AWS benchmark compares NDI SpeedHQ and JPEG XS across eight generations

AWS has published a controlled comparison of NDI SpeedHQ and JPEG XS for live cloud production, using PSNR measurements at 1080p and UHD across eight encode-decode generations.

In the reported tests, NDI SpeedHQ produced slightly higher PSNR at lower bitrates, while JPEG XS reached higher absolute quality at the cost of more bandwidth. AWS says both codecs showed less than 0.5 dB of PSNR loss through repeated generations. The test used NDI Advanced SDK 6.3.1, IntoPix CPU Codec 2.40.1, FFmpeg analysis and open Netflix test material.

Why it matters

Mezzanine codec choices shape both cloud cost and picture quality. Vision mixing, graphics and multistage processing can force several coding generations, so a single-generation screenshot is not enough evidence.

The benchmark is useful because its method is described, but it is not a universal ranking. PSNR does not capture every visible artefact, and codec performance depends on content, encoder implementation, latency target, chroma format and CPU or GPU budget. Engineers should reproduce the operating points that match their own chain.