MPEG video generally refers to a set of standards and methods for compressing audio and video data. The most important and widely used standards include MPEG-2, an older format currently used by over-the-air digital television providers (digital cable, satellite) and MPEG-4, which includes additional features for digital rights management and support of higher-efficiency standards used by streaming media, HD DVD and Blu-Ray. MPEG-4 supports interactivity and has the ability to crunch massive video files into pieces small enough to send over mobile networks. Within MPEG-4 standards are two very popular formats utilized for broadband video delivery: H.264 and MP4.
H.264, short for H.264/MPEG-4 AVC, is a standard for video compression and is poised to become the next standard for format of convergence in the digital video industry now supported by Google / YouTube, Adobe, and Apple iTunes. It contains a number of features that enable it to compress video much more effectively than previous standards, and provides more flexibility for applications across a wide variety of network environments from low bit-rate Internet streaming to HDTV broadcast and Digital Cinema applications with nearly lossless coding.
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