MPG Format Guide

Available Conversions

About MPG Format

MPG (or MPEG) is a multimedia container format based on the MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 standards developed by the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG), a working group of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). The MPG extension typically represents MPEG Program Streams (PS), which package compressed video and audio data into a single multiplexed stream designed for relatively error-free environments such as optical media and computer storage.

The MPEG-1 standard (ISO/IEC 11172) was finalized in 1993 and became famous for two revolutionary applications: Video CD (VCD), which brought digital video to CD-ROM media with quality comparable to VHS, and MP3 audio compression (MPEG-1 Audio Layer III), which transformed music distribution forever. MPEG-1 video typically operates at resolutions of 352×240 (NTSC) or 352×288 (PAL) with bitrates around 1.15 Mbps for VCD compliance, using compression techniques derived from H.261 and refined with DCT (Discrete Cosine Transform), motion compensation, and temporal prediction.

The MPEG-2 standard (ISO/IEC 13818) was approved in 1995 and represented a significant evolution, becoming the foundation for DVD-Video, digital television broadcasting (DVB, ATSC, ISDB), and digital cable/satellite distribution. MPEG-2 supports much higher resolutions (up to 1920×1080 for HD) and bitrates (DVD standard allows up to 9.8 Mbps for video), interlaced scanning for broadcast compatibility, multiple audio tracks, subtitle streams, and sophisticated menu systems. The video compression standard, also known as H.262 or MPEG-2 Part 2, uses similar DCT-based techniques as MPEG-1 but with enhanced entropy coding, better motion compensation, and support for various profiles and levels tailored to different applications.

MPG Program Streams are designed for storage and playback scenarios where the entire stream can be accessed randomly and errors are minimal. Unlike MPEG Transport Streams (.ts files), which include extensive error correction and synchronization mechanisms for broadcast transmission over noisy channels, Program Streams have simpler packet structures with variable-length packets, lower overhead, and assume reliable media. A typical MPG file contains multiplexed video (MPEG-1 or MPEG-2), audio (MPEG-1 Layer II, MP3, AC-3/Dolby Digital, or DTS), optional subtitles, and basic metadata—all organized into pack and packet structures as defined by the MPEG Systems specification (ISO/IEC 11172-1 for MPEG-1, ISO/IEC 13818-1 for MPEG-2).

History of MPG

The Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) was established in January 1988 under the joint leadership of ISO and IEC, with the initial goal of developing standards for digital video and audio compression at bitrates around 1.5 Mbps—suitable for CD-ROM storage and emerging digital media applications. Leonardo Chiariglione of Italy and Hiroshi Yasuda of Japan served as the group's founding leaders. The first major result was MPEG-1, developed between 1988 and 1992, with the final standard (ISO/IEC 11172) approved in 1993.

MPEG-1 achieved immediate commercial success through two applications. Video CD (VCD), developed primarily in 1993-1994 by Philips, Sony, Matsushita, and JVC, brought full-length movies to standard CD-ROM discs with approximately 72-80 minutes of MPEG-1 video at VHS-comparable quality. VCD became enormously popular in Asia during the late 1990s and early 2000s, with hundreds of millions of VCD players sold. Simultaneously, MPEG-1 Audio Layer III—better known as MP3—transformed music distribution when desktop computers became powerful enough for real-time encoding and decoding in the mid-to-late 1990s, culminating in the explosive growth of digital music sharing via Napster (launched June 1999) and portable MP3 players like the Diamond Rio (1998) and Apple iPod (October 2001).

MPEG-2 development began in 1990, initially intended for broadcast television at 4-9 Mbps and higher resolutions. The standard was approved in November 1994 and published in 1995 as ISO/IEC 13818. MPEG-2's defining moment came with the development of DVD-Video, announced in September 1995 as a joint standard by the DVD Forum (then called the DVD Consortium), which included Sony, Philips, Toshiba, Matsushita, Time Warner, and other major electronics and entertainment companies. DVD players launched in Japan in November 1996, in the United States in March 1997, and in Europe in 1998.

