The Pros: Advantages and Applications of MP4 Format

Nonetheless, mainstream operating systems for computers and consumer electronic devices, as well as software media players, support the MP4 format. It is also a widely-used format for capturing and compressing audio-video data from DVDs and Blu-Ray discs, recording similar video via devices such as smartphones, as well as for streaming video over the Internet.

Below are the specific pros and uses of the format:

• One of the key advantages of the MP4 format is that it can be used on multiple platforms, thus making it easier to use and distribute.

• It has a high degree of compression while producing smaller file sizes unlike the AVI format, thereby making it ideal for video streaming or compressing high definition audio-video files.

• An MP4 file can contain metadata and Extensible Meta Data Platform, including subtitles, images based on JPEG standard or PNG format, among others, and PDF.

• Support for metadata means that the file can be integrated with 3D graphics, menus or user navigation options, and other user interaction features.

• There are a lot of open-source players such as VLC Media Player that provide complete support for this format. It is even used on Linux operating systems.

• It is also versatile. Files that only contain audio are coded with the M4A extension, and MPEG-4 visual bitstreams are encoded in the m4v extension.

The Cons: Disadvantages and Limitations of MP4 Format

Note that the format is a container. What this means is that instead of storing the ode for the file, it stores the data. Furthermore, a specific MP4 file iso dependent on specific codecs because it does not have a native way of handling the involved coding.

A possible limitation is that there are hundreds of codecs available. A media player must be able to run a specific set of codecs to run a particular MP4 file. However, because the container format has become widely used, widely-supported codecs have become somehow standards.

The following are other drawbacks of the format:

• Audio can drift out of sync with the video in some cases because of issues with codecs or codec-player compatibility.

• Because a single file can contain audio and video, as well as different metadata, playback or editing can require a lot of computing resources.

• It is still a lossy format. A higher degree of compression and smaller file size would result in losses in audio and video quality.

• The popularity of MP4 format, coupled with its portability, has also enabled the illegal distribution of copyrighted audio-video files.