Another very educational episode of ARRI Tech Talk has been published. This time the session focused on the CODEX HDE technology and implementations, that are being used to reduce those heavy ARRIRAW files by 40% without any reduction in quality. Watch it below.

HDE (High-Density Encoding)

HDE stands for High-Density Encoding.  It is an encoding technique that is optimized for Bayer pattern images.  ARRIRAW images encoded with HDE are approximately 60% of the original size.  HDE encoding is completely lossless, so when an HDE file is decoded, it is a bit-for-bit. The technology is widely used among high-end production and even indie projects that utilized ARRIRAW produced by ARRI cameras (recently the compatibility has been spread to ALEXA Mini and AMIRA). For instance, the size of a single ARRIRAW OpenGate frame at 3.4K resolution is 11.5MB, meaning that an hour is 996.2GB (ARRIRAW is a pure uncompressed output which makes this codec very data-hungry. However, HDE can reduce this with up to a 2:1 ratio.

Explore the charts below which demonstrate the data rates of the ARRIRAW compared to other codecs (=cameras).

Advantages of HDE

The reduced file size provides efficiencies all the way from dailies to VFX pulls to the final digital intermediate. The benefits are obvious to studios like Marvel whose productions are international in scope and include large numbers of VFX shots or to Netflix, whose production slate continues to grow and grow and who demand the highest quality RAW content for their feature and original series acquisition. Thus, using HDE results in the reduction of storage costs and file transfer times.  Furthermore, as explained, even indie productions can benefit from the CODEX HDE methodology. In fact, CODEX, an X2X Media Group company, has also been honored with a 2020 Engineering Emmy Award, recognizing the engineering excellence behind the CODEX RAW Workflow with High-Density Encoding.

ARRI TECH TALK Live: Insights into CODEX HDE

As a part of ARRI Tech Talk educational sessions, a dedicated episode for the CODEX HDE was published. In this episode, the nuts and bolts of the HDE are well explained, from the born of the methodology to the nerdy stuff, like ZigZag encoding, mathematical formulas, and more. The session demonstrates how the encoding can reduce ARRIRAW file size by almost half, and how the file is decoded with perfect preservation of the quality. Check it out below:

For other ARRI Academy courses and certifications, make sure to read our reviews on ARRI Certified Training for Camera Systems. and the Certified Online Training for Large-Format Camera System. 

Final thoughts

CODEX HDE for ARRIRAW is being commonly utilized by high-end productions which demand a huge amount of data. Nevertheless, the methodology can serve indie productions as well, since it is pretty straightforward and simple to use. Thus, knowing the principles might help you in your next production when shooting with ARRI digital cameras.