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In the encoding description such as 4:2:2, the first number specifically denotes the number of pixels that have their own luma (brightness) information. This percentage is crucial because it illustrates how the color information (chroma) is sampled relative to the brightness information (luma).
In a 4:2:2 configuration, for every four pixels that are sampled for luma, only two separate samples are taken for each of the color channels (chrominance). This means the encoding preserves a higher fidelity of brightness detail compared to color detail, which is often adequate for many video applications while optimizing data bandwidth.
Understanding this helps quantify how image quality is impacted by the sampling – the greater the first number in such ratios, the more detailed the brightness representation will be, which is particularly important for processing and displaying video content effectively.