TABLE OF CONTENTS The subject of this book is the international standard for moving picture video compression, IS 11172-2, widely known as MPEG-1 video. The name MPEG is an acronym for Moving Picture Experts Group, a group formed under the auspices of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). Originally an ad hoc subcommittee of ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG8 where the MPEG work started, MPEG was later given formal status within ISO/IEC and is now the working group ISO/IEC JTC1/SC29/WG11.
Although IS 11172 is officially entitled "Information technology Coding of moving pictures and associated audio for digital storage media up to about 1,5 Mbit/s ," [1] as indicated by the title, MPEG-1 is concerned with coding of digital audio and digital video. It is also concerned with synchronization of audio and video bitstreams, including multiple interleaved video sequences. These three topics are covered in three separate parts of the standard: Part 1 deals with systems aspects, Part 2 with video compression, and Part 3 with audio compression. [2]
In this book the emphasis will be almost entirely on the compression of picture sequences, i.e., on IS 11172 Part 2: Video. While brief overviews of the audio and systems aspects of MPEG-1 are provided, it is our expectation that future volumes in this series will do more justice to these important topics.
If the current standard is known as MPEG-1, what does the "1" signify? It turns out that there are three different MPEGs: MPEG-1, MPEG-2. and MPEG-4, [3]
