Last updated on 2013-07-25, by Irene

What is MPEG-4 Format

About MPEG-4 Format

MPEG-4 is a method of defining compression of audio and visual digital data, it is one of the latest compression method standardized by MPEG group, designed especially for low-bandwidth video/audio encoding purposes. DivX and XviD are fully standard-compliant MPEG-4 encoders nowadays. MPEG-4 is commonly used to store media types defined by the ISO/IEC Moving Picture Experts Group, though it can store other media types as well. The files of this format usually have extension .mp4.

Unlike MPEG-1 and MPEG-2, the MPEG-4’s predecessors, MPEG-4 itself isn’t just one unified encoding mechanism, but rather a group name for several flavors of video and audio encoding methods that share certain same characteristics. These “flavors” are often referred either as “profiles” or “layers” in MPEG-4 compression scheme and each new profile should be backwards compliant to the older, “lower” versions of MPEG-4 in terms of playback capability. MPEG-4 group has standardized several new layers – most important ones are h263+ (which is used widely in mobile phones, named as 3GP) and h.264 (often also called as AVC).

MPEG-4 builds on the proven success of three fields:

● Digital television

● Interactive graphics applications (synthetic content)

● Interactive multimedia (World Wide Web, distribution of and access to content)

Data recommended to be embedded in MPEG-4:

● Video: MPEG-4, MPEG-2 and MPEG-1

● Audio: MPEG-4 AAC, MP3, MP2, MPEG-1 Part 3, MPEG-2 Part 3, CELP (speech),TwinVQ (very low bitrates), SAOL (midi)

● Pictures: JPEG, PNG

● Subtitles: MPEG-4 Timed Text, and/or xmt/bt text format (means that subtitles have to be translated into xmt/bt)

● Systems: Allows animation, interactivity and DVD-like menus

File extensions used on files that contain data in the *.mp4 format:

● .mp4: official extension, for audio, video and advanced content (see above) files

● .m4a: for audio-only files; can safely be renamed to *.mp4, though opinions differ on the wisdom of this.

● .m4p: FairPlay protected files

● .mp4v, .m4v: video-only (sometimes also used for raw mpeg-4 video streams not in the *.mp4 container format)

● .3gp, .3g2: used by 3G mobile phones, may also store content not specified directly in the *.mp4 specification (H.263, AMR, TX3G)

Related Software

Leawo Video Converter (MPEG-4 Converter): an easy video and audio solution for any format conversions, with fast speed and excellent output guaranteed. Equipped with 3D conversion function, you can get 3D MPEG-4 video as output. This MPEG-4 Converter not only converts common videos to video with MPEG-4 encoder, but also converts MPEG-4 video to other video formats.

Leawo DVD Ripper (DVD to MPEG-4 Ripper): a useful DVD ripping program for users to rip DVD to video in various formats. So with it you can enjoy great convenience to convert DVD to MPEG-4 for appreciation. This DVD to MPEG-4 Ripper enables you to convert DVD to MPEG-4 with fast speed and excellent video quality. 3D MPEG-4 video as output is also supportable.

Related Source
MP4, AVI , WMV, MP3, M4V, M4A, AAC, MOV, MKV, VLC Player, MPlayer

External Links
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mpeg4