MPEG (pronounced EMM-PEG), is an acronym for Moving Picture Experts Group
which is the ISO committee that sets standards for the audio and video formats under
their purview. Before ISO standards were applied to computer technology, every
software and hardware vendor used their own system for creating, playing
or displaying multimedia files. Now by adhering to committee standards
software developers and hardware manufacturers can create products that
will interact without any direct consultation between the companies or
designers.
The primary advantage of the MPEG format is that the
compression algorithm produces relatively small
size and high
quality media files. Until recently, creating MPEG movies required special hardware,
but of late, with the general use of more powerful computers, software
conversion has become a practical reality. This new generation of
computers equipped with fast, accurate CD burners and the popularity of
DVD players has created a new, do-it-yourself market niche for creating CD
audio disks and video CD's that was long ago anticipated by the Moving
Picture Expert Group.
The MPEG standard addresses both audio and video which is often confusing.
The actual scheme for MPEG file extension convention has been long
overlooked and abused. In practice MPEG movies, which consist of an audio
and video stream use MPEG, MPE, MPG and DAT interchangeably as file
extensions. MPEG audio files contain only one stream and generally are
saved with MP2 or MP3 extensions which may or may not accurately reflect
the audio layer. Most modern media players are capable of playing the file
properly regardless of the format or file extension by reading the file
header and counting the streams. Some DVD players however are a bit more
finicky requiring specific adherence to MPEG standards as well as size,
frame rate and audio sampling. There are several MPEG standards for video
CD beginning with CD-i, which was created for a CD Interactive market that
never really developed. MPEG-1 VCD, MPEG-2 Super VCD and MPEG-2 DVD each
improved the resolution and data transfer rate of the standard media.
