MPEG - Survey

MPEG stands for Motion Picture Expert Group, the general name for the working group, in which the MPEG specifications were developed. The MPEG format consists of the versions 1, 2 and 4 concerning the coding of audio and video information.

MPEG-1

Coding of moving pictures and associated audio for digital storage media at up to about 1,5 Mbit/s

(ISO/IEC 11172-1 to -5)

MPEG-2

Generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information

(ISO/IEC 13818-1 to -11)

MPEG-4

Coding of audio-visual objects

(ISO/IEC 14496-1 to -21)

Originally the numbering system provided the version MPEG-3 for high definition video coding, e.g. for HDTV and DVD. Those features are already part of MPEG-2, a separate specification MPEG-3 therefore does not exist.

MPEG-3 is not identical with the audio format commonly known as MP3. The correct notation of MP3 would be MPEG-1 Audio Layer III.

Beyond the formats mentioned above, versions called MPEG-7, MPEG-21 and MPEG-A are in use denoting further projects. Specific types of audio or video compression are not an integral part of them.

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