PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Gisle Bjøntegaard

Gisle Bjøntegaard is a video-coding researcher whose Bjøntegaard Delta method helps compare codec efficiency, including neural-network methods assessed in a 2023 study. He earned a doctorate in ionospheric physics at the University of Oslo, began at Televerket's Research Institute in 1974, and received Telenor's Research Prize in 1997 for satellite-antenna and video-coding work. He joined Tandberg as research director in 2002, originated the proposal for H.264/AVC's first reference model, and shared the 2012 IEEE Masaru Ibuka Consumer Electronics Award with Gary Sullivan and Thomas Wiegand. He contributed to Cisco's Thor project; after two weeks of retirement, he returned to Cisco and programmed future video compression in Lysaker at 73, when he received the Norwegian Tech Awards honorary prize in 2017.

Works
18
Citations
15,199
h-index
11
Badges

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 22 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. 1974

    A doctorate and Televerket research

    He earns a doctorate in ionospheric physics at the University of Oslo. In 1974, he starts his research career at Televerket's Research Institute.

  2. 1997

    Telenor's research prize

    In 1997, he receives Telenor's Research Prize for work on satellite antennas and video coding. He shows that video signals can be coded at very low communication rates, and contributes to H.261, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 and H.263. H.261 enables video telephony over ordinary ISDN lines; MPEG-2, MPEG-4 and H.263 are used in digital TV, video telephony and multimedia.

  3. 2001

    The Bjøntegaard Delta method

    The Bjøntegaard Delta (BD) method dates to his 2001 proposal for comparing codec rate-distortion curves. His 2008 contribution updates the BD-Rate Excel macro with low and high calculations for curves with five or more points. A 2023 study uses BD calculations to assess neural-network video-compression methods.

  4. 2002–2014

    Research director at Tandberg

    He joins Tandberg as research director in 2002. By 2014, Bjøntegaard is a Cisco Fellow.

  5. 2003

    H.264's first reference model

    Bjøntegaard originates the proposal that becomes the first reference model for H.264/MPEG4-AVC, released in May 2003. He continues to contribute to compression improvements during standardization.

  6. 2012

    An IEEE consumer electronics award

    He shares the 2012 IEEE Masaru Ibuka Consumer Electronics Award with Gary Sullivan and Thomas Wiegand for leadership and technical contributions to H.264/MPEG4-AVC.

  7. 2015–2016

    Cisco's Thor codec project

    Cisco starts the Thor project in 2015 to develop a video codec, with Bjøntegaard among its codec experts. A March 2016 Internet-Draft lists him as an author and describes Thor as a block-based hybrid codec.

  8. 2017

    Back to Cisco video compression

    In 2017, he receives the Norwegian Tech Awards honorary prize. At 73, he is back at Cisco after two weeks of retirement and programs future video compression in Lysaker.

Career

  1. 2010–2017Cisco SystemsCisco Fellow
  2. 2002–2014TandbergResearch Director
  3. From 1974Televerket

Education

  1. 1974University of OsloDoctorate

From the biography and OpenAlex affiliations (the years of papers that list the organization), so some years are approximate.

  1. 11% of AI doctorate holders from 2010 to 2016 founded or led a company or lab by 10 years after graduationIncludes Gisle Bjøntegaard. We estimate how often AI doctorate holders founded or led a company or lab by 10 years after graduation, how waiting times compare between founders and top jobs, and which universities trained the most.
  2. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes Cisco Systems. We estimate where the people shaping AI worked when their most-cited papers appeared: the company share was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974, and Google led all organizations in 2020–2024.
  3. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes University of Oslo. We estimate where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led. Massachusetts Institute of Technology leads with 467 former students, including 291 recorded doctorates.
  4. Google had the most people shaping AI every year from 2014 to 2025Our estimates of which organizations employed the most people shaping AI each year from 1955 to 2025, tracing the shift from university labs to companies.

Colleagues

People named in this biography, and people with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Gisle Bjøntegaard yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Han utviklet en av internetts viktigste teknologier. Nå går han av med pensjon | Tu.no tu.no. Checked 22 October 2026.
  2. Telenors forskningspris til Bjøntegaard | Digi.no digi.no. Checked 22 October 2026.
  3. Bjøntegaard Delta (BD): A Tutorial Overview of the Metric, Evolution, Challenges, and Recommendations arxiv.org. Checked 22 October 2026.
  4. The Bjøntegaard Bible: Why your Way of Comparing Video Codecs May Be Wrong arxiv.org. Checked 22 October 2026.
  5. Årets hedersprisvinner: Var pensjonist i to uker, kjedet seg, og kom tilbake | Tu.no tu.no. Checked 22 October 2026.
  6. Gisle Bjøntegaard - Engineering and Technology History Wiki ethw.org. Checked 22 October 2026.
  7. SPS Members Receive 2012 IEEE Awards | IEEE Signal Processing Society signalprocessingsociety.org. Checked 22 October 2026.
  8. 2013 – Page 4 – IEEE Region 8 ieeer8.org. Checked 22 October 2026.
  9. World, Meet Thor – a Project to Hammer Out a Royalty Free Video Codec - Cisco Blogs blogs.cisco.com. Checked 22 October 2026.
  10. draft-fuldseth-netvc-thor-02 datatracker.ietf.org. Checked 22 October 2026.