This paper provides an overview of the Scalable Video Coding (SVC) extension of the H.264/AVC video coding standard. SVC enables the transmission and decoding of partial bit streams, allowing for lower temporal or spatial resolutions and reduced fidelity while maintaining high reconstruction quality relative to the rate of the partial bit streams. This extension supports functionalities such as graceful degradation in lossy transmission environments and bit rate, format, and power adaptation, enhancing transmission and storage applications. The paper discusses the basic concepts of SVC, including temporal, spatial, and quality scalability, and analyzes the efficiency and complexity of the tools provided for these scalability modes. It also reviews the history of SVC, the design of H.264/AVC, and the extensions made to support SVC. The paper highlights the importance of coding efficiency and complexity in the design of SVC, and provides experimental results demonstrating the effectiveness of the proposed techniques.This paper provides an overview of the Scalable Video Coding (SVC) extension of the H.264/AVC video coding standard. SVC enables the transmission and decoding of partial bit streams, allowing for lower temporal or spatial resolutions and reduced fidelity while maintaining high reconstruction quality relative to the rate of the partial bit streams. This extension supports functionalities such as graceful degradation in lossy transmission environments and bit rate, format, and power adaptation, enhancing transmission and storage applications. The paper discusses the basic concepts of SVC, including temporal, spatial, and quality scalability, and analyzes the efficiency and complexity of the tools provided for these scalability modes. It also reviews the history of SVC, the design of H.264/AVC, and the extensions made to support SVC. The paper highlights the importance of coding efficiency and complexity in the design of SVC, and provides experimental results demonstrating the effectiveness of the proposed techniques.