Access Advance LLC said Samsung Electronics and Sharp Corporation have joined its VVC Advance Patent Pool as both licensors and licensees, expanding the patent licensing programme for the next-generation Versatile Video Coding (VVC) video compression standard.
The additions bring two of the world’s largest holders of video codec patents into the programme on both sides of the licensing framework, strengthening the pool’s portfolio of essential intellectual property for VVC technology.
Access Advance said Samsung and Sharp are among five companies that have joined the VVC Advance Patent Pool as licensors during the first half of 2026. The other new licensors are Vidaxio LLC, Mirage Inc. and Telechips, Inc.
The company also announced six new licensees since the start of the year: American Future Technology Corp., operating as iBuypower, CyberPower Inc., Samsung Electronics, Sharp Corporation, Sichuan Changhong NeoNet Technologies Co., Ltd. and TIGERSECU, Inc.
“The growth we are seeing in VVC Advance reflects the broad range of industries and companies that are moving toward VVC as the next standard for video delivery,” Access Advance Chief Executive Officer Peter Moller said in a statement.
Moller said the addition of Samsung and Sharp as both licensors and licensees, alongside participation from leading smartphone manufacturers and consumer electronics companies, reflects broader industry adoption of the video compression standard.
With Samsung joining the programme as a licensee, Access Advance said six of the world’s leading smartphone manufacturers—Honor, Huawei, Oppo, Samsung, vivo and Xiaomi—are now part of the VVC Advance patent pool. Together, those companies account for an estimated 62% of the global smartphone market, according to the company.
Access Advance said the expanded licensor base now includes patent holders across semiconductor design, consumer electronics and mobile technology.
The company added that, with Samsung and Sharp contributing patents, the VVC Advance Patent Pool now holds licensing rights to a substantial majority of patents it considers essential to the VVC standard.
VVC is the successor to the High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) standard and is designed to improve video compression efficiency for applications including high-resolution streaming, mobile video and other bandwidth-intensive services.
