SafekipediaMoving Picture Experts Group
Adapted from Wikipedia · Adventurer experience
The Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) is a team created by two big organizations, ISO and IEC. Its job is to make rules for how to store and send audio, video, and other kinds of data. These rules help computers and devices understand each other when sharing pictures, music, and movies. MPEG works together with another group called JPEG under a bigger team known as ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 29.
MPEG created many important formats that we use every day. Older systems often used formats like MPEG-1, MPEG-2, and MPEG-4 AVC. Today, many new systems use a special file format and a method called dynamic streaming, also known as MPEG-DASH. These formats make it possible to watch videos, listen to music, and enjoy other content quickly and efficiently on all kinds of devices.
History
The Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) was created in 1988 by Dr. Hiroshi Yasuda and Dr. Leonardo Chiariglione. Its first meeting was in May 1988 in Ottawa, Canada. Over time, MPEG grew to include many members from different industries and universities.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, MPEG changed how it held meetings in 2020. Instead of meeting in person, they met online. In June 2020, Chiariglione stepped down as the group's leader. New leaders and working groups were set up to keep working on standards for audio and video technology. Meetings stayed online and then returned to in-person meetings in 2022.
Cooperation with other groups
MPEG works with other groups to create better video and audio standards. One important project was MPEG-2, made together with ITU-T Study Group 15. This helped decide how video and audio are organized and sent.
Another team, the Joint Video Team, started in 2001 to make video files smaller without losing quality. They made H.264/MPEG-4 AVC, which uses less data than the older MPEG-2 standard. Later teams kept working on this, making even better standards like High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) and Versatile Video Coding (VVC). These changes help videos load faster and look better on all kinds of devices.
Standards
The MPEG standards have different parts that each cover a specific area. These standards also define profiles and levels. Profiles describe tools you can use, and levels set limits for certain properties.
Early important MPEG formats include:
- MPEG-1 (1993): A format for storing video and audio digitally. It was commonly used for low-quality video and the popular MP3 audio format.
- MPEG-2 (1996): Used for broadcast television, including digital TV and DVD videos.
- MPEG-4 (1998): Supports more advanced features and better compression. It is used in modern video services.
Other standards like MPEG-7 for describing multimedia content and MPEG-21 for managing digital rights have also been developed. More recent standards include MPEG-H for efficient video coding and MPEG-I for immersive media formats.
| Abbreviation for group of standards | Title | ISO/IEC standard series number | First public release date (First edition) | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MPEG-1 | Coding of Moving Pictures and Associated Audio for Digital Storage Media at up to about 1.5 Mbit/s | ISO/IEC 11172 | 1993 | Although the title focuses on bit rates of 1.5 Mbit/s and lower, the standard is also capable of higher bit rates. |
| MPEG-2 | Generic Coding of Moving Pictures and Associated Audio Information | ISO/IEC 13818 | 1995 | |
| MPEG-3 | N/A | N/A | N/A | Abandoned as unnecessary; requirements incorporated into MPEG-2 |
| MPEG-4 | Coding of Audio-Visual Objects | ISO/IEC 14496 | 1999 | |
| MPEG-7 | Multimedia Content Description Interface | ISO/IEC 15938 | 2002 | |
| MPEG-21 | Multimedia Framework | ISO/IEC 21000 | 2001 | |
| MPEG-A | Multimedia Application Format | ISO/IEC 23000 | 2007 | |
| MPEG-B | MPEG Systems Technologies | ISO/IEC 23001 | 2006 | |
| MPEG-C | MPEG Video Technologies | ISO/IEC 23002 | 2006 | |
| MPEG-D | MPEG Audio Technologies | ISO/IEC 23003 | 2007 | |
| MPEG-E | Multimedia Middleware | ISO/IEC 23004 | 2007 | |
| MPEG-V | Media Context and Control | ISO/IEC 23005 | 2011 | |
| MPEG-M | MPEG eXtensible Middleware (MXM) | ISO/IEC 23006 | 2010 | |
| MPEG-U | Rich Media User Interfaces | ISO/IEC 23007 | 2010 | |
| MPEG-H | High Efficiency Coding and Media Delivery in Heterogeneous Environments | ISO/IEC 23008 | 2013 | |
| MPEG-DASH | Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP | ISO/IEC 23009 | 2012 | |
| MPEG-I | Coded Representation of Immersive Media | ISO/IEC 23090 | 2020 | |
| MPEG-CICP | Coding-Independent Code Points | ISO/IEC 23091 | 2018 | Originally part of MPEG-B |
| MPEG-G | Genomic Information Representation | ISO/IEC 23092 | 2019 | |
| MPEG-IoMT | Internet of Media Things | ISO/IEC 23093 | 2019 | |
| MPEG-5 | General Video Coding | ISO/IEC 23094 | 2020 | Essential Video Coding (EVC) and Low-Complexity Enhancement Video Coding (LCEVC) |
| (none) | Supplemental Media Technologies | ISO/IEC 29116 | 2008 | Withdrawn and replaced by MPEG-M Part 4 – MPEG extensible middleware (MXM) protocols |
Standardization process
Main article: International Organization for Standardization § Standardization process
Creating a new standard for videos and music has several steps. It begins with a proposal for new work. The proposal then goes through stages like drafts and reviews. After many reviews and approvals, the standard is made and shared with the world. This careful process helps make sure the standards work well for everyone.
This article is a child-friendly adaptation of the Wikipedia article on Moving Picture Experts Group, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.