What is MPEG?

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

·         MPEG-1 (Audio/Video)

·         MP3 or MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3 (Audio)

·         MPEG-2 (Audio/Video)

·         MPEG-4 (Interactive Multimedia System)

·         MPEG-7 (Multimedia Database & Retrieval)


MPEG technology is defined as a bit-stream representation for synchronized digital audio and digital non-interlaced or interlaced (MPEG-2 includes both) video compressed to fit into a certain bandwidth:

·         MPEG-1 -- 1.5-4-0 Mbps (megabits per second)

·         MPEG-2 -- 4.0-10.0 Mbps


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