphasize that we acquired the administrator of the Via LA HEVC/VVC pool, now called VCL LLC. We did not acquire the patent pool itself, which belongs to the Licensors and Licensees. As part of this process, the pool has been renamed the VCL Advance Pool. But the VCL Advance Pool remains a separate patent pool, and it is administered separately from Access Advance. The market has reacted very positively to this news, and many people believe that this is the answer to what the industry has long been demanding, a single patent pool for HEVC and VVC devices. But I want to clarify that we are not there yet. What we did is only the first step toward our goal of meeting the industry’s demand. We are contractually obligated to administer the VCL Advance Pool separately from the other Access Advance pools, for as long as the Licensors and Licensees remain in the VCL Advance Pool and we will fulfill that obligation. We are hoping that by explaining to the VCL Licensors and Licensees the considerable advantages they will have if they join the Access Advance HEVC Advance and VVC Advance device pools, that they will decide to do that. Of course, the decision is entirely theirs. If they do that, then we will reach the goal of a single pool for HEVC and VVC devices, which will significantly simplify the licensing landscape and reduce licensing costs for implementers. At the same time, due to a simplified licensing environment, we will be able to secure more Licensees earlier and more efficiently, and that will bring more royalty revenue to the patent owners. It will provide the market clarity, certainty and predictability that the market has long been asking for, and accelerate the adoption of VVC and even next generation codecs after VVC.
As for the “integration plan”, as explained, we are talking to many of the VCL Advance Pool Licensors to show them the benefit of joining the Access Advance pools. It is a compelling case for them because the Access Advance pools’ revenues are significantly more than the VCL Advance Pool. But each of them will have to make their own independent decision. It will take some time. We do hope that by the end of 2026, most, if not all, of the VCL Advance Licensors will have joined our HEVC Advance, VVC Advance and VDP pools, effectively creating a single administrator for the patents in the current HEVC Advance, VVC Advance, and VCL Advance pools.
6. Do you plan to increase the licensing royalty rates after the patent pool integration is completed?
A: No, we expect the integration will happen by way of the VCL Licensors joining the Access Advance pools. This process will not lead to an increase in royalty rates. We estimate that the VCL Advance Licensors will add about 10% of the HEVC stack to the HEVC Advance Pool, and the HEVC Advance Pool’s patent coverage will increase from 80% to 90%. But the pool’s new royalty rates, which were voted on by the Licensors in mid-2025 before the acquisition was even contemplated, have been set through the current license term through 2030. So the addition of the VCL Licensors will not cause an increase in the royalty rate. In other words, the Licensees will get the additional coverage of the VCL Advance Licensors’ patents at no additional cost. This is why patent pools are the most efficient solution for implementers and why it makes sense for implementers to join patent pools. By joining the Access Advance pools, implementers will make the patent pool more attractive to the patent owners, and if the patent owners also join the pools, implementers will get the additional patent coverage at no additional costs.
I do want to mention though that both the HEVC Advance Pool Licensors and the VCL Pool Licensors voted to increase the royalty rates in 2025, but this was done long before the acquisition of VCL LLC took place. Originally the rate increase for the HEVC Advance Pool was set to take effect for Licensees who sign after December 31, 2025. But once Access Advance announced the acquisition of the licensing administrator of the VCL Advance Pool, the HEVC Advance Pool Licensors voted to delay the effective date of the rate increase by six months, so as to give the VCL Advance Licensees who have not yet joined the Access Advance pools more time to lock in the current rates. So I want to encourage everyone out there who still needs a license to contact us quickly so we can help them become licensed before the new rates go into effect on July 1, 2026.
7. Anything else you want to say to our Chinese audience?
A: Thank you for your time and interest in learning more about Access Advance. I want to say that the support of the Chinese market, both Chinese Licensors and Licensees, has been a critical factor that enabled us to succeed in each of the patent pools we operate. With each new patent pool we launch, starting with HEVC Advance in 2015, VVC Advance in 2021 and VDP in 2025, the Chinese Licensors and Licensees are playing an ever more important role in our efforts. We are very grateful to have their support. In particular, I want to thank many of the individual licensing executives that have worked with us over the past several years. It is remarkable how many of them have become highly influential voices in the international IP community. I am honored to have the opportunity to work with them. I congratulate them for their success and look forward to collaborating with them for many years to come.