TABLE OF CONTENTS MPEG-4 builds upon the success and experience of MPEG-2. It is best known for:
Lower bit rates than MPEG-2 (for the same quality of video)
Use of natural or synthetic "objects" that can be rendered together to make a "scene"
Support for interactivity
For authors, MPEG-4 enables creating content that is more reusable and flexible, with better content protection capabilities.
For consumers, MPEG-4 can offer more interactivity and, due to the lower bit rate over MPEG-2, the ability to enjoy content over new networks (such as DSL) and mobile products.
MPEG-4 is an ISO standard (ISO/IEC 14496), and currently consists of 19 parts:
| systems | ISO/IEC 14496-1 |
| visual | ISO/IEC 14496-2 |
| audio | ISO/IEC 14496-3 |
| conformance testing | ISO/IEC 14496-4 |
| reference software | ISO/IEC 14496-5 |
| DMIF | ISO/IEC 14496-6 |
| reference software | ISO/IEC 14496-7 |
| carriage over IP networks | ISO/IEC 14496-8 |
| reference hardware | ISO/IEC 14496-9 |
| advanced video (H.264) | ISO/IEC 14496-10 |
| scene description | ISO/IEC 14496-11 |
| ISO file format | ISO/IEC 14496-12 |
| IPMP extensions | ISO/IEC 14496-13 |
| MP4 file format | ISO/IEC 14496-14 |
| H.264 file format | ISO/IEC 14496-15 |
| animation extension | ISO/IEC 14496-16 |
| streaming text format | ISO/IEC 14496-17 |
| font compression | ISO/IEC 14496-18 |
| synthesize texture stream | ISO/IEC 14496-19 |
MPEG-4 provides a standardized way to represent audio, video or still image "media objects" using descriptive elements (instead of actual bits of an image, for example). A media object can be natural or synthetic (computer-generated) and can be represented independent of its surroundings or background.
It also describes how to merge multiple media objects to create a scene. Rather than sending bits of picture,...
