MPEG 4 and H.264

Someone tell me what is better quality MPEG4 or H.264.

From the Wikipedia entry on MEPG-4
+"MPEG-4 is a patented collection of methods defining compression of audio and visual (AV) digital data. It was introduced in late 1998 and designated a standard for a group of audio and video coding formats and related technology agreed upon by the ISO/IEC Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) under the formal standard ISO/IEC 14496."+
... and the entry on H.264
+"MPEG-4 is a patented suite of standards which has many "parts", where each part standardizes various entities related to multimedia, such as audio, video, and file formats. To learn more about various parts and what they mean, please see the entry for MPEG-4.+
+H.264 is a standard for video compression, and is equivalent to MPEG-4 Part 10, or MPEG-4 AVC (for Advanced Video Coding). The final drafting work on the first version of the standard was completed in May 2003.+
+H.264 is the latest block-oriented motion-compensation-based codec standard developed by the ITU-T Video Coding Experts Group (VCEG) together with the ISO/IEC Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG), and it was the product of a partnership effort known as the Joint Video Team (JVT). The ITU-T H.264 standard and the ISO/IEC MPEG-4 Part 10 standard (formally, ISO/IEC 14496-10) are jointly maintained so that they have identical technical content."+
The essence is that MPEG-4 allows for a wide variety of uses and implementations, leading to a wide variety of compression levels, whereas H.264, being a subset, is more tightly defined for specific uses.
AVCHD is also an implementation of MPEG-4, and you'll find most often that AVCHD files are smaller than either H.264 or 'standard' MPEG-4.
Hope that does more than just confuse things further

Similar Messages

  • Using Adobe Media Encoder to create H.264, MPEG-2, and WMV videos from After Effects - 6/23/14

    Very disappointed with this choice. I will definitely be seeking to uninstall this version and go back a version or two. Two many extra steps to export an mp4 now. And now we also have to wait longer for a mp4 to render and can't take advantage of the machine's hardware? You guys fighting mp4 as a standard, forcing us to an additional product, or what? I'll be sharing my extreme disappoint with this 'upgrade' with the rest of the developers at work and who just had it installed. I'm not seeing this being too popular opn social media either. Seems like you only did what was best for you.Thanks for showing us who's boss.

    Frank VA wrote:
    And now we also have to wait longer for a mp4 to render and can't take advantage of the machine's hardware?
    Not necessarily. You can render an intermediate codec with AE's render queue (thus using all of AE's power to render) and then drop that file into the Adobe Media Encoder.
    This was the workflow I've always used - even when AE could encode with MP4. Why? Well, because AE sucked at MP4 encoding. You couldn't even do multipass endoding with it!
    This is a useful workflow in a few ways:
    1. You have an archive-quality file to come back to in the future.
    2. You can use AE's full power to render.
    3. You can use AME's superior encoding capabilities.
    4. You can tweak your compression settings and try various encoding parameters to improve the quality while decreasing the bitrate of your product WITHOUT having to re-render the AE comp every time you try since you're working off of the intermediate file. I mean, imagine a comp with several 3d layers, depth of field, shadows from multiple lights, and 250,000 particles from Particular. What if you made an MP4 and then the client needed a smaller file size or the MP4 you made was too heavily compressed and you needed higher quality? I don't know about you, but I'd much rather only render that 18-hour monster once.
    This workflow actually saves time for many people.
    And, in any workflow, this produces a better product.
    Again, this is what I did even when AE could encode MP4's.
    Frank VA wrote:
    You guys fighting mp4 as a standard, forcing us to an additional product, or what?
    They aren't fighting MP4 as a standard, in fact, when Adobe folks pop in here and answer questions, that's often their recommendation for delivery codec.
    Frank VA wrote:
    Seems like you only did what was best for you. Thanks for showing us who's boss.
    Listen, I understand your frustration. Knocking out a quick compressed file from AE for client review is handy.
    However, maintaining the h.264 encoding in AE took up development time. There are only so many person-hours per week for the (relatively tiny) AE team to spend on building each version of AE.
    I never liked AE's h.264 encoding - AME has always done a superior job. Since we have AME to do our encoding, I would rather the AE team focus their effort on improving AE as a compositing and motion graphics tool rather than as an encoding tool.
    Again, I get the frustration. I can see where it feels like they are doing what's good for them and not us, but I think, in the long run, this way is better for us. Right now, the majority of the AE team is working on making AE faster to work with and faster to render. The sooner we get a relatively bug-free version of that, the better! (Especially for folks on Mac OSX Yosemite who can't RAM preview smoothly in any version of AE).
    And at least the After Effects team has been very transparent about things - for example, this blog post talks about their reasoning: using Adobe Media Encoder to create H.264, MPEG-2, and WMV videos from After Effects

