MPEG-4, Visual Coding, Simple Profile

Sustainability of Digital Formats: Planning for Library of Congress Collections

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MPEG-4, Visual Coding, Simple Profile

Table of Contents

Identification and description
Local use
Sustainability factors
Quality and functionality factors
File type signifiers
Notes
Format specifications
Useful references

Format Description Properties

ID: fdd000044
Short name: MPEG-4_V_SP
Content categories: moving-image
Format Category: encoding
Other facets: unitary, binary, sampled
Last significant FDD update: 2011-03-30
Draft status: Full

Identification and description

Relationship to other formats
Full name	ISO/IEC 14496-2:2004. Information technology -- Coding of audio-visual objects -- Part 2: Visual. Simple Profile (formal name); MPEG-4, Visual Coding, Simple Profile (common name)
Description	See also MP4_FF_2 and MPEG-4_V. Intended to serve mobile audio-visual services and low-complexity video for the Internet; other uses include small camera devices that record to disk or memory chips. The Simple Profile permits the use of the following visual object type: Simple: rectangular video, uses intra (I) and predicted (P) video object planes (VOPs, the MPEG-4 term for frames). The Simple Profile permits the use of three compression levels with bit rates from 64 kbps in Level 1 to 384 kbps in Level 3.
Production phase	Generally a final-state (end-user delivery) format.
Subtype of	MPEG-4_V, MPEG-4, Visual Coding (Part 2)
Used by	MP4_FF_2_V, MPEG-4 File Format, V.2, with Visual Coding (All Profiles)

Local use

LC experience or existing holdings
LC preference

Sustainability factors

Disclosure	Open standard. See MP4_FF_2.
Documentation	See MP4_FF_2.
Adoption	Actual adoption not known to the compilers of this document. One indicator, however, is the specification for the video-capable iPod introduced by Apple in late 2005: MPEG-4 video up to 2.5 mbps, 480 x 480, 30 frames per sec., Simple Profile, associated with AAC_MP4_LC audio.
Licensing and patents	See MP4_FF_2.
Transparency	See MP4_FF_2.
Self-documentation	See MP4_FF_2.
External dependencies	See MP4_FF_2.
Technical protection considerations	See MP4_FF_2.

Quality and functionality factors

Moving Image
Normal rendering	Good support.
Clarity (high image resolution)	See MP4_FF_2 and MPEG-4_V. Other profiles will produce greater clarity than the Simple Profile at a given picture size, data rate, and encoding algorithm.
Functionality beyond normal rendering	See MP4_FF_2.

File type signifiers and format identifiers

Tag	Value	Note
Filename extension	mp4
Internet Media Type	See related format.	See MP4_FF_2
Magic numbers	See related format.	See MP4_FF_2
File type brand (ISO Base Media File Format)	See note.	Indicated in file wrapper and relates to "brands" defined in ISO_BMFF. Wrapping MPEG-4_V bitstreams in MP4_FF_1 would occasion the use of mp41; in MP4_FF_2, use mp42. See Part 15 of the standard, pp. 2-9, 13.
Indicator for profile, level, version, etc.	See note.	Indicators for Simple Profile, levels 1, 2, and 3 are 00000001, 00000010, and 00000011, respectively. From Annex G of ISO/IEC 14496-2:2004, Table G.1
Pronom PUID	See note.	PRONOM has no corresponding entry as of July 2022.
Wikidata Title ID	See related format.	See MPEG-4, Visual Coding (Part 2) (H.263).

Notes

General
History

Format specifications

See Disclosure under Sustainability factors.

Useful references

URLs

See MP4_FF_2 for references for MPEG-4.

Books, articles, etc.

Pereira, Fernando, and Touradj Ebrahimi, The MPEG-4 Book, Upper Saddle River, NJ: IMSC Press, 2002, pp. 597-8.

Last Updated: 07/22/2022