MPEG-4 Part 2

Short description: Video compression format

MPEG-4 Part 2, MPEG-4 Visual (formally ISO/IEC 14496-2[1]) is a video encoding specification designed by the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG). It belongs to the MPEG-4 ISO/IEC family of encoders. It uses block-wise motion compensation and a discrete cosine transform (DCT), similar to previous encoders such as MPEG-1 Part 2 and H.262/MPEG-2 Part 2.

Examples of popular implementations of the encoder specifications include DivX, Xvid and Nero Digital.

MPEG-4 Part 2 is H.263 compatible in the sense that a basic H.263 bitstream is correctly decoded by an MPEG-4 Video decoder. (MPEG-4 Video decoder is natively capable of decoding a basic form of H.263.)[2][3][4] In MPEG-4 Visual, there are two types of video object layers: the video object layer that provides full MPEG-4 functionality, and a reduced functionality video object layer, the video object layer with short headers (which provides bitstream compatibility with base-line H.263).[5] MPEG-4 Part 2 is partially based on ITU-T H.263.[6] The first MPEG-4 Video Verification Model (simulation and test model) used ITU-T H.263 coding tools together with shape coding.[7]

## Contents

* 1 History
* 2 Editions
* 3 Profiles
* 3.1 Simple Profile (SP)
* 3.1.1 Levels
* 3.2 Advanced Simple Profile (ASP)
* 3.2.1 Levels
* 3.3 Simple Studio Profile (SStP)
* 3.3.1 Levels
* 4 Patent holders
* 5 Criticisms
* 6 Popular software implementations
* 7 See also
* 8 Notes
* 9 External links

## History

The MPEG-4 Visual format was developed by the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) committee.[5] The standard was developed using patents from over a dozen organizations, listed by MPEG LA in a patent pool. The majority of patents used for the MPEG-4 Visual format were from three Japanese companies: Mitsubishi Electric (255 patents), Hitachi (206 patents), and Panasonic (200 patents).[8] See Patent holders below for a full list of patent holders.

## Editions

MPEG-4 Visual editions[9] Edition  | Release date  | Latest amendment  | Standard  | Description

|
|
|
|

First edition  | 1999  | 2000  | ISO/IEC 14496-2:1999[10] |
Second edition  | 2001  | 2003  | ISO/IEC 14496-2:2001[11] |
Third edition  | 2004  | 2009[1] | ISO/IEC 14496-2:2004[1] |

## Profiles

To address various applications ranging from low-quality, low-resolution surveillance cameras to high definition TV broadcasting and DVDs, many video standards group features into profiles and levels. MPEG-4 Part 2 contains approximately 21 profiles.

The most commonly deployed profiles are the Advanced Simple Profile (ASP or AS Profile) and the Simple Profile (SP), which is a subset of the ASP.

Other profiles include the Advanced Coding Efficiency Profile (ACEP or ACE Profile), the Advanced Real Time Simple Profile (ARTSP or ARTS Profile), the Core Profile (CP), the Main Profile (MP), and the Simple Studio Profile (SStP or SSt Profile).

Most of the video compression schemes standardize the bitstream (and thus the decoder) leaving the encoder design to the individual implementations. Therefore, implementations for a particular profile (such as DivX or Nero Digital which are implementations of Advanced Simple Profile and Xvid that implements both profiles) are all technically identical on the decoder side. A point of comparison would be that an MP3 file can be played in any MP3 player, whether it was created through iTunes, Windows Media Player, LAME, or the common Fraunhofer encoder.

### Simple Profile (SP)

The Simple Profile is mostly aimed for use in situations where low bit rate and low resolution are mandated by other conditions of the applications, like network bandwidth, device size etc. Examples are mobile phones, some low end video conferencing systems, electronic surveillance systems etc.

