Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG)

MPEG, which stands for Moving Picture Experts Group, is an organization that controls the standards of video and audio development. Developed in Ottawa, Canada in 1988, MPEG currently has about 350 members that convene are various universities and research facilities.

To date, MPEG has created six different industry standards.

• MPEG 1 refers to standard compression for video and audio files that is popularly used in MP3 players.
• MPEG 2 standardizes systems for broadcast television, as well as HDTV.
• MPEG 3 has been abandoned. Although it set standards for HDTV, MPEG2 worked just as well for HDTV, making MPEG3 unnecessary.
• MPEG 4 serves as an addendum to MPEG 1 because it includes standards for 3D images.
• MPEG 7 formalizes multimedia standards.
• MPEG 21 sets a framework for future standards needed for multimedia.

Simply speaking, MPEG looks to turn the results of research into usable industry standards that will help people produce higher quality photos, films, music, television, etc.