The High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) protocol, also known as H.265, was developed as a successor to H.264 by the Joint Collaborative Team on Video Coding (JCT-VC). The H.265 protocol reduces the bit rate required for streaming video when compared to H.264 while maintaining comparable video quality.

Due to the complexity of this new encoding/decoding protocol, more advanced processing is required. However, advantages such as lower latency can be realized with the H.265 protocol.

Some manufacturers, such as RGB Spectrum, take advantage of both H.264 and H.265 streaming protocols. Zio decoders, for example, can decode both H.264 and H.265 streams. This allows the customer to use whichever protocol is appropriate for the application.