The VC-5 essence standard comprises the SMPTE standards designated SMPTE ST 2073-1, ST 2073-3, ST 2073-4, ST 2073-5, and ST 2073-6. 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: Reference decoder for testing bitstreams created by implementations of a VC-5 encoder for compliance with the VC-5 essence standard, 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. Detailed 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.