The VC-5 essence standard comprises the SMPTE standards designated SMPTE ST 2073-1, ST 2073-3, and ST 2073-4. - This recommended practice specifies the criteria and procedures for testing the conformance of encoder and decoder implementations to the VC-5 essence standard and describes the test materials used for conformance testing. - The test materials used for conformance testing comprise: - 1. Reference decoder for testing bitstreams created by implementations of a VC-5 encoder for compliance with the VC-5 essence standard, - 2. Bitstreams and reference images for testing implementations of a VC-5 decoder for compliance with the VC-5 essence standard. - Although not required for conformance testing, the test materials include a sample encoder, the images used by the sample encoder to create the bitstreams used for conformance testing, a program for converting between image formats, and a program for comparing image files. This recommended practice describes the image file formats used by the software and scripts that automate the conformance testing procedure. - Instructions for installing and building the programs and contact information for submitting bug reports are provided in a separate document that is included in the software distribution of the test materials. - This document does not include the test materials.