  • AVCHD, mpeg 2 and .m2t

    Hi
    Please forgive my ignorance...
    I have a JVC HD-30 and recorded my holiday footage in mpeg2.  I used PRE7 to edit and have exported to create HD .m2t files - 3 files of around 10GB each.  They play in great quality on my pc but I want to see them on my tv.
    I have a Panasonic tv that can play video files of a SD card but it will only play AVCHD files. I don't have a blu ray player.
    Before I pay out on a very high memory SD video card, what do I need to do to play the holiday files on my tv? 
    I'm assuming that .m2t aren't AVCHD - can I export to create a different file?  Can I simply rename the files or do I need to do something else?
    Thank you for your help.
    0wa1n

    I would suggest you read
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AVCHD and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.264/MPEG-4_AVC.
    AVCHD is actually quite a bit of things.  It use H.264 for video compression (which is MPEG-4 and not MPEG-2).  It uses the MPEG transport stream (where M2t comes from) as a mechanism to deliver at least the video and audio content.
    So when the TV states it supports AVCHD it might mean that the memory stick needs to be in a format as described in the AVCHD wiki topic???  Try putting the generated MT2 files under /PRIVATE/AVCHD/BDVM/STREAM on the memory stick to see what happens.
    Please note I am no expert on this and have not tried this with your particular setup so I hope I am not steering you in the wrong directly.

  • QuickTime Broadcaster, from MPEG-2 to H.264 stream

    Can QT Broadcaster connect to a MPEG-2-stream, convert it to H.264 MPEG-4 and broadcast the new stream on the fly?

    I could be missing something, but to the best of my knowledge, no, QT Broadcaster cannot. It's not a transcoder; it's intended to capture live audio and video from Firewire, USB or an analog input.
    There is at least one real-time MPEG-2 to H.264 transcoder available, from Media Excel, but it's not cheap; ca. $13,500 US. If there's anything less expensive that can convert MPEG-2 to H.264 in real time, I haven't been able to find it.
    Your only other option, I think, would be to capture a video output stream from your MPEG-2 content to an analog or DV output, then use QT Broadcaster or another real-time compression tool to handle the H.264 output.

  • I am trying to sync some videos on to my iPad. I have tried .avi, .mp4, .mpeg, .mpeg4 and .flv formats but my iPad is not getting synced. What shall I do?

    I am trying to sync some videos on to my iPad. I have tried .avi, .mp4, .mpeg, .mpeg4 and .flv formats but my iPad is not getting synced. What shall I do?

    Video formats supported: H.264 video up to 1080p, 30 frames per second, High Profile level 4.1 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; MPEG-4 video up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps per channel, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; Motion JPEG (M-JPEG) up to 35 Mbps, 1280 by 720 pixels, 30 frames per second, audio in ulaw, PCM stereo audio in .avi file format

  • Lossless audio for MPEG-2 and MP4

    When I export a video out to either MPEG-2 or MP4 (H.264) I am not able to select an option for lossless audio. Is there a way to add that option?
    Thanks,
    Mark

