MPEGstandardien

The MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) standards are a set of internationally recognized technical standards developed by the ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 29/WG 11 working group for digital audio and video compression. These standards are widely used in multimedia applications, including digital television, video streaming, DVDs, Blu-ray Discs, and digital audio formats.

The first MPEG standard, **MPEG-1**, was published in 1993 and introduced the MPEG-1 Audio Layer II (MP2) and MPEG-1 Video (MPV) formats. It was primarily designed for storage media with a capacity of up to 640 MB, such as CD-ROMs, and achieved a compression ratio of about 180:1 for video and 12:1 for audio. MPEG-1 also defined the MPEG-1 Systems standard, which allowed for the synchronization of audio and video streams.

MPEG-2, finalized in 1995, expanded on MPEG-1 by introducing higher-quality video and audio compression, making it suitable for broadcast-quality applications like digital television and DVDs. It introduced features such as support for interlaced video, multiple audio streams, and conditional access control. MPEG-2 remains the foundation for digital TV broadcasting worldwide.

MPEG-4, standardized in 2000, introduced significant advancements, including object-oriented video coding, which allowed for the extraction and manipulation of individual objects within a scene. It also introduced the MPEG-4 Audio (AAC) format, which provided superior audio compression compared to previous standards. MPEG-4 is widely used in streaming media, mobile devices, and digital rights management (DRM) applications.

Later standards include MPEG-7, which focuses on multimedia content description, and MPEG-21, which addresses multimedia framework standards for transcoding, rights management, and interoperability. MPEG-H, an advanced audio coding standard, was introduced in 2015 to support immersive audio formats like object-based and binaural sound.

MPEG standards continue to evolve, addressing modern challenges such as high-efficiency video coding (HEVC/H.265), ultra-high-definition (UHD) video, and the integration of artificial intelligence in multimedia processing. These standards play a crucial role in shaping the future of digital media consumption and distribution.