What is the difference between MP4 and MPEG-4...I thought they were the same.

[rustywallace]

So, I thought MP4 and MPEG-4 were the same thing. Are they not? :oops:

[Pat Logsdon]

You're right - they're the same thing. MPEG-4 is a rather loose video format that includes DivX, XviD and QuickTime.

The confusion may come in with the naming of the MP3 format, which is really the third (audio) layer of the MPEG-1 and 2 formats.

Makes perfect sense, right? :mrgreen:

[rustywallace]

You're right - they're the same thing. MPEG-4 is a rather loose video format that includes DivX, XviD and QuickTime.
Wait. So you are telling me if I can play MPeg-4/mp4 that I can also support DivX, XviD and QuickTime.

Why do I ask. Well the ZVUE! is going to support MP4 beginning in January, and if it supports MP4...from what you are saying, MP4 also recognizes these other formats.

[Janak Parekh]

Wait. So you are telling me if I can play MPeg-4/mp4 that I can also support DivX, XviD and QuickTime.
It's a bit more complicated than that. :( The problem is that they are different MPEG-4 "implementations", and while they're very similar in function, they're not functionally equivalent/compatible. You might want to try some :google: searches to see if you can find more data on this; I got confused a couple years ago and gave up. :|

--janak

[Pat Logsdon]

Janak is right - there are different "flavors" of MPEG-4, and it IS complicated. Think of MPEG-4 as the base for the other codecs - the DivX, Xvid and QuickTime (etc.) people took that base code and modified it to suit their needs.

If you're looking for more information, Wikipedia is a good source - here's their page on MPEG-4 (http://en2.wikipedia.org/wiki/MPEG-4).