    How do you plan to use the file?  Which lossless codec do you wish to use?  Is lossless audio appropriate for how the file will be distributed?  Are you looking for best quality or is there a different, specific reason that you wish to use lossless encoding?  (Also, what version of Adobe Media Encoder are you using?)
    The list of available codecs for the MPEG formats can change depending on the Multiplexing setting you choose.  However, make sure that the multiplexing setting you choose is appropriate to how you intend to distribute the file.  For example, 3GPP multiplexing creates a file optimized for delivery to mobile devices.  And note that the None multiplexing option creates separate audio and video files.
    Adobe Media Encoder only offers multiplexed AAC encoding for MPEG4 and H.264 files.  Although not lossless, the quality of AAC can be very high and is the general standard for the MPEG4 container format.  Lossless encoding is not common for the MPEG4 container format, though it is legal per the MPEG4 Part 14 specifications.  Again, you should match your export settings to the intended use of the video file.
    -=TimK
    -=Adobe After Effects and Adobe Media Encoder QE

  • MPEG-4 in, H.264 out

    Hi: I've heard that MPEG-4 is H.264 (not sure ?) ... If my Video starts in MPEG-4 and My final FCP or Compressor Export is H.264 is there a Format conversion in the process or is it untouched because it is the same (or very close) ? Thanks, MLR

    H.264 is also known as MPEG-4 Part 10 or AVC but when Apple refers to an H.264 codec or encoding it's not the same as basic MPEG-4. Thus, when you export or convert a basic MPEG-4 video to H.264 you are going through an extra encoding step (i.e. there is a video data conversion). Whether you will notice much of a change depends upon the encoding quality and bitrate of the original and/or the result (thus, garbage in -- garbage out, etc.).
    Usually when QuickTime can perform a lossless or in-place format change it will offer a pass-through option. You may see this option when you convert a QuickTime movie (.mov) to/from a native H.264 or MPEG-4 file container (such as a .mp4).

  • Ipod plays MPEG-4 but not MPEG-4 AVC (H.264)??

    I've converted a bunch of DVD's to MPEG-4 AVC H.264 using Xilisoft's DVD Ripper Platinum. But to my surprise my iTunes doesn't even transfer them to the Ipod. It says on Apple's Tech Spec's that the Ipod plays H.264 format.
    The video's are converted in 320x240, 30fps, 768Kbps, all according to "what's allowed". Xilisoft also converts DVD's straight to Ipod format, which plays without a problem. But the problem for me is, that it is in MPEG-4 format and the file is TWICE as big as in H.264!!
    It is possible to use in "iTunes->Advanced->Convert selection for Ipod" too. This converts the MPEG-4 AVC H.264 file to a .m4v file, which works fine on the Ipod and all.
    But i'm still wondering why the Ipod doesn't play from the beginning the MPEG-4 AVC H.264 file? So if i want a small file that plays in my Ipod i need to convert twice, DVD->H.264 and then H.264->.m4v?? Just sounds so crazy...What am i missing??
    I would appreciate it very much if somebody could help me with this, i have tried to search in just about every single forum on Google but none has really helped me.

    Do you have a check box or option for baseline
    profile under h.264?
    Yes, it says on the upper right corner, after you choose in which format you want to conver the file to, in which codec it is. So when i convert it to MPEG-4 AVC it says h.264 and when converted to "Ipod format" on the drop down menu, it says on the upper right corner mpeg-4.
    I am just really dwelled with this and i have updated all softwares, but no luck whatsoever.

  • MPEG-4 AVC/H.264

    Hello all,
    I had a camera which records MPEG2, but it is broken. Now I want to buy a new camera which will record in AVCHD. Before I do this, I want to try to edit a MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 file in Adobe Premiere, see how it works on my PC.
    Is there a place or site where I can download a sample MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 file. The content doesn't matter, as long as it is a file in the format I will get when having a AVCHD camera.
    Thanks in advance,
    Best Regards,
    André.

    What version of Premiere?
    Here's a downloadable sample file courtesy Fuzzy Barsik:
    Spanned AVCHD clips sample from SONY HDR-SR12 camcorder
    (7z archive file / Post #148).
    http://forums.adobe.com/message/5461972#5461972
    Reference:
    H.264/MPEG-4 AVC
    CS6 note:
    Audio and Video glitches | AVCHD footage - CS6 bug
    http://helpx.adobe.com/premiere-pro/kb/audio-video-glitches-avchd.html
    Promised fix:
    Premiere Pro CC July 2013 Update
    "Our commitment to customers includes those who haven't yet
    subscribed to Creative Cloud or who rely on CS6, and we plan to
    release an update to Premiere Pro CS6 in the coming weeks that
    will address an AVCHD clip spanning issue."
    http://blogs.adobe.com/premierepro/2013/07/ppro-cc-july-2013-update.html

