Simulating film grain in an encoded image occurs by extracting the film grain and then characterizing the film grain for encoding in a video stream to enable the film grain restoration upon decoding. Typically, the film grain is characterized based either on the type of film, or by using a particular model. In practice, the film grain particulars are transmitted as parallel information to the video coded stream, typically as a film grain Supplemental Enhancement Information (SEI) message when using the ITU T H.264 video coding standard.