comma-lab

Compression frontier.
Evidence intact.

A scorer-backed compression lab for the comma video challenge. The site tracks the current honest floor, preserves informative failures, and packages the strongest writeup assets without blurring authority boundaries.

Best Track B current_workflow: 3.25
Best bytes: 1,669,984
Promotions: 6
Rejections: 10
Best Track B current_workflow score
3.25
Authoritative local CPU scorer-backed floor.
Best Track B current_workflow bytes
1,669,984
Published-path byte burden for the promoted floor.
Latest measured Track B score
3.38
Latest run can differ from the promoted floor.
Track A current_workflow
0.00
Exploit lane, kept separate from honest promotion logic.

Score vs bytes

Track B runs only. Green points are timeline-backed promotions. Red points are explicit rejections. Blue points are measured but neither promoted nor explicitly rejected in the current summary logic.

robust_current-baseline-cpu-2026-04-03 | score=4.06 | bytes=3735828robust_current-medium21-cpu-2026-04-03 | score=4.74 | bytes=5005390robust_current-medium23-cpu-2026-04-03 | score=3.62 | bytes=2819374robust_current-slow22-cpu-2026-04-03 | score=4.13 | bytes=3812776robust_current-448x336-medium23-cpu-2026-04-03 | score=3.56 | bytes=1978141robust_current-576x432-medium23-cpu-2026-04-03 | score=4.26 | bytes=3868552robust_current-keyint24-cpu-2026-04-04 | score=3.64 | bytes=2018006robust_current-keyint48-cpu-2026-04-04 | score=3.56 | bytes=1901606robust_current-keyint64-cpu-2026-04-04 | score=3.61 | bytes=1862992robust_current-bicubic-bicubic-cpu-2026-04-04 | score=3.67 | bytes=1829217robust_current-lanczos-lanczos-cpu-2026-04-04 | score=3.54 | bytes=1901606robust_current-bframes3-ref4-cpu-2026-04-04 | score=3.57 | bytes=2021782robust_current-bframes5-ref4-cpu-2026-04-04 | score=3.71 | bytes=1897819robust_current-bframes4-ref5-cpu-2026-04-04 | score=3.55 | bytes=1894366robust_current-roi-two-pass-cpu-2026-04-04 | score=5.73 | bytes=1472589robust_current-432x324-cpu-2026-04-04 | score=3.33 | bytes=1781129robust_current-464x348-cpu-2026-04-04 | score=3.44 | bytes=2139211robust_current-dynamic-main-roi-cpu-2026-04-05 | score=4.47 | bytes=2660388robust_current-cand-432x324-crf23-g48-b3-r4-cpu-2026-04-05 | score=3.43 | bytes=1898751robust_current-cand-432x324-crf23-g64-b4-r4-cpu-2026-04-05 | score=3.38 | bytes=1753611robust_current-cand-424x318-crf23-g48-b4-r4-cpu-2026-04-05 | score=3.25 | bytes=1669984robust_current-cand-424x318-crf23-g48-b3-r4-cpu-2026-04-05 | score=3.27 | bytes=1776026robust_current-cand-424x318-crf23-g64-b4-r4-cpu-2026-04-06 | score=3.26 | bytes=1646886robust_current-cand-416x312-crf23-g48-b4-r4-cpu-2026-04-05 | score=3.44 | bytes=1573803robust_current-cand-428x320-crf23-g48-b4-r4-cpu-2026-04-05 | score=3.32 | bytes=1741924robust_current-cand-426x320-crf23-g48-b4-r4-cpu-2026-04-06 | score=3.38 | bytes=1766456

Lower is better. This plot is generated directly from scorer-backed artifacts in the repository.

Promotion ladder

  • 3.62 — 512x384, lanczos/bicubic, crf 23, keyint 32, bframes 4, ref 4
  • 3.56 — 448x336, lanczos/bicubic, crf 23, keyint 32, bframes 4, ref 4
  • 3.56 — 448x336, lanczos/bicubic, crf 23, keyint 48, bframes 4, ref 4
  • 3.54 — 448x336, lanczos/lanczos, crf 23, keyint 48, bframes 4, ref 4
  • 3.33 — 432x324, lanczos/lanczos, crf 23, keyint 48, bframes 4, ref 4
  • 3.25 — 424x318, lanczos/lanczos, crf 23, keyint 48, bframes 4, ref 4

Useful negative results

  • 5.73 — robust_current-roi-two-pass-cpu-2026-04-04
  • 4.47 — robust_current-dynamic-main-roi-cpu-2026-04-05
  • 3.44 — robust_current-464x348-cpu-2026-04-04
  • 3.44 — robust_current-cand-416x312-crf23-g48-b4-r4-cpu-2026-04-05
  • 3.43 — robust_current-cand-432x324-crf23-g48-b3-r4-cpu-2026-04-05
  • 3.38 — robust_current-cand-432x324-crf23-g64-b4-r4-cpu-2026-04-05
  • 3.38 — robust_current-cand-426x320-crf23-g48-b4-r4-cpu-2026-04-06
  • 3.32 — robust_current-cand-428x320-crf23-g48-b4-r4-cpu-2026-04-05

What to open first

If you only have a minute, open the judges one-pager first. If you need to validate a claim, jump directly to the evidence index or promotion accounting.

