Along with other digital visual media [8,10], the amount of stereoscopic/3D content delivered by the cinema, television, and entertainment industries for human consumption has been growing dramatically over the past few years. According to the latest theatrical market statistics gathered by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) [73], the proportion of cinema screens that are 3D has reached 35 % worldwide, and approximately half of all cinema-goers viewed at least one 3D cinema in 2012. As Hollywood director James Cameron, who directed and produced Avatar, one of the most successful 3D presentations of recent times, stated in an interview with BBC news in August 2013 [3]: "All forms of entertainment will eventually be 3D, because that's how we see the world."In fact, the wave of 3D has not been limited to the entertainment industry. With greatly improved acquisition and display technologies, stereoscopic/3D images and videos provide natural and versatile visual representations in numerous applications, including robot navigation [2], remote education [115], medical body exploration [114], therapeutic treatment [26], and so forth. As these huge volumes of stereoscopic/3D data are making their way to the consumers, efficient compression and transmission of such data, especially over already-stressed wireless networks, becomes important. In every stage of capture, compression, storage