MPEG-4

MPEG-4 (MP4) is a video and audio standard (type). Movies in MPEG-4 need less space on a computer. At the same time, they still have DVD quality. MPEG means Moving Picture Experts Group. Many researchers and engineers all over the world worked to develop MPEG-4. The work on this standard ended in 1998. MPEG-4 became a standard all over the world.

Movies that use MPEG-4 standard are high quality and take up less computer memory. Older standards were MPEG-1 and MPEG-2. Compared to these older versions, MPEG-4 has more features. For example, it has a way to fix problems, lots of quality and size choices, and a better picture quality.

MPEG-4 is designed for the special needs of computers, television areas and telecommunications. It is able to be individual objects in a certain area, besides rectangular pieces of computer information. For example, this could be a car driving in front of a background. The background does not change. The car can be treated as separate thing, because it is not a fixed background. This is because MPEG-4 can be many rectangular images at the same time.

Related pages
VHS
DVD
MP3

 Other websites 
MPEG-4  - Additional information on the format for more advanced users

Category:Computer file formats
Category:Audio technology
Category:Display technology