Systems, methods, and devices for scene change detection and image encoding. A sequence of image frames is input. For a first image frame of the sequence, a first total sum of absolute transformed differences (SATD) is calculated. For a second frame of the sequence, a second total SATD is calculated. An absolute difference between the first total SATD and the second total SATD is calculated. If the absolute difference meets or exceeds a threshold, the second frame and a third frame of the sequence subsequent to the second frame are encoded based on a scene change, and the second frame and the third frame are transmitted. If the absolute difference does not meet or exceed the threshold, the second frame is encoded based on a same scene and the second frame is transmitted.