what is the difference between MPEG-4 and MP4

[mic2x]

i knw this question has been address many time, but i jst want to clarify things..coz i jst read somewhere that MPEG-4 is not the same as MP4

What is the difference between MPEG-4 and MP4???

Is MPEG-4 format for Mac while MP4 is format for Windows??? (ex. anime.mp4)

Do they use the same codec H264???or has any relation to H264????

thats all for knw....


thanks....

[jagabo]

MPEG 4 is a compression/decompression standard. MP4 is a container (a file format you put audio and video in).

Divx and Xvid are "MPEG 4 part 2" implementations.

h.264 is also known as "MPEG 4 part 10" or AVC.

Any of those may come in any container (MP4, MOV, AVI, MKV...). MP4 usually has MPEG 4 part 2 or part 10 with AAC audio.

[celtic_druid]

The MPEG-4 standards cover more than just compression/decompression. mp4, the container is part 10. The standards also cover systems and subtitles.

So the difference would be that mp4 is one part of the standard whist MPEG-4 refers to the actual standard itself. Generally though when someone says MPEG4 they mean XviD video with mp3 or AC3 audio in an avi container.

h.264 is the ITU name for MPEG-4 Part 10 or AVC. So I guess in terms of MPEG-4 it doesn't mean anything.