Reviewing ViBe, a Popular Background Subtraction Algorithm for Real-Time Applications

Background subtraction or foreground segmentation is commonly the first step in video processing pipelines, where foreground objects and moving entities are detected for further analysis. Background subtraction is still an open problem in computer vision due to the wide range of possible scenarios and challenging cases, such as weather conditions, illumination variation, dynamic backgrounds or low frame-rates. In this article, we review a well-known general algorithm for background subtraction named visual background extractor or ViBe. More than 10 years after its publication, ViBe is still widely used due to its simplicity and low computational load, as its authors claim it can process up to 200 fps. We analyze the algorithm’s mechanism to segment foreground objects, comment on its strengths and drawbacks, and describe an effective variant of the method to quickly dissipate ghost effects using 3-frame difference. Furthermore, we provide an easy-to-use demo that allows to quickly test the performance of ViBe on custom data, modify its parameters and download the results.