MPEG-4 is an ISO/IEC standard developed by MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group), the committee that also developed the Emmy Award winning standards known as MPEG-1 and MPEG-2.
These standards made interactive video on CD-ROM and Digital Television possible. MPEG-4 is the result of another international effort involving hundreds of researchers and engineers from all over the world. MPEG-4, whose formal ISO/IEC designation is ISO/IEC 14496, was finalized in October 1998 and became an International Standard in the first months of 1999.
The fully backward compatible extensions under the title of MPEG-4 Version 2 were frozen at the end of 1999, to acquire the formal International Standard Status early in 2000. Some work, on extensions in specific domains, is still in progress.
MPEG-4 builds on the proven success of three fields:
- Digital television
- Interactive graphics applications (synthetic content)
- Interactive multimedia (World Wide Web, distribution of and access to content)
MPEG-4 provides the standardized technological elements enabling the integration of the production, distribution and content access paradigms of the three fields.