lossless

All of the work in the lossless series is derived from compressed media found either on Digital Video Disks (DVDs) or on the Internet. As of this writing, the overwhelming majority of this media is prepared using some version of MPEG compression.

MPEG is an acronym for the Moving Pictures Expert Group, an international, non-governmental organization tasked with the specification of standards for the encoding of media.

Here is a list of the most commonly used standards set by the MPEG:

• MPEG-1: The initial MPEG specification is now the standard for Video CD. Designed to be equivalent to the quality found in VHS videotapes. MPEG-1 includes the Layer 3 (MP3) audio compression format.

• MPEG-2: Designed to transport media with the quality of broadcast television, and now commonly used to compress media for satellite broadcast. MPEG-2 is also used in standard definition DVDs.

• MPEG-4: Expands MPEG-1 to support video/audio “objects”, 3D content, low bitrate encoding and support for Digital Rights Management. Variations on MPEG-4 are being using in HD-DVD and Blu-Ray. The compressors on YouTube are currently being upgraded to MPEG-4 (where it is called “high-quality”)

MPEG-2 vs MPEG-4 encoding found on YouTube