YUV is a color encoding system typically used in video and image processing. It separates image luminance (Y) from chrominance (U and V), allowing for more efficient compression and transmission. The Y component represents the brightness of the color, while U and V represent the color information. This separation is beneficial because the human eye is more sensitive to changes in brightness than to changes in color, allowing for reduced bandwidth usage by compressing the chrominance components more than the luminance. YUV is commonly used in television broadcasting and various video formats.