MPEG

Acronym for Motion Pictures (Coding) Experts Group, a small group charged with the development of video and audio encoding standards. Since its first meeting in 1988, MPEG has grown to include approximately 350 members from various industries and universities.

MPEG has standardized the following compression formats:

MPEG-1 Includes the popular Layer 3 (MP3) audio compression format.
MPEG-2 Video and audio standards for broadcast-quality television. Used on most DVD movies.
MPEG-3 Originally designed for HDTV, but abandoned in favor of MPEG-2.
MPEG-4 Expands MPEG-1 to support video/audio "objects", 3D content, low bitrate encoding and support for [Digital Rights Management]?.
MPEG-7? A formal system for describing multimedia content.

Link: [www.mpeg.org]