#### Levels

Level  | Max. buffer  | Max. bitrate  | Max. delay at max. bitrate  | Max. VP size  | Max. VOP size  | Max. decoder rate  | Max. framesize

|
|
|
|
|
|
|

@ 30 Hz  | @ 25 Hz  | @ 24 Hz  | @ 15 Hz  | @ 12.5 Hz
0  | 160 | 64 | 2.50  | 2,048 | 99 | 1,485  | — | QCIF (176×144)
0b  | 320 | 128
1  | 160 | 64  | 128×96 | 144×96 | 160×96
2  | 640 | 128 | 5.00  | 4,096 | 396 | 5,940  | 256×192 | 304×192, 288×208 | 304×208 | CIF (352×288)
3  | 384 | 1.66  | 8,192 | 11,880  | CIF (352×288)
4a  | 1,280 | 4,000 | 0.32  | 16,384  | 1,200 | 36,000  | VGA (640×480)
5  | 1,792  | 8,000 | 0.22  | 1,620 | 40,500  | D1 NTSC (720×480) | D1 PAL (720×576)
6  | 3,968  | 12,000 | 0.33  | 3,600 | 108,000  | 720p (1280x720)
Units  | kbits  | kbits/s  | seconds  | bits  | macroblocks  | macroblocks/s  | pixels

### Advanced Simple Profile (ASP)

The Advanced Simple Profile was not included in the original standard. Its notable technical features relative to the Simple Profile, which is roughly similar to H.263, include:

* Support for "MPEG"-style quantization
* Support for interlaced video
* Support for B pictures (a.k.a. B-frames)
* Quarter Pixel motion compensation (Qpel)
* Global motion compensation (GMC)

The MPEG quantization and interlace support are designed in basically similar ways to the way it is found in MPEG-2 Part 2. The B picture support is designed in a basically similar way to the way it is found in MPEG-2 Part 2 and H.263v2.

The quarter-pixel motion compensation feature of ASP was innovative, and was later also included (in somewhat different forms) in later designs such as MPEG-4 Part 10, HEVC, VC-1 and VVC. Some implementations of MPEG-4 Part 2 omit support for this feature, because it has a significantly harmful effect on the speed of software decoders and it is not always beneficial for quality.

The global motion compensation feature is not actually supported in most implementations although the standard officially requires decoders to support it. Most encoders do not support it either, and some experts say that it does not ordinarily provide any benefit in compression. When used, ASP's global motion compensation has a large unfavorable impact on speed and adds considerable complexity to the implementation.

#### Levels

Level  | Max. buffer  | Max. bitrate  | Max. delay at max. bitrate  | Max. VP size  | Max. VOP size  | Max. decoder rate  | Max. framesize

|
|
|
|
|
|
|

@ 30 Hz  | @ 25 Hz  | @ 24 Hz  | @ 15 Hz  | @ 12.5 Hz
0  | 160 | 128 | 1.25  | 2,048 | 99 | 2,970  | QCIF (176×144)

2  | 640 | 384 | 1.66  | 4,096 | 396 | 5,940  | 256×192 | 304×192, 288×208 | 304×208 | CIF (352×288)
3  | 768 | 0.86  | 11,880  | CIF (352×288)
3b  | 1,040 | 1,500 | 0.69
4  | 1,280 | 3,000 | 0.43  | 8,192 | 792 | 23,760  | 352×576, 704×288
5  | 1,792 | 8,000 | 0.22  | 16,384 | 1,620 | 48,600  | 720×576
Units  | kbits  | kbits/s  | seconds  | bits  | macroblocks  | macroblocks/s  | pixels

### Simple Studio Profile (SStP)

The Simple Studio Profile has six levels, ranging from SDTV to 4K resolution.[12] SStP allows for up to 12-bit bit depth and up to 4:4:4 chroma subsampling,[12] using intra-frame coding only.[13] SStP is used by HDCAM SR.[12]

#### Levels

Levels with maximum property values[12] Level  | Max. bit depth and
chroma subsampling  | Max. resolution
and frame rate  | Max. data rate
(Mbit/s)

|
|
|

1  | 10-bit 4:2:2  | SDTV  | 180
2  | 10-bit 4:2:2  | 1920×1080 30p/30i  | 600
3  | 12-bit 4:4:4  | 1920×1080 30p/30i  | 900
4  | 12-bit 4:4:4  | 2K×2K 30p  | 1,350
5  | 12-bit 4:4:4  | 4K×2K 30p  | 1,800
6  | 12-bit 4:4:4  | 4K×2K 60p  | 3,600

## Patent holders

MPEG-4 Part 2 patents have expired worldwide. The last US patent expired on November 14, 2023, while the last worldwide patent (in Brazil), PI0109962B1,[14] expired on July 19, 2026.[15][16][17][18] The following organizations held patents for MPEG-4 Visual technology, as listed in the patent pool administered by MPEG-LA and later by Via-LA. <section begin="MP4 patents" />

