Alliance for Open Media Releases Reference Software for Polygonal Mesh Coding Standard

Reference implementation now publicly available for developers to use

WAKEFIELD, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Alliance for Open Media (AOMedia) today announced that the reference software for its upcoming Polygonal Mesh Coding (PMC) standard is now publicly available. The software can be accessed on GitLab and is ready for developers to use, evaluate, and contribute feedback.

Polygonal Mesh Coding (PMC) is a compression technology designed for polygonal meshes — a common method for representing 3D objects using vertices, edges, and faces. These meshes are widely used in applications such as gaming, augmented reality (AR) for e-commerce, virtual reality (VR) social spaces, and industrial design. Efficient compression reduces the amount of data required to store and transmit these assets, improving performance across networks and devices.

The newly released reference software is a complete codec developed by AOMedia’s Volumetric Visual Media (VVM) Working Group. It reflects more than three years of collaborative development and standardization work.

“This release marks an important step toward making volumetric media practical at scale,” said Khaled Mammou, co-chair of AOMedia’s VVM Working Group. “The reference software provides a working implementation of the PMC standard that developers can use today to evaluate performance, test integrations, and help shape the final specification.”

The PMC standard introduces new compression tools, including advanced connectivity coding algorithms and improved methods for predicting geometry and attributes. These approaches address limitations in existing mesh compression technologies, which often focus on simpler mesh structures and do not fully optimize compression efficiency for streaming and complex 3D content.

Early expectations indicate that PMC may achieve 20 to 40 percent better compression efficiency compared to established codecs such as Draco, though comprehensive benchmarking is still in progress.

The reference software has already been used to support integration efforts with OpenUSD (Universal Scene Description), a framework for describing complex 3D scenes. A proposed update to OpenUSD introduces PMC encoding and decoding through a plugin, along with tooling to simplify testing. That proposal remains under review.

“The availability of this reference implementation gives developers a concrete foundation to build on,” said Shan Liu, distinguished scientist and general manager of Tencent Media Lab and co-chair of the VVM Working Group. “It enables early experimentation with next-generation mesh compression and helps ensure that the standard meets real-world requirements across a range of applications.”

AOMedia is inviting developers, researchers, and companies to download the software, test it with their own content, and provide feedback to the VVM Working Group. This input will help refine the specification as it moves toward finalization.

“The work on PMC reflects strong collaboration across the industry,” said Igor Vytyaz, software engineer at Google and a software coordinator for the VVM Working Group. “By making the reference software available early, we can accelerate adoption and ensure the standard supports a broad set of use cases.”

The PMC standard is part of AOMedia’s broader effort to develop open technologies for next-generation media. The VVM Working Group continues to finalize the PMC specification, with further updates expected as testing and validation progress.

Developers can access the reference software and begin testing today at: https://gitlab.com/AOMediaVVM/reference-software/aomedia-pmc

About AOMedia

Launched in 2015, the Alliance for Open Media (AOMedia) develops open standards for media — spanning video, audio, still images, and immersive technologies. AOMedia brings together 49 global innovators — including tech leaders with decades of media tech experience and some of the world’s largest patent holders — to support this mission. Its steering committee consists of Amazon, Apple, Cisco, Google, Intel, Meta, Microsoft, Mozilla, Netflix, NVIDIA, Samsung Electronics, and Tencent. Learn more at www.aomedia.org.