Mpg vs Mpeg noob question

[Din Viesel]

Alright!

Mpg is the extension for mpeg files, right?

But sometimes in newer operating systems the extension is mpeg. (because they have no three digit limit iirc)

So can I simply change the .mpeg extension to .mpg? I ask this because when I want to burn a dvd with Burn on a mac, Burn asks to convert the "unsupported" .mpeg file to mpg. Which is a waste of time since it's the same thing, or not?

Or am I too much of a noob and totally missing the point?

[yoda313]

Generally speaking renaming a file is not a good idea.

THere are a few exceptions but generally not a good idea.

This should really be in the mac forum.

What you should do is author it properly if you want it to play in a dvd player. In your case use imovie to make a real dvd. I'd suggest imgburn to burn the disc but I don't know what the preffered burner is for the mac. Whatever it is use it.

[Din Viesel]

Generally speaking renaming a file is not a good idea.

THere are a few exceptions but generally not a good idea.

This should really be in the mac forum.

What you should do is author it properly if you want it to play in a dvd player. In your case use imovie to make a real dvd. I'd suggest imgburn to burn the disc but I don't know what the preffered burner is for the mac. Whatever it is use it.

Sorry about being in the wrong forum. I thought it was a general question about extensions.

Thanks for your quick reply. There's several ways to burn on a mac. Burn is a pretty good application. I just thought it's kinda weird that it converts mpeg files to mpg and thought I could save myself some time by changing the extension.

Would this be a problem since mpeg and mpg are the same? Or should I just go ahead and try? Worst thing that can happen is that it doesn't work.

[yoda313]

I guess I don't know what your need is.

Do you have a dvd player that can play files with an mpg extension? Is this just for archival storage?

If its just for archival storage just burn the original file as data and you're done.

I would still plug it into a dvd authoring program though if you are going to play it back on a dvd player - especially if you are relatively new to this. It will create the proper structure needed for a dvd player. THen you would burn that to disc and it should play without a problem - assuming its a good disc. You can make a simple menu or no menu at all - I'm assuming imovie has a no menu option - don't know as I don't have a mac.

I'm afraid thats about all I can offer since I can't do mac specific advice. I can do dvd specific advice but not mac software I'm afraid.

[jman98]

You need to ask ALL Mac questions on our Mac forum. I will ask a moderator to move this for you.

I have an iMac and I do not use it for DVD video burning at all. If you are sure that your input Mpeg file is valid as is for DVD, I see no reason why you couldn't rename it to make Burn happy, but if you do that and Burn still complains, that means that your video file is not valid for DVD video without conversion and the name was not the problem.

[Cornucopia]

In general, mpeg=mpg. But not all mpegs are the same and VCD, DVD, & BD have strict rules which allow only a specific subset of mpegs to work correctly on them.

If something says it's "unsupported", that probably means that the container or video codec doesn't conform to those strict rules I alluded to. Changing from unsupported to supported can sometimes be quick and easy, or sometimes require a complete re-encode to a new, conforming file. Hard to say, YMMV.

If you want some more clarity about this, you could show us the text output of MediaInfo on your file...

Scott

[Din Viesel]

I really don't think this topic is mac related. It's about mpg and mpeg extensions. But feel free to move it if you feel it's apropriate.

Anyway, thanks to all for the advice and the quick response.

@jman98 and cornucopia : so it's not necessarily the extension that's causing the application to re-encode but the contents of the file. Okay then.

I'll still give it a shot though and change the extension but I have a feeling it won't do much good. Like yoda313 said it's almost never a good idea to change extensions. I was just a little confused about the mpg/mpeg extensions.

greetings,

Din

[johns0]

Thread moved to the mac forum where you can get more help.

[jman98]

I really don't think this topic is mac related. It's about mpg and mpeg extensions. But feel free to move it if you feel it's apropriate.

You could not be more wrong. This is 100% completely a Mac issue. This simply would not happen under Windows - period. What part of "I'm using Burn on a Mac" do you think makes it not a Mac issue? Burn ONLY runs on Macs. If Burn is misbehaving then it's a Mac issue. If you have misidentified it and your real problem is that your files are not compliant you still need to be in our Mac forums to get help because that is what you are using. Few people here have Macs. You ask for help on Macs in non-Mac forums here only if you are quite willing to accept that nobody will help you.

[Case]

My copy of Burn works on .mpeg files just like .mpg files, when they are DVD compliant.
If your input files is marked "unsupported", then most likely a conversion is needed to make the file DVD compliant.

P.S.: You may opt to Save Image to create an .iso file, instead of burning. This would allow you to test the functionality of the DVD and the correctness of the conversion, without wasting discs. You can mount the .iso as a virtual disc and play it in DVD Player. When satisfied, you can burn the .iso file to disc from the Copy tab.

[Herve]

Mpg is the extension for mpeg files, right?
[…]
So can I simply change the .mpeg extension to .mpg?

why not, but…
MPEG/MPG is an extension for a video's family, so change it does not certify to you that the file will be compliant
(eg: MPEG family can contains: contents for "old CD with vidéo", DVD-VIDEO, transport stream like your satellite recordiong, etc …or another contents )

So, change it, there is no concern
But the new extension does not mean that the file will be compliant…

bye

[Din Viesel]

I really don't think this topic is mac related. It's about mpg and mpeg extensions. But feel free to move it if you feel it's apropriate.

You could not be more wrong. This is 100% completely a Mac issue. This simply would not happen under Windows - period. What part of "I'm using Burn on a Mac" do you think makes it not a Mac issue? Burn ONLY runs on Macs. If Burn is misbehaving then it's a Mac issue. If you have misidentified it and your real problem is that your files are not compliant you still need to be in our Mac forums to get help because that is what you are using. Few people here have Macs. You ask for help on Macs in non-Mac forums here only if you are quite willing to accept that nobody will help you.

Making a note and sticking it to my screen "get better help in mac forum"
First of all I really don't mind if mods or anyone else think this should be in the mac forum. Being new to all this I just thought I would ask a general question: "Can I change mpeg to mpg" - period. I mean questionmark!
Thanks to all the friendly people here I even got some good help although being in the wrong forum.

Anyways, I've dropped the option of changing the extension and have started converting with good results using Easy Video Converter. (not trying to spam!). I have one question about that but i think it's best to start a new topic about it. In the mac forum!

[edDV]

Mpg is the 8.3 notation for the Mpeg container. Neither describes the codec type in absence of file extension associations. As said above mpg/mpeg can be associated with Mpeg1 or many variations of Mpeg2 from postage stamp size to DVD compliant to HD to 4kx4k digital cinema.

You need a program like mediainfo to identify the codec for a particular file.