Organization[19] | Patents[8]

|

Mitsubishi Electric | 255
Hitachi | 206
Panasonic | 200
Sun Patent Trust  | 125
Toshiba | 96
Samsung Electronics | 92
Sony | 84
Philips | 73
Sharp Corporation | 44
Pantech | 36
Robert Bosch GmbH  | 27
Nippon Telegraph and Telephone | 24
GE Technology Development  | 23
CIF Licensing  | 20
Dolby | 19
Telenor  | 19
Siemens AG  | 15
JVC Kenwood  | 14
Orange S.A. | 14
LG Electronics | 13
Fujitsu | 11
ZTE | 10
Google | 9
BT Group | 3
Calmare Therapeutics  | 2
Cable Television Laboratories, Inc.  | 1
Canon Inc. | 1
KDDI  | 1
Microsoft | 1
Oki Electric Industry | 1
Sanyo | 1

<section end="MP4 patents"/>

## Criticisms

MPEG-4 Part 2 has drawn some industry criticism. FFmpeg's maintainer Michael Niedermayer has criticised MPEG-4 for lacking an in-loop deblocking filter, GMC being too computationally intensive, and OBMC being defined but not allowed in any profiles among other things.[20] Microsoft's Ben Waggoner states "Microsoft (well before my time) went down the codec standard route before with MPEG-4 part 2, which turns out to be a profound disappointment across the industry - it didn't offer that much of a compression advantage over MPEG-2, and the protracted license agreement discussions scared off a lot of adoption. I was involved in many digital media projects that wouldn't even touch MPEG-4 in the late 1990s to early 2000s because there was going to be a 'content fee' that hadn't been fully defined yet."[21]

## Popular software implementations

* 3ivx
* DivX
* HDX4
* libavcodec
* Nero Digital
* QuickTime
* Xvid

## See also

* High Efficiency Video Coding
* Advanced Video Coding
* Quantization (image processing)
* FourCC
* MP3
* ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 29

## Notes

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 ISO. "ISO/IEC 14496-2:2004 - Information technology -- Coding of audio-visual objects -- Part 2: Visual". ISO. https://www.iso.org/standard/39259.html.
2. ↑ chiariglione.org (2006-08-10). "Riding the Media Bits, End of the Ride?". http://ride.chiariglione.org/end_of_the_ride_qm.php.
3. ↑ chiariglione.org (2003-10-25). "Riding the Media Bits, Inside MPEG-4 - Part B". http://ride.chiariglione.org/MP4_inside_part_B.php.
4. ↑ ISO/IEC JTC1/SC29/WG11 (March 2000). "MPEG-4 Video - Frequently Asked Questions". chiariglione.org. http://mpeg.chiariglione.org/faq/mp4-vid/mp4-vid.htm.
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Touradj Ebrahimi and Caspar Horne. "MPEG-4 Natural Video Coding - An overview". chiariglione.org. http://mpeg.chiariglione.org/tutorials/papers/icj-mpeg4-si/07-natural_video_paper/7-natural_video_paper.htm.
6. ↑ chiariglione.org (2009-09-06). "Riding the Media Bits, The development of MPEG-1 - Part A". http://ride.chiariglione.org/development_of_MPEG-1_part_A.htm.
7. ↑ Fernando Pereira. "MPEG-4: Why, What, How and When?". chiariglione.org. http://mpeg.chiariglione.org/tutorials/papers/icj-mpeg4-si/02-overview_paper/2-overview_paper.htm.
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 "MPEG-4 Visual - Patent List". 1 July 2019. https://www.mpegla.com/wp-content/uploads/m4v-att1.pdf.
9. ↑ MPEG. "MPEG standards - Full list of standards developed or under development". chiariglione.org. http://mpeg.chiariglione.org/standards.htm.
10. ↑ ISO. "ISO/IEC 14496-2:1999 - Information technology -- Coding of audio-visual objects -- Part 2: Visual". ISO. http://www.iso.org/iso/iso_catalogue/catalogue_ics/catalogue_detail_ics.htm?csnumber=25034.
11. ↑ ISO. "ISO/IEC 14496-2:2001 - Information technology -- Coding of audio-visual objects -- Part 2: Visual". ISO. http://www.iso.org/iso/iso_catalogue/catalogue_ics/catalogue_detail_ics.htm?csnumber=36081.
12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 Yasuhiko Mikami; Hugo Gaggioni. "4K End-to-End HPA Technology Retreat 2010". Sony. http://www.hpaonline.com/assets/documents/2010_TR_Pres_Mikami_Gaggioni.pdf.
13. ↑ "MPEG-4, Visual Coding, Simple Studio Profile". Library of Congress. December 2011. http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/formats/fdd/fdd000049.shtml.
14. ↑ Hutter, Andreas; Gero Baese & Juergen Pandel et al., "process for storing and processing image information from successive images over time", BR patent PI0109962B1, published 2016-07-19
15. ↑ "MPEG-4 Visual Patent List". 1 July 2026. https://www.via-la.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Final-July-1-2026-MPEG-4-Visual-Attachment-1.pdf.
16. ↑ Larabel, Michael (19 July 2026). "The Last MPEG-4 Visual Patent Has Expired" (in en). https://www.phoronix.com/news/Last-MPEG-4-Patent-Expired.
17. ↑ "Last MPEG-4 Visual Patent Expires Today, Freeing DivX and Xvid Globally" (in en-US). 2026-07-19. https://www.techtimes.com/articles/320983/20260719/last-mpeg-4-visual-patent-expires-today-freeing-divx-xvid-globally.htm.
18. ↑ Borisov, Bobby (2026-07-21). "The Last MPEG-4 Visual Patent Has Expired, Freeing DivX and Xvid Worldwide" (in en-US). https://linuxiac.com/the-last-mpeg-4-visual-patent-has-expired/.
19. ↑ "Licensors Included in the MPEG-4 Visual Patent Portfolio License". https://www.mpegla.com/programs/mpeg-4-visual/licensors/.
20. ↑ Melanson, Mike. "15 reasons why MPEG4 sucks". https://guru.multimedia.cx/15-reasons-why-mpeg4-sucks/.
21. ↑ VC-1 and H264 - Page 2 - Doom9's Forum

