MPEG-4

MPEG-4 represents a multimedia standard. It provides high-quality audio and video streams through a variety of bandwidths, which range from mobile phone till broadband. The format was named after a working group which is part of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).  The group's name is Moving Picture Experts Group.

MPEG-4 was created by hundreds of developers around the world. It was finished in 1998 and two years later became an international standard.

The format was created to provide DVD-quality video. The main difference between MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 video files is that the latter have lower data rates, as well as smaller file sizes.

Apple, Cisco, IBM, Kasenna, Philips and Sun Microsystems created an alliance called ISMA. Its abbreviation stands for "Internet Streaming Media Alliance". It was formed for one particular reason, which was to ensure that all software related to MPEG-4 would adopt this standard simultaneously. Some other participants of ISMA were: AOL Time Warner, Dolby Laboratories, Hitachi, HP, Fujitsu and the list continues with about 20 other firms.

So now users all over the world can easily play MPEG-4 format on players made by different producers. This is due to the activities performed by ISMA.

MPEG-4 was adopted by several satellite broadcasters. DirecTV and DVB are in the list as well. These companies use the format for delivering digital television. They have opted for MPEG-4 due to its quality at low data rates. Thus they are able to supply to customers more channels with the same bandwidth.

Traditionally, the video file compressing methods were based on pixels. Every frame of the video had a rectangular set of pixels. The algorithm searched for correlations between pixels situated within the frame and those that are between the frames. MPEG-4, however, is based on objects.

MPEG-4 format achieved success in three domains:

1. Digital television;
2. Applications of interactive graphic;
3. Interactive multimedia.

Although today technology is in fast development, MPEG-4 standard remains among the favorites being constantly upgrading.