MPeg-4 is taking audiovisual streaming over the Internet to new
levels
Despite attempts by both the music industry and Microsoft to
displace it, MP3 still reigns supreme as the online music
compression format of choice. Its rise and continuing dominance is
all the more impressive given the fact that it was never formally
promoted, and that it first appeared as an extremely obscure
technical standard more than a decade ago. Its success is testimony
to user power, and the way in which this can be greatly amplified
by the Internet.
Strictly speaking, MP3 is
MPeg Audio Layer
3 . The main MPeg (Moving Pictures Expert Group) home page
has a related
FAQ on the subject.
There are a variety of MPeg standards alongside the
well-established MPeg-1 and MPeg-2. MPeg-3 is not a standard, being
a derived audio definition from these earlier specifications.
MPeg-4 has been around for a few years now, and there
are signs that it is starting to develop into a major audiovisual
standard.
Basically, there are two sides to the new standard. One concerns
compression algorithms that are technically superior to those
currently employed in MP3 and elsewhere. The other is designed to
allow detailed control over elements in an audiovisual scene. For
example, MPeg-4 streams allow live feeds and computer-generated
objects to be mixed, moved and transformed. Another important facet
is interactivity - users can click on MPeg-4 objects to instigate
further actions.
An MPeg-4 industry forum has been set up, and its
home page is a useful
starting point for finding out more about the latest developments
in this field and following the implementation of the standard in
products.
One of the biggest names behind the standard is Philips. Alongside
a
short introduction to the standard there are details of
some of its MPeg-4 products, which include authoring software and
an
MPeg-4 encoding workstation.
One area where MPeg-4 may flourish is in the world of mobile
communications. The standard is designed to allow video streaming
even over low-bandwidth connections. A company active here is
PacketVideo which
has a number of products for the wireless video market based on
MPeg-4,
as well
as some
white papers on the technology.
Also worth noting in this context is
Emblazecam, a miniature camera for mobile phones that does
MPeg-4 compression on the fly - maybe those long-promised
videophones are finally just around the corner.
The other key application for MPeg-4 is streaming across the
Internet. The
Internet Streaming
Media Alliance has been formed to promote standards in this
area. Its
membership
includes most of the major players in the online streaming world,
with the exception of the top two companies, Microsoft and
RealNetworks.
Microsoft's absence was to be expected, since it is currently
pushing its own proprietary approach. But RealNetworks may well
decide that it would be better to work with the Internet Streaming
Media Alliance rather than against it in order to bolster its
competitive position with respect to Microsoft.
Such a move would not be technically too difficult for RealNetworks
- there is already an MPeg-4 plug-in for its player from
Envivio.
Also available from this page are sample files in the
MPeg-4
format.