MPEG-4, Visual Coding, Core Profile

Sustainability of Digital Formats: Planning for Library of Congress Collections

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MPEG-4, Visual Coding, Core 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: fdd000047
Short name: MPEG-4_V_CP
Content categories: moving-image
Format Category: encoding
Other facets: unitary, binary, sampled
Last significant FDD update: 2011-12-01
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. Core Profile (formal name); MPEG-4, Visual Coding, Core Profile (common name)
Description	See also MP4_FF_2 and MPEG-4_V. This profile is useful in higher-quality interactive services and supports mobile broadcast services. The Core Profile permits the use of the following visual object types: Simple: rectangular video, uses intra (I) and predicted (P) video object planes (VOPs, the MPEG-4 term for frames). Core: arbitrarily shaped video, uses a tool superset of Simple, adds bidirectional (B) video object planes (VOPs), binary shape coding, and supports temporal scalability based on sending extra P-VOPs. Two compression levels are permitted; Levels 1 (maximum bit rate 384 kbps) and 2 (maximum 2 Mbps). Uses typical session size depending upon level: Quarter Common Intermediate Format (QCIF; 176 pixels by 144 lines, 30 fps; 1.22:1) or Common Intermediate Format (CIF; 352 pixels by 288 lines, 30 fps; 1.22:1).
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.
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 MPEG-4 and MPEG-4_V. Potential for greater clarity at a given picture size, data rate, and encoding algorithm, than some other MPEG-4 profiles, e.g., Simple and Simple Scalable Profiles. May offer slightly less clarity at a given picture size, data rate, and encoding algorithm than the Main Profile.
Functionality beyond normal rendering	See MPEG-4.

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 Core Profile levels 1 and 2 are 00100001, 00100010, 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.

Books, articles, etc.

Pereira, Fernando, and Touradj Ebrahimi, The MPEG-4 Book, Upper Saddle River, NJ: IMSC Press, 2002, p. 599.

Last Updated: 07/22/2022