  • New iMacs and H.264 import

    Hello!
    I am going to buy a new camera with Flash memory and h.264. I was told that it is a pain to import large h.264 movies from such device. It seems obvoius that Apple was not able to propose something with old hardware like Radeon 2600, but now it seems to be possible with Radeon 4800.
    Are there any information about improvements with h.264 encoding/decoding with new iMacs?
    Regards,
    Kirill Boyko

    Hello Tom!
    Thank you for answer!
    I am a newbie so correct me if I'm wrong.
    When you say "gets converted" .. "during capture" you mean FCE Capture process. This process is managed using Capture window in FCE and was designed specially for tape camcorders. According to FCE manual Capture process does transcode your video.
    Editing HDV Using the Apple Intermediate Codec
    Your HDV video is transcoded by the Apple Intermediate Codec during capture. The
    Apple Intermediate Codec is a high-quality video codec optimized for playback
    performance and quality. Although the data rate of the Apple Intermediate Codec is
    three to four times higher than the data rate of the native MPEG-2 HDV, the
    processing requirements to play back your video are less. Unlike native MPEG-2 HDV,
    the Apple Intermediate Codec does not use temporal compression, so every frame
    can be decoded and displayed immediately, without first decoding other frames.
    For new camcorders which instead use file based media the Capture process is managed by Log and Transfer window. Which is slightly different in workflow and capabilities but logically the same - it transcodes H.264 video into AIC format.
    I suppose that Apple historically split these two processes which are same by nature.
    What I am interested in is this phrase in manual:
    AVCHD footage is not captured natively but is transcoded to Apple Intermediate Codec.
    By this Apple mean that HDV is captured "natively" what I think means "easer". SO I suppose it uses some hardware acceleration during transcoding from MPEG-2 to AIC which results in much better time and less CPU usage.
    SO, my question is:
    Wether it will be possible to use similar HW acceleration proposed by new RADEON/GEFORCE to transcode h.264 faster, or x19 times faster as stated in ATI  feature list?
    Regards,
    Kirill

  • I need some serious help with MPEG Streamclip and iMovie 11

    Hello, everyone!
    I hope that some kind soul here is able to help me. My sister-in-law asked me if I could help her re-edit a video that they made of a conference she gave because she didn't like the way some parts were edited. I oh-so-kindly (and perhaps stupidly) offered to help her out!
    A little background: even though I studied audiovisual communications in college, I leaned (a LOT) towards the audio production part of it and, lately, photography, too. That means that I'm not very good at the whole creating-a-movie-in-iMovie thing, even though I know it's supposed to be easy.
    So, here goes: I have a DVD from her which has the typical TS files for audio and video. I downloaded a program called MPEG Streamclip and then it said I needed to buy the QuickTime MPEG-2 Playback Component so that I could rip the DVD my sister-in-law gave me. I bought the component.
    I've converted, done small, 1-minute tests, of the DVD with MPEG Streamclip to DV and also to MP4 (just in case). I do it, then import them to iMovie 11. I don't edit anything at all, just a test to see how it looks, so I immediately send the project to iDVD to see how it looks. It DOES NOT look good.
    Compared to the DVD she gave me, which looks all smooth (picture-wise), mine has a certain amount (NOT HUGE) of pixelation. I can tell especially because there are some slides that were added to her project, so I can see the pixelated parts around the edges of the letters.
    The DVD she gave me does NOT look HD. In fact, it looks SD (4:3), so I don't believe it's that.
    If anybody here knows about this, what am I doing wrong? Am I not ripping it correctly using MPEG Streamclip? Am I not making the iMovie 11 project right? Am I burning in the "wrong way"?
    If it's the MPEG Streamclip ripping that I'm doing wrong, what are the settings I should be using? What format should I be using so that it is VERY iMovie-friendly?
    I want the final video that I would edit to look exactly as the one she gave me. That IS possible, right?
    For extra information, if needed, I am running a MacBook Pro, 13", i7 with 4 GB of RAM and am running OS 10.6.6. I've been a Mac user since the OS 9 days.
    Thanks in advance for anyone who helps me out.
    Serge

