The Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) is the name of a working group of the International Standards Organization (ISO). The MPEG formats standardized by the group are used for compressing and decompressing video and audio data in a digital format. MPEG files offer quality playback at much smaller file sizes than uncompressed video and audio files.
QuickTime is able to play standard MPEG-1, MPEG-2 (see Note 1) and MPEG-4 files. With QuickTime Player's Pro features unlocked (see Note 2), support is included for exporting MPEG-4 files.
- The MPEG-1 format was approved in 1991 and features quality approximating that of VHS video. Export and conversion of MPEG-1 video files is not supported in QuickTime.
- The MPEG-2 format is capable of very high quality, and is used for DVD-Video and digital television transmission. Apple's Final Cut Pro 4 and DVD Studio Pro include tools for encoding in the MPEG-2 format.
- The MPEG-4 format features scalable quality, and is ideally suited for audio and video streams over a wide range of bandwidths. MPEG-4 features the very high quality AAC audio codec.
Notes1. Playback of MPEG-2 program and elementary streams is available via the QuickTime 6 MPEG-2 Playback Component, sold separately at the QuickTime web site.
2. A QuickTime Pro key unlocks export and media authoring capabilities in QuickTime Player. Upgrade to QuickTime Pro.
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