MPEG-4

MPEG-4 is a streaming multimedia toolkit for audio, video, 2D, 3D, and interactive content. MPEG-4 is an integrated collection of multimedia technologies developed by the Motion Picture Experts Group (MPEG), the same crew that developed the Emmy Award-winning MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 standards. Both MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 have been extremely successful as two of the fundamental technologies that ushered in interactive video on CD-ROM, DVD, and Digital Television, while the audio capabilities of MPEG-1 have been rocking the Internet music scene lately in the form of MP3 (MP3 is among the most popular audio formats in use on the Web today and is one of many technological achievements of the MPEG development process). 

Following in the footsteps of past MPEG development efforts, MPEG-4 has recently emerged as an International Standard after years of collaboration between hundreds of researchers and engineers from around the globe. Under development for over a decade, MPEG-4 is only now seeing the light of day, yet promises to dramatically change the way we see, hear, and interact with media delivered over networks. MPEG-4, which has just started to hit the Web, is a comprehensive solution for encoding and delivering many different forms of media over a wide assortment of networks and computing platforms. As a cross-platform multimedia standard, MPEG-4 is a “global media solution” that supports still images, audio, video, 2D, and 3D content. With MPEG-4, these various forms of content can be delivered separately, much as MP3 audio is delivered independent of MPEG-1 video, or they can be integrated together to produce a rich multimedia experience.

MPEG-4 files typically have the .mp4 file extension (i.e., TheMatrix.mp4). Upon encountering an MPEG-4 file, the Web browser hands it over to a corresponding plug-in player (such as Apple's QuickTime 6) for processing, assuming one is installed. If an MPEG-4 plug-in isn’t already installed, the Web browser will alert the user to this fact...

Excerpt of XHTML Example by Example by Aaron E. Walsh and Dave Raggett