Moving Picture Experts Group facts for kids

The Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) is a group of experts who create rules, called standards, for how digital media like videos, music, and pictures are stored and shared. They also work on how to make these files smaller (compress them) so they take up less space and can be sent faster.

MPEG is a team effort by two big international organizations: the ISO and the IEC. Their standards are used in many everyday things, like watching videos online, streaming movies, and even on DVDs and Blu-ray discs. Some well-known older MPEG formats include MPEG-1, MPEG-2, and MPEG-4 AVC. Newer systems often use standards like MPEG-DASH for streaming.

The official MPEG logo

Some popular digital media formats and the MPEG standards they use (up to 2005).

How MPEG Started

MPEG was created in 1988 by two smart people: Dr. Hiroshi Yasuda from Japan and Dr. Leonardo Chiariglione from Italy. Dr. Chiariglione led the group for a very long time, until 2020. The first meeting of MPEG happened in May 1988 in Ottawa, Canada.

Over the years, MPEG grew a lot. By the late 1990s, hundreds of experts from different companies, universities, and research places joined their meetings.

In 2020, the way MPEG was organized changed. Instead of one big working group, it split into several smaller groups. These new groups focus on different areas like video coding, audio coding, and even new areas like genomic data coding. This change helps them work on many different technologies at the same time.

Working with Other Groups

MPEG often works with other expert groups to create the best possible standards. This teamwork helps make sure that different technologies can work together smoothly.

Making Video Better

MPEG has teamed up with another group called ITU-T SG16 (which includes the Video Coding Experts Group, or VCEG) many times to improve video technology.

• MPEG-2 Video: One of their first big collaborations was on MPEG-2 Video. This standard is super important because it's used for digital TV broadcasts and on DVDs.
• H.264/MPEG-4 AVC: Later, they formed the Joint Video Team (JVT) in 2001. Their main achievement was creating H.264/MPEG-4 AVC. This standard made video files about 50% smaller than MPEG-2, without losing quality! You might find H.264 on Blu-ray discs and for streaming videos online.
• High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC): In 2010, another joint group, the Joint Collaborative Team on Video Coding (JCT-VC), was formed. They developed High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), also known as H.265. This made video files even smaller, cutting the size by another 50% compared to H.264. HEVC is used for high-quality video streaming and 4K content.
• Versatile Video Coding (VVC): More recently, the Joint Video Experts Team (JVET) was created in 2017. They developed Versatile Video Coding (VVC), or H.266, which was finished in 2020. VVC makes video files about 50% smaller again compared to HEVC! This helps with even higher quality videos and new technologies like virtual reality.

Important MPEG Standards

MPEG standards are like a set of instructions, divided into different "Parts." Each Part covers a specific part of the technology. They also have "profiles" and "levels" which define what features are included and how powerful they are.

Here are some of the most important MPEG standards:

• MPEG-1 (1993): This was the first MPEG standard for both audio and video. It was designed to fit videos and sound onto a compact disc (CD). It's known for the popular MP3 audio format, which is part of MPEG-1.
• MPEG-2 (1996): This standard was a big step up. It's used for broadcast-quality television, like over-the-air digital TV (ATSC, DVB), digital satellite TV, and digital cable television. It's also used on DVDs and some Blu-ray discs.
• MPEG-4 (1998): This standard brought more advanced ways to compress video and audio. It allows for even smaller files than MPEG-2. It also includes features for managing and protecting digital content. A very important part of MPEG-4 is H.264/MPEG-4 AVC (also called MPEG-4 Part 10), which is widely used for high-definition videos.
• MPEG-3 (Cancelled): There is no MPEG-3 standard! It was planned for high-definition TV, but its ideas were merged into MPEG-2, so it was never released as a separate standard. Don't confuse it with MP3, which is part of MPEG-1.

MPEG has also created other standards that aren't about making video files smaller, but about how media is described or used:

• MPEG-7 (2002): This standard helps describe multimedia content. Think of it like a way to tag and search for videos or images based on what's in them.
• MPEG-21 (2001): This is a "multimedia framework." It's like a big set of tools and rules for how digital media can be created, shared, and protected.

More recently, MPEG has developed standards for new and exciting applications:

• MPEG-H (2013): This standard includes High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC, or H.265) and 3D Audio. It's designed for high-quality media delivery in different environments, like streaming to your phone or a big TV.
• MPEG-DASH (2012): This standard is all about "Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP." It's the technology that lets you stream videos online smoothly. It automatically adjusts the video quality based on your internet speed, so you don't get buffering.
• MPEG-I (2020): This standard focuses on "Immersive Media." It includes Versatile Video Coding (VVC, or H.266) and Omnidirectional Media Format (OMAF) for things like virtual reality (VR) and 360-degree videos.
• MPEG-G (2019): This is a very new and unique standard for "Genomic Information Representation." It helps store and share genetic data, which is important for science and medicine.

See also

• Video Coding Experts Group (VCEG)
• Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG)
• Multimedia and Hypermedia information coding Expert Group (MHEG)
• Alliance for Open Media (AOMedia)
• Audio codec
• Video codec
• Video quality
• Video compression
• MP3