Difference Between an MP3 & an MP4 Player
MPEG-3 and MPEG-4 are two of the compression formats used for digital audio players. They are often referred to as MP3 and MP4.
-
Similarities
-
MP3 and MP4 players are similar in that they are coding standards agreed upon by the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG), thus their names. Also, they serve as audio compression formats.
MP3
-
MP3, introduced in 1992, refers to the compression standard as well as the file format. It is a specification that creates small, high-quality audio files.
MP4
-
Unlike MP3, MP4--it was introduced in 1998--can compress video as well as audio. But there are few if any standalone MP4 players around as most manufacturers of digital audio players prefer to implement it as a complimentary feature of MP3 players.
Types of MP4
-
There are two major versions of MP4: MPEG-4 Simple Profile for low-resolution digital video content, commonly used for Internet distribution; and MPEG-4 AVC (Advanced Video Coding) for faster and higher-quality compression of HDTV suitability.
What About MP7s?
-
MPEG-7 (MP7) is a multimedia content description standard. It is not a standard that enables coding of moving pictures and/or audio like the technology used in MP3 and MP4 players.
-
