[CharlesW]

> I wonder what are modern use-cases for 4:2:2 sampling? Is it simply a historic relic, which gets ported from codec to codec?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chroma_subsampling nicely explains this clever hack's continuing relevance.

TLDR: Chroma subsampling (as done in the 4:2:2 Y'CbCr color space) is used to improve video encoding efficiency by taking advantage of the "human visual system's lower acuity for color differences than for luminance".

[newpavlov]

I do understand [1] why 4:2:0 sampling is used, my question was strictly about 4:2:2.

[1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28204865