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MPEG is a group responsible for creating and publishing standards for audio and video formats used in various areas of technology. MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 are widely used for audio and video compression, while MPEG-4 extends the compression capabilities and supports 3D rendered objects and DRM. MPEG-3 was abandoned, and MPEG continues to develop standards for multimedia content.
MPEG stands for Motion Picture Experts Group, part of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), respectively responsible for creating and publishing standards for various areas of technology. MPEG standards cover audio and video formats used online, in television broadcasting, and DVD media.
There are currently a number of MPEG standards in use and more are sure to follow. Some known standards are briefly explained below.
MPEG-1: This first set of standards was developed for audio and video compression. Layer 3 is a codec within these standards known simply as MP3, or the popular audio compression format for music.
This video format was used to store movies on CD, known as Video CD or VCD. The quality is equal to that of a VHS tape and the playback compatibility on CD/DVD players is high. One drawback of this standard is that it only supports progressive footage, as opposed to including interlaced. These terms refer to the way an image paints on a screen. Progressive monitors (including progressive TVs) paint a picture progressively “top to bottom” in one sequential pass. Interlaced displays paint every other line, then fill in the odd lines in a two-pass process.
MPEG-2: This standard has been improved over MPEG-1 by including the ability to encode interlaced images. It is widely used for digital cable, satellite and over-the-air signals. This format is also prevalent for films distributed on DVD. Television receivers, DVD players, and television stations typically incorporate this standard.
MPEG-2 also contains two container formats: Transport Stream and Program Stream. These respectively refer to the way digital broadcasts are transmitted and formatted on the media.
MPEG-3: The intention was to make this standard compatible with High Definition TV (HDTV), but this became superfluous when MPEG-2 Extensions expanded that standard’s capability to include HDTV. At that time, this standard was abandoned.
MPEG-4: Borrowing from the first two standards, MPEG-4 extends the audio/video compression capabilities while improving the flexibility of the format. It supports 3D rendered objects, as well as incorporating the copyright protection scheme known as Digital Rights Management (DRM). This standard can be used for television broadcasting, online streaming media, applications such as video telephony, and digital media distribution.
The MPEG-4 standard is developed in “parts” associated with some well-known codecs. For example, DivX, Xvid, Nero Digital and Quicktime6 are some codecs that use part 2. A different version of Nero Digital (AVC) and Quicktime (version 7) use part 10, as well as the x264 codec. Blu-ray Discs and some types of HD DVDs also use this flavor.
MPEG continues to develop standards (non-sequential numbers), such as MPEG-7 and MPEG-21, dedicated to multimedia content.
