1 Summary
MPEG-4 Part 14 or MP4 file format, formally ISO/IEC 14496-14:2003, is a multimedia container format standard specified as a part of MPEG-4. It is most commonly used to store digital video and digital audio streams, especially those defined by MPEG, but can also be used to store other data such as subtitles and still images. Like most modern container formats, MPEG-4 Part 14 allows streaming over the Internet. A separate hint track is used to include streaming information in the file. The official filename extension for MPEG-4 Part 14 files is .mp4, thus the container format is often referred to simply as MP4.
Note:MPEG-4 Part 14 -- MP4 file format(formally ISO/IEC 14496-14:2003) is a container format;MPEG-4 Part 2 -- MPEG-4 Visual (formally ISO/IEC 14496-2) is a video compression technology developed by MPEG.
1.1 Relative file extension
- (a)MPEG-4 files with audio and video generally use the standard .mp4 extension.
- (b)Audio-only MPEG-4 files generally have a .m4a extension. This is especially true of non-protected content.
- (c)MPEG-4 files with audio streams encrypted by FairPlay Digital Rights Management as sold through the iTunes Store use the .m4p extension. iTunes Plus tracks are unencrypted and use .m4a accordingly.
- (d)Audio book and podcast files, which also contain metadata including chapter markers, images, and hyperlinks, can use the extension .m4a, but more commonly use the .m4b extension. An .m4a audio file cannot "bookmark" (remember the last listening spot), whereas .m4b extension files can.
- (e)The Apple iPhone uses MPEG-4 audio for its ringtones but uses the .m4r extension rather than the .m4a extension.
- Raw MPEG-4 Visual bitstreams are named .m4v but this extension is also sometimes used for video in MP4 container format.[19]
- (f)Mobile phones use 3GP, an implementation of MPEG-4 Part 12 (a.k.a MPEG-4/JPEG2000 ISO Base Media file format), similar to MP4. It uses .3gp and .3g2 extensions. These files also store non-MPEG-4 data (H.263, AMR, TX3G).
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