    Ok. Got it!!!
    Z, thanks a lot!! Now things don't look pixelated and my test burn looks exactly like the dvd my sister-in-law gave me... except for ONE THING:
    There are these graphics done in I-don't-know-what program with a cube transition. They look like when you do 3D cube transitions in virtual desktop, you know?
    Anyway, HER dvd looks completely smooth when you see these transitions but MY dvd looks... well, not right. It looks a bit like the screen or the letters "tremble" or shake a bit. I hope you can understand what I'm saying.
    I followed your advice to the letter and everything is perfect with the exception of those transitions (because after the transition passes and you see the slide with the writing, it looks completely smooth).
    Do you know of something that I can do to help with this problem?
    Thanks again!
    Serge

  • Pixelated reds in MPEG-2 (and most other) exports

    This is a revisitation of an issue I identified over a year ago and I still don't have a resolution. I am going to cross-post this to the Quicktime forum as well as that of FotoMagicko. I would do so at Photo-to-Movie as well if they only had such a resource. I am desperate for new ideas or techniques to try. I would be pleased to no end to be told of a simple error in my process, but I'm beginning to suspect that Quicktime is broken.
    The original and still biggest problem is heavily pixelated reds in MPEG-2 movies. Turns out it exists in most other QT formats as well.
    I'll step you through the workflow and then discuss observations gleaned from a number of experiments:
    We start with hi-res photos and render them as motion slideshows. We have done this in iPhoto, FotoMagiko and Photo-to-Movie all with the same results. All of these applications utilize quicktime as their rendering engine and so are really irrelevant as a possible source of the problem (as will be verified later). QT does not support export directly to MPEG-2 and so an intermediary file format is required. More on this later.
    The rendered QT file is then dropped into Compressor and rendered as 2-pass 8 Mbit max VBR (have also tried 8 Mbit CBR with no improvement). The resulting MPEG-2 is then imported into DVDSP4 for authoring.
    The resulting DVDs all show heavy pixelation in reds.
    Well the problem is out of gamut reds in your source files, obviously I hear you say.
    OK, so back to the beggining - this time run all images through Photoshop's NTSC Colors filter and rerun. Same problem. Have also done this AND converted to NTSC color space - no joy. I have even ASSIGNED the NTSC color space to the image instead of converting - this munged up the colors to know end, but also did not fix the problem.
    Well, maybe MPEG-2 is just not capable of handling even all of NTSC's colors, right?
    Seems unlikely, but maybe. What about this then - of all of the Quicktime codecs to which to export the slideshow movie, only 1 of them produces an intermediary file that does not ALSO show the pixelated reds - the Animation codec (not Apple Intermediate, not Component, not MPEG-4, not eve Uncompressed at either 8 OR 10 bit!). Again, these are with source images whose gamut has ostensibly been reigned in to legal colors via Photoshop.
    Well at least there's ONE intermediate that produces a flawless export - just use that
    Ok, except that once Compressor is done with it (and I've tried every reasonable combination of parameters), the pixelation is back.
    I've seen broadcast video showing these colors (or a representation of them) without this kind of artifact - how is it accomplished? About the only thing I havn't tried is importing it into Final Cut and trying to figure out their chromometer thingy. How would this differ from the NTSC Colors filter in Photoshop. That still wouldn't explain what appears to be a problem with the majority of Quicktime's codecs with saturated reds...
    Any help, advice, or even guesses are appreciated.

    The internet, as always. is your friend:
    http://www.google.com/search?q=4:2:24:1:14:2:0&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
    The 1st and second links are pretty useful. It describes how chroma (colour) is stored a lower resolution to luminance (black and white) to save space. Photos don't employ this type of colour compression, which is why they look so different when out in a video codec.
    By going via NTSC DV, which is 4:1:1, to DVD MPEG2 which is 4:2:0, you end with a combination of the worst aspects of each, namely 4:1:0, which is why the MPEGS look so bad. However, you will always be limited to some chroma down-sampling with most codecs.
    Bringing the photos into FCP will give you more control - but will probably be a royal pain to get them to do what you want - I would exhaust all possibilities with the packages you are already using.
    What is your final out put (sorry - I skimmed you post) - DVD ? Have you exported to that and seen how it looks ? It might be okay.