## External links

* MPEG-4 Part 2: Visual
* "Levels for MPEG-4 Visual Profiles". http://www.m4if.org/resources/profiles/index.php.
* Official MPEG web site
* MPEG-4 Visual Patent List (MPEG LA)

* v
* t
* e

Multimedia compression and container formats

Video
compression|

| ISO, IEC, MPEG|

* MJPEG
* Motion JPEG 2000
* MPEG-1
* MPEG-2
* Part 2
* MPEG-4
* Part 2 / ASP
* Part 10 / AVC
* MPEG-H
* Part 2 / HEVC
* MPEG-I
* Part 3 / VVC

|

ITU-T, VCEG|

* H.120
* DCT
* H.261
* H.262
* H.263
* H.264 / AVC
* H.265 / HEVC
* H.266 / VVC
* DV

SMPTE|

* VC-1
* VC-2
* VC-3
* VC-5

TrueMotion|

* TrueMotion S
* DCT
* VP3
* VP6
* VP7
* VP8
* VP9
* AV1

Others|

* Apple Video
* AVS
* Bink
* Cinepak
* Daala
* DVI
* EVC
* FFV1
* Huffyuv
* Indeo
* Lagarith
* Microsoft Video 1
* MSU Lossless
* OMS Video
* Pixlet
* ProRes 422
* ProRes 4444
* QuickTime
* Animation
* Graphics
* RealVideo
* RTVideo
* SheerVideo
* Smacker
* Sorenson Video/Spark
* Theora
* Thor
* WMV
* XEB
* YULS

Audio
compression|

| ISO, IEC, MPEG|

* MPEG-1 Layer II
* Multichannel
* MPEG-1 Layer I
* MPEG-1 Layer III (MP3)
* AAC
* HE-AAC
* AAC-LD
* MPEG Surround
* MPEG-4 ALS
* MPEG-4 SLS
* MPEG-4 DST
* MPEG-4 HVXC
* MPEG-4 CELP
* MPEG-D USAC
* MPEG-H 3D Audio

|

ITU-T|

* G.711
* A-law
* µ-law
* G.718
* G.719
* G.722
* G.722.1
* G.722.2
* G.723
* G.723.1
* G.726
* G.728
* G.729
* G.729.1

