What is MP4?

MP4s are considered the most popular video file type on the web today. They are much easier to find than AVI, and represent a large amount of the files stored on sites like YouTube. You may be wondering what an MP4 is, or how you can even play one on your computer.

I will discuss these questions below by providing some information about MP4s and their file extension and playing them in different browsers.

What is MP4? MP4 stands for MPEG- 4 Part 14, which is a group that consists of companies such as Apple, Microsoft, Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc., Panasonic Corporation, SEGA Corporation among many others. The group creates standards for digital video compression systems i.e. video quality that are commonly used across personal computers, phones, tablets, and other devices.

MP4 Standards have been used to create formats such as MPEG-2, MPEG-4 Part 2-Advanced Video Coding (AVC), and MPEG-4 Part 10 Advanced Video Coding (AVC). Below is a table comparing several of the standards' main features.

MPEG-2   MPEG-4 AVC     AVCHD MP4 Part 2  (Advanced Audio Coding)  (H.264 / MPEG-4 Part 2)  (H.265 / MPEG-4 AVC)

MPEG-4 – a video compression standard maintained by the ITU-T. It is a predecessor to H.264/AVC and can be used in all types of video applications like web, wireless, and broadcast (such as YouTube).

MPEG-4 Part 14 was created for Mpeg2 decoder software that is not able to handle the encoding of 4:2:0 or 8bit video. This new compression format will nowadays be used for multimedia files (Movies, TV Shows, Videos, etc) on computers and most video websites you visit on the web today such as YouTube and Vimeo.

MPEG4 Part 14 is a video coding format that supports both, 16:9 and 4:3 or 1:1 aspect ratios. It is the most commonly played video format on the web with over 50% of files online being MP4s.

How are MP4 Files Played?

MP4 files can be played in your browser in two different ways, either added to your favorite streaming player such as Vimeo, or viewed locally. Local playback does not require any extra software to be installed on your computer. To play an MP4 file you will need to indicate the file extension of .mp4 in order for your browser to find it and play it.

To play an MP4 file in Firefox :

1. Go to the download page of your favorite video streaming platform (example: Vimeo)

2. Click on the file you would like to play.

3. Once the file is downloaded, right-click and select "Save link as" from the drop down list.

4. Copy and paste the link into a message or email to someone you want to share it with, save a copy on your computer or mobile device, or send by text message/SMS – whatever is convenient for you! To play an MP4 file in Safari : 1. Select the Download option at the top of any webpage that has MP4 links. 2.

Conclusion

MP4s are some of the most popular video file types on the web today. They are much easier to find than AVI, and represent a large amount of the files stored on sites like YouTube. You may be wondering what an MP4 is, or how you can even play one on your computer.

To play an MP4 file in Chrome : 1. Select the Save link as option when a video is displayed in Chrome. 2. When choosing a location to save, indicate that you would like to save as a "THIS FILE TYPE" file type (MP4). 3. Your browser will prompt you with a message when it has finished converting the file to an MP4 format file (.mp4).