  • Want to create a dvd in encore, i have created dvd2-mpeg file and have timeline premiere?

    hello guys
    i hope you can help
    i have adobe premiere cs6 and i have created a dvd2-mpeg file which i want to burn to dvd, its about 7 gb. i want to fit this on a single dvd or dual layer dvd if quality is a problem
    i have been told encore can encode the files in the right format etc
    please can you advise me on the steps i need to do so i can create a dvd disk please?
    i have a macbook air which doesnt have a disk drive, so i will need the files to be copied on an external drive and burnt to a disk on another computer..

    Hello, and welcome to the forums.
    You'll need to put this onto a dual layer project, as single layer will only get you to 4.7GB (not quite as much as it seems, either, as DVD Gb are smaller than computer Gb are).
    You do not mention anything about menus or navigational aids on your DVD - are these required?
    Also, what form is your audio in please? MPEG audio is not a good idea, and for DVD use the files ideally need to be "Elementary streams", meaning separate video & audio files.
    A simple slutiom might be to go back to your premiere pro project, and take the original timeline - before you transcoded it to MPEG-2 - and send this to Encore using Dynamic Linking. This will launch Encore for you, and place your premiere timeline into an Encore project.
    There you can create your menus and set all your navigational stuff up.
    When completed, simply compile the project to a DVD image - this will create an ISO file that can be moved for burning.
    That's the short answer, but it can get a lot more complicated.
    For starters, your audio file will need to be in a DVD compliant type- that means either LPCM or Dolby Digital.
    LPCM is the best quality, but uses a lot more bits & reduces available space for your film so you need to decide how important the audio content is.
    Encore will allow you to set the audio default to LPCM, and will then try to get the best fit for your video file in "Automatic" mode.
    Once you can let me know the aswers above (are menus needed, what is your audio file) etc, I can walk you through the steps needed.

  • HELP!!! EyeTv and Turbo.264

    This is driving me mad!
    When I use the 1'click export to Apple TV button on EyeTV2 with Turbo.264 plugged in, the red progress bar will go up and then down and then up and then down... and keep doing this for ages.
    Then it will do one of two things:
    1. Delete the output file leaving nothing
    2. Leave me with a file which has the video broken up in the wrong order, but with constant (correct) Audio - (maybe the video is mirroring the jumping red progress bar??)
    Without turbo.264 plugged in, it's fine. The iPod export works fine, as does the AUTOMATIC Apple TV export which you select for each 'Scheduled' programme.
    I am using the latest software for ALL aspects.
    Any thoughts much appreciated.
    Thanks!

    I have also bee using EyeTv 2.4 and h.264 1.1 since day dot and all is working perfectly. The only issue I have is that once exported and imported into iTunes the software doesn't clean up and remove the converted file from my Movies directory (I found 50gb of HDD last weekend)....
    Cheers.
    Dean
    20 G5 iMac + BT   Mac OS X (10.3.7)  

  • Media Encoder Now ONLY exporting F4V, FLV, MP3, and H.264

    I've been using AME (CS 5.5 DP) for a few weeks to batch encode WMV and AVI files to QuickTime ProRes422(LT).  It's been working great.
    Starting today, AME no longer exports to QuickTime.  The ONLY options I have for export are F4V, FLV, MP3, and H.264.  What gives?
    Re-installing CS5.5 did not help, nor did trashing the preferences.  I did not update QuickTime or make any system changes.
    Any advice would be great.
    ~PH

    One of my coworkers just pointed out to me that what may have occurred is a failure of the licensing system. QuickTime export from AME isn't included in the trial version of Design Premium CS5. It may have occurred that the software "lost" its activation and started behaving like the trial version.
    If this is the problem, then the most certain way of fixing the issue is to uninstall and then reinstall the CS5 software and reactivate it (re-enter the serial number).

Maybe you are looking for