IETF|

* Opus
* iLBC
* Speex
* Vorbis

3GPP|

* AMR
* AMR-WB
* AMR-WB+
* EVRC
* EVRC-B
* EVS
* GSM-HR
* GSM-FR
* GSM-EFR

ETSI|

* AC-3
* AC-4
* DTS

Others|

* ACELP
* ALAC
* Asao
* ATRAC
* AVS
* CELT
* Codec 2
* DRA
* FLAC
* iSAC
* Monkey's Audio
* TTA
* True Audio
* MT9
* Musepack
* OptimFROG
* OSQ
* QCELP
* RCELP
* RealAudio
* RTAudio
* SD2
* SHN
* SILK
* Siren
* SMV
* SVOPC
* TwinVQ
* VMR-WB
* VSELP
* WavPack
* WMA
* MQA
* aptX
* aptX HD
* aptX Low Latency
* aptX Adaptive
* LDAC
* LHDC
* LLAC

Image
compression|

| IEC, ISO,
IETF, W3C,
ITU-T, JPEG|

* CCITT Group 4
* DCT
* HEIF
* HEVC
* JPEG
* JPEG XR
* JPEG XT
* TIFF/EP
* Arithmetic
* JBIG
* JBIG2
* JPEG-LS
* JPEG 2000
* LZ
* GIF
* PNG
* TIFF
* TIFF/IT

|

Others|

* APNG
* BPG
* DjVu
* EXR
* FLIF
* ICER
* MNG
* PGF
* QTVR
* WBMP
* WebP

Containers|

| ISO, IEC|

* MPEG-ES
* MPEG-PES
* MPEG-PS
* MPEG-TS
* ISO base media file format
* MPEG-4 Part 14 (MP4)
* Motion JPEG 2000
* MPEG-21 Part 9
* MPEG media transport

|

ITU-T|

* H.222.0
* T.802

IETF|

* RTP
* Ogg

SMPTE|

* GXF
* MXF

Others|

* 3GP and 3G2
* AMV
* ASF
* AIFF
* AVI
* AU
* BPG
* Bink
* Smacker
* BMP
* DivX Media Format
* EVO
* Flash Video
* IFF
* M2TS
* Matroska
* WebM
* QuickTime File Format
* RatDVD
* RealMedia
* RIFF
* WAV
* MOD and TOD
* VOB, IFO and BUP

Collaborations|

* NETVC
* MPEG LA
* HEVC Advance

Methods|

* Discrete cosine transform
* DCT
* MDCT
* Entropy
* Arithmetic
* Huffman
* Modified
* FFT
* LPC
* ACELP
* CELP
* LSP
* WLPC
* Lossless
* Lossy
* LZ
* DEFLATE
* LZW
* PCM
* A-law
* µ-law
* ADPCM
* DPCM
* Transform
* Wavelet
* Daubechies
* DWT
* Transform

Lists|

* Comparison of audio coding formats
* Comparison of video codecs
* List of codecs

See Compression methods for techniques and Compression software for codecs

* v
* t
* e

MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group)

* MPEG-1
* 2
* 3
* 4
* 7
* 21
* A
* B
* C
* D
* E
* G
* V
* M
* U
* H

MPEG-1 Parts|

* Part 1: Systems
* Program stream
* Part 2: Video
* based on H.261
* Part 3: Audio
* Layer I
* Layer II
* Layer III

MPEG-2 Parts|

* Part 1: Systems (H.222.0)
* Transport stream
* Program stream
* Part 2: Video (H.262)
* Part 3: Audio
* Layer I
* Layer II
* Layer III
* MPEG Multichannel
* Part 6: DSM CC
* Part 7: Advanced Audio Coding

MPEG-4 Parts|

* Video
* based on H.263
* Audio
* DMIF
* Part 10: Advanced Video Coding (H.264)
* Scene description
* Part 12: ISO base media file format
* MP4 file format
* Streaming text format
* LASeR
* Part 22: Open Font Format
* Part 33: Internet Video Coding

MPEG-7 Parts|

* Description definition language

MPEG-21 Parts|

* Parts 2, 3 and 9: Digital Item
* Part 5: Rights Expression Language

MPEG-D Parts|

* Part 1: MPEG Surround
* Part 3: Unified Speech and Audio Coding

MPEG-G Parts|

* Part 1: Transport and Storage of Genomic Information
* Part 2: Coding of Genomic Information
* Part 3: APIs
* Part 4: Reference Software
* Part 5: Conformance

MPEG-H Parts|

* Part 1: MPEG media transport
* Part 2: High Efficiency Video Coding
* Part 3: MPEG-H 3D Audio
* Part 12: High Efficiency Image File Format

Other|

MPEG-DASH

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