YUV

YUV is a class of pixel formats used in video applications, including VLC media player.

YUV is actually the name of the color space that is common to all "YUV" pixel formats. Contrary to RGB formats (Red-Green-Blue), YUV colors are represented with one "luminance" component called Y (equivalent to grey scale) and two "chrominance" components, called U (blue projection) and V (red projection) respectively, hence the name.

YUV can also be referred to as YCbCr, although the terms mean slightly different things,^{[note 1]} they tend to be confused and used interchangeably (including in VLC-related venues).

This page explains the most useful YUV pixel formats in the context of VLC media player. Unless otherwise stated, values for each component are stored in one octet (8 bits).