Sustainability of Digital Formats
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MPEG-4, Visual Coding, Advanced Simple Profile

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Table of Contents
Identification and description
Local use
Sustainability factors
Quality and functionality factors (video)
File type signifiers
Notes
Format specifications
Useful references
Format Description Properties
• ID: fdd000046
• Short name: MPEG-4_V_ASP
• Content categories: moving image
• Format category: bitstream encoding
• Last significant update: 2005-08-24
• Draft status: Full

Identification and description Explanation of format description terms

Full nameInformation technology -- Coding of audio-visual objects (formal name)
MPEG-4, Visual Coding, Advanced Simple Profile
DescriptionSee also MP4_FF_2 and MPEG-4_V. Useful in Internet streaming applications and other low bandwidth applications but can scale to television broadcast quality.1

The Advanced Simple 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).
• Advanced Simple: rectangular video, enhanced compression, adds bidirectional (B) video object planes (VOPs).

Six compression levels are permitted (0 to 5); Levels 0 to 3 have bit rates from 128 to 768 kbps; support for interlaced coding is added for Levels 4 and 5 with bit rates from 3 to 8 Mbps.
  Production phase  Generally a final-state (end-user delivery) format.
Relationship to other formats 
  Subtype ofMPEG-4_V, MPEG-4, Visual Coding (Part 2)
  Used byMP4_FF_2_V, MPEG-4 File Format, V.2, with Visual Coding (All Profiles)

Local use Explanation of format description terms

LC experience or existing holdings 
LC preference 

Sustainability factors Explanation of format description terms

DisclosureOpen standard. See MP4_FF_2.
  DocumentationSee MP4_FF_2.
AdoptionActual adoption not known to the compilers of this document.
  Licensing and patent claimsSee MP4_FF_2.
TransparencySee MP4_FF_2.
Self-documentationSee MP4_FF_2.
External dependenciesSee MP4_FF_2.
Technical protection considerationsSee MP4_FF_2.

Quality and functionality factors (video) Explanation of format description terms

Normal renderingGood support.
Clarity (support for high image resolution)See MP4_FF_2 and MPEG-4_V. Other profiles will produce greater clarity than the Simple Scalable Profile at a given picture size, data rate, and encoding algorithm.
Fidelity (support for high audio resolution)See MP4_FF_2.
Support for multiple sound channelsSee MP4_FF_2.
Functionality beyond normal video renderingSee MP4_FF_2.

File type signifiers Explanation of format description terms

Tag typeValueNote
Filename Extensionmp4 
Internet Media TypeSee MP4_FF_2 
Magic numbersSee MP4_FF_2 
Profile and level indicators11110000, 11110001, 11110010, 11110011, 11110100, 11110101For profile_and_level_indication for Advanced Simple Profile, levels 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5; from Annex G of Part 2 of the standard, as amended Amd.2:2002, pp. 52-53.
File type brandSee noteIndicated 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.

Notes Explanation of format description terms

GeneralFernando Pereira and Touradj Ebrahimi report that the Advanced Simple Profile "represents a compromise between the desire to support interlace at higher bit rates and the desire to keep the number of profiles manageable. . . . It is likely that another level, termed 3b, will be added . . . [which] will allow higher bit rates without having to support interlaced coding." 2
History 

Format specifications Explanation of format description terms

URLs

Print
• See MP4_FF_2.

Useful references

URLs
• See MP4_FF_2.

Print
• See MP4_FF_2.

1 Pereira, Fernando, and Touradj Ebrahimi, The MPEG-4 Book, Upper Saddle River, NJ: IMSC Press, 2002, p. 598.

2 Ibid, p. 598.


Last Updated: 03/ 7/2007