The UHD Alliance (UHDA), the inter-industry group charged with fostering an ecosystem that fully realizes and promotes the consumer benefits of Ultra HD entertainment technology, announced today the completion of performance specifications for portable devices. Viewing high quality content on laptops and other mobile devices has increasingly become a staple in entertainment consumption, and with continued improvement of screens on devices ranging from smartphones to laptops, the specifications define performance criteria for delivering a premium experience across the spectrum of portable devices.

Consumer adoption of Ultra HD hardware and software has seen incredible growth since its introduction, with an estimated 100 million households worldwide currently enjoying an Ultra HD experience, and an estimate 450 million households with UHD TV's by 2020.* As the category has grown, so has the UHD Alliance, which was founded in April 2015 by 10 companies and now counts more than 50 global leaders in consumer electronics, entertainment, content distribution and technology among its membership.

The UHDA unveiled its Ultra HD Premium certification and logo program for televisions and pre-recorded content at CES 2016, followed swiftly by certification of Ultra HD Blu-ray players in April. Heading into 2017, the organization is strengthening audio requirements for devices, content and distribution. And, with the portable specification completed, the UHDA anticipates announcing specification details, licensing commencement and logo introduction in the first quarter of 2017.

"There are so many viewing options available to consumers today and we continue to see growth in portable viewing, whether on laptops, notebooks, tablets or smartphones," noted UHDA president, Hanno Basse. "As a growing association committed to defining and helping consumers identify those products and content that deliver a premium next generation entertainment experience, expanding our certification and logo program to include all viewing devices was a logical step for the UHDA."

The mobile category - inclusive of laptops, notebooks, tablets and smartphones - surpassed the in-home category in consumer entertainment device spending for the first time in 2013, and Statista predicts that mobile video internet traffic, which is currently just over 3.5 million terabytes per month, will reach nearly 23 million terabytes per month by 2020. Further, Ooyala's Global Video found that 52% of all video streams in the Q3 2016, whether short or long form, we're viewed on mobile devices. The continued and growing demand for video on portable devices makes the category a key component of the rapidly expanding Ultra HD ecosystem.

The UHDA's specifications cover numerous key features such as resolution, high dynamic range and wide color gamut, among many others. These advances in resolution, brightness, contrast and color enable certified devices and content to deliver the full, rich premium experience on a broad range of portable devices.