What is MPEG?

MPEG, is an acronym for the Moving Picture Experts Group that belongs to the family of ISO/IEC standards (International Organization for Standardization and International Electrotechnical Commission). MPEG is a compression technology for digital video and audio signals intended for consumer distribution. Different MPEG compression methods exist, among which are:

1. MPEG-1 (Audio / Video)
2. MPEG-2 (Audio / Video)
3. MP3 or MPEG-1 Audio layer 3 (Audio)
4. MPEG-4 (Interactive Multimedia System)
5. MPEG-7 (Multimedia Database & Retrieval)

MPEG technology is defined as a bit-stream representation for synchronized digital audio and digital non-interlaced or interlaced* video, compressed to fit into a certain bandwidth:

1. MPEG-1 = 1.5 ~ 4.0Mbps (Megabits per second)
2. MPEG-2 = 4.0 ~ 10.0 Mbps

MPEG is responsible for multiplexing and synchronizing one video stream with either a single or multiple audio streams. MPEG-1 was designed to reproduce VHS/VCR quality in a digital format, while the MPEG-2 concept is intended to cover a wider range of applications, which includes DVD and an all-digital transmission of broadcast TV at coded bit rates between 4 and 9 Mbps.

* MPEG-2 includes both non-interlaced and interlaced video.