Coding tree unit

Coding tree unit (CTU) is the basic processing unit of the High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) video standard and conceptually corresponds in structure to macroblock units that were used in several previous video standards. CTU is also referred to as largest coding unit (LCU).

A CTU can be between 16×16 pixels and 64×64 pixels in size with a larger size usually increasing coding efficiency. The first video standard that uses CTUs is HEVC/H.265 which became an ITU-T standard on April 13, 2013.