The MPEG-4 standard for internet-based multimedia applications

With the development of the MPEG-4 standard in 1998, a new way of creating and interacting with audio-visual media was conceived. This chapter provides an overview of this new standard. Topics covered in the chapter include a description of visual and audio objects, both natural and computer generated, and a description of how scenes are put together in MPEG-4. We also present an overview of the systems necessary for MPEG-4 operation and insight into possible Internet-based multimedia applications. We briefly discuss some research issues in MPEG-2 design and implementations.