diff --git a/doc/software-manual.pdf b/doc/software-manual.pdf
index 43f69204a6c9fc01cd4a17f3531bfeb2d6ae0cd2..f5e228c5d51fc520377531994ea111853b0cb95b 100644
Binary files a/doc/software-manual.pdf and b/doc/software-manual.pdf differ
diff --git a/doc/software-manual.tex b/doc/software-manual.tex
index 1e948bbfeeb44cad9342f8f7028497fa55f28f8e..166663323f16ed86755fbb8c5638e20d37b2d602 100644
--- a/doc/software-manual.tex
+++ b/doc/software-manual.tex
@@ -205,7 +205,7 @@ fontsize=\footnotesize}
 \maketitle
 \begin{abstract}
 This document is a user manual describing usage of the VTM reference software
-for the VVC project. It applies to version 8.0 of the software.
+for the VVC project. It applies to version 8.1 of the software.
 \end{abstract}
 
 \tableofcontents
diff --git a/source/Lib/CommonLib/version.h b/source/Lib/CommonLib/version.h
index 43dcd0abf1ed15ac62871902d91009cf756aaaa9..193e51b4a0dfda28c0135af0c09da324d07ff4bb 100644
--- a/source/Lib/CommonLib/version.h
+++ b/source/Lib/CommonLib/version.h
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 #if ! defined( VTM_VERSION )
-#define VTM_VERSION "8.0"
+#define VTM_VERSION "8.1rc1"
 #endif