Current default reading order:

  1. Headline metrics
  2. Score vs bytes
  3. Promotion ladder
  4. Useful negative results
  5. Promotion accounting

Promotion accounting

Rule-faithful values below are local estimates from scorer distortions plus honest bytes. They are not official published scores.

RunScaleFiltersCurrent workflowCurrent bytesRule-faithful estimateRule-faithful bytes
robust_current-medium23-cpu-2026-04-03512x384lanczos/bicubic3.622,819,3743.6182,822,418
robust_current-448x336-medium23-cpu-2026-04-03448x336lanczos/bicubic3.561,978,1413.5631,981,185
robust_current-keyint48-cpu-2026-04-04448x336lanczos/bicubic3.561,901,6063.5621,904,650
robust_current-lanczos-lanczos-cpu-2026-04-04448x336lanczos/lanczos3.541,901,6063.5461,904,650
robust_current-432x324-cpu-2026-04-04432x324lanczos/lanczos3.331,781,1293.3301,787,266
robust_current-cand-424x318-crf23-g48-b4-r4-cpu-2026-04-05424x318lanczos/lanczos3.251,669,9843.2751,704,163

Working theses

  • Bitrate placement and resolution remained the strongest honest levers in this scorer region.
  • BAT00 became useful as a research-only ranking lane, not as a score authority.
  • ROI-style multi-stream ideas were informative negative results but too expensive in the tested forms.
  • The 424x318 / keyint48 floor appears locally stable after nearby 3.27, 3.26, 3.44, 3.32, and 3.38 follow-up failures.

Key turning points

  • First honest floor — robust_current-baseline-cpu-2026-04-03 (4.06)
  • First big win — robust_current-medium23-cpu-2026-04-03 (3.62)
  • ROI failure — robust_current-dynamic-main-roi-cpu-2026-04-05 (4.47)
  • Current best floor — robust_current-cand-424x318-crf23-g48-b4-r4-cpu-2026-04-05 (3.25)

Timeline

UTCTypeSummary
2026-04-04T17:46:16.346354+00:00researchTiny fixed-ROI two-pass prototype cut bytes but regressed badly on the official scorer, so it stays rejected.
2026-04-04T19:11:30.675723+00:00promotionPromoted robust_current 432x324 / medium / 23 / keyint48 / lanczos+lanczos after the tiny local resolution revisit.
2026-04-05T05:53:25.231667+00:00researchMeasured dynamic main-ROI prototype rejected: main ROI was preserved explicitly, but score regressed to 4.47 and bytes rose to about 2.66 MB.
2026-04-05T06:35:49.299885+00:00verificationFresh local CPU regression confirmed the restored promoted floor still scores 3.33.
2026-04-05T06:35:49.299885+00:00researchBAT00 surrogate v2 remained noisy on the full mixed set, but the codec-only subset improved enough to use as a research-only ranking aid.
2026-04-05T07:42:28.847777+00:00researchBAT00 codec-only surrogate ranked a small codec shortlist, then the top two local CPU candidates were tested sequentially.
2026-04-05T07:42:28.847777+00:00decisionLocal CPU test of surrogate-ranked #1 candidate (432x324 / crf23 / g48 / b3 / r4) scored 3.43 and was rejected.
2026-04-05T07:42:28.847777+00:00decisionLocal CPU test of surrogate-ranked #2 candidate (432x324 / crf23 / g64 / b4 / r4) scored 3.38 and was rejected.
2026-04-05T08:13:15.198319+00:00promotionLocal CPU test of surrogate-ranked #3 candidate (424x318 / crf23 / g48 / b4 / r4) scored 3.25 and became the new promoted floor.
2026-04-05T08:48:02.864256+00:00decisionNearby follow-up on the new 424x318 floor (bframes3) scored 3.27 and was rejected.
2026-04-05T09:47:41.998084+00:00decisionNearby follow-up on the 424x318 floor (keyint64) scored 3.26 and was rejected.
2026-04-05T14:29:14.555005+00:00decisionLower-resolution BAT00-ranked follow-up at 416x312 scored 3.44 and was rejected.
2026-04-05T15:10:07.425100+00:00decisionBAT00-ranked nearby-scale follow-up at 428x320 scored 3.32 and was rejected.
2026-04-05T16:07:20.968299+00:00decisionBAT00-ranked nearby-scale follow-up at 426x320 scored 3.38 and was rejected.