Video Transcoding -- The Mpeg Container

By Author: Ivan Cuxeva Jr
Total Articles: 782
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One other video formats which has gone through a lot of changes is the MPEG format, MPEG stands for Moving Picture Experts Group and the original computer was called MPEG-1 this can also be referred to as the first stage of this container, MPEG-1 was heavily used in the production of VCD, which stands for Video CD.

The video quality of MPEG-1 compression is not as great as its successor but it's very effective when it comes to video file size in distributable media such as CDs, this video format allowed the use of popular audio compression methods such as MP3 which is heavily used in peer-to-peer communications and file transfers.

From MPEG-1 we jump to its successor which is called MPEG-2, this new form allowed a higher quality of media to be broadcasted and distributed on DVD, compared to the first version MPEG-2 encodes its videos using a much higher bit rate, video CDs can go as high as 1500 kbps however in order to match the capacity of a CD most of videos encoded in VCD format used an average of 1000 kbps to 1100 kbps, the DVD version of the Moving Picture Experts Group allows a much higher bit rate in fact, ...
... it can go as high as 6000 kbps, it'll depends on the size and length of the movie, this new version allowed video editors to include subtitles, multiple video and audio tracks which are usually encoded in AC3 for Dolby Digital surround sound.

Following the high-definition revolution, a new version of this format came to be which was called MPEG-3, this new version was originally made for HD video however, it was later realized that the previous format was good enough for high-definition content so this third version was quickly discontinued.

The Web made everything mobile and is accessible which is why MPEG was adjusted yet a fourth time in order to meet the requirements of mobile devices, MPEG-4 allowed a higher compression without sacrificing too much video quality, files using a bit rate of 700 kbps were good enough and could even come close to DVD quality if the right amount of encoding passes are executed. MPEG-4 is heavily used by digital cameras which have a video capturing capability and even cell phones which makes it a very flexible video format to use.