The DVD revolution profoundly shaped consumer electronics and home entertainment throughout the late 1990s and 2000s. DVDs offered superior video quality (720×480 NTSC or 720×576 PAL, up to 9.8 Mbps video bitrate), multi-channel Dolby Digital 5.1 or DTS audio, multiple language tracks, interactive menus, bonus features, and chapter navigation—all on a disc smaller than a CD with 4.7 GB (single-layer) or 8.5 GB (dual-layer) capacity. By 2001, DVD players outsold VCRs in the United States, and by 2003, DVD rentals surpassed VHS rentals. The format reached peak ubiquity around 2005-2008 before streaming and Blu-ray began eroding its dominance.

Simultaneously, MPEG-2 became the worldwide standard for digital television broadcasting. The DVB (Digital Video Broadcasting) standard adopted MPEG-2 video and Transport Streams for European digital television (DVB-T terrestrial, DVB-S satellite, DVB-C cable), ATSC (Advanced Television Systems Committee) used MPEG-2 for United States HDTV broadcasting (launched 1998), and ISDB (Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting) deployed MPEG-2 in Japan. Digital cable and satellite services from providers like DirecTV, Dish Network, Sky, and others relied entirely on MPEG-2 compression through the 2000s and 2010s. Many broadcast systems continued using MPEG-2 well into the 2010s, though newer systems gradually migrated to H.264/AVC for better compression efficiency.

Super Video CD (SVCD), finalized in 1998, represented an attempt to bridge the gap between VCD and DVD by using MPEG-2 compression at up to 2.6 Mbps on standard CD-ROM media, achieving 480×480 NTSC or 480×576 PAL resolution—better than VCD but lower than DVD, with approximately 35-60 minutes per disc depending on bitrate. SVCD achieved moderate success in Asia but never matched VCD's ubiquity or DVD's quality and features.

The decline of MPG/MPEG-2 as a consumer format began in the late 2000s. Blu-ray Disc (launched 2006) adopted H.264/AVC and VC-1 codecs instead of MPEG-2, offering far superior compression efficiency and HD/Full HD quality. Streaming services like Netflix, YouTube, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video similarly adopted H.264 and later H.265/HEVC and VP9/AV1 for internet delivery. DVD sales peaked around 2005-2006 and declined steadily thereafter as streaming, Blu-ray, and digital downloads gained market share. Today, MPG files are primarily associated with legacy content, DVD ripping and archival, broadcast archives from the MPEG-2 era, and retro media applications. However, MPEG-2 remains in limited use in broadcast systems and professional workflows that haven't yet fully migrated to newer codecs.

Key Features and Uses

MPEG Program Streams use a pack-and-packet multiplexing structure defined by the MPEG Systems layer. The stream consists of packs (2048 bytes for DVD), each containing a pack header with system clock reference (SCR) timing information followed by multiple packets containing video (identified by packet ID 0xE0-0xEF), audio (0xC0-0xDF for MPEG audio, 0x80-0x87 for AC-3), private streams for subtitles, or system information. This structure allows elementary video and audio streams to be interleaved with precise timing information, enabling synchronized playback even with variable bitrate encoding. The Program Stream Map (PSM) and Pack Header provide stream identification and timing, while Presentation Time Stamps (PTS) and Decoding Time Stamps (DTS) in packet headers ensure proper synchronization of audio and video.

MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 video compression relies on Group of Pictures (GOP) structures combining three frame types: I-frames (Intra-coded, fully independent keyframes using only DCT spatial compression), P-frames (Predictive-coded frames referencing previous I or P frames using motion compensation), and B-frames (Bidirectionally predicted frames referencing both past and future frames for maximum compression). A typical DVD GOP structure might be "I-B-B-P-B-B-P-B-B-P-B-B-I" with 12-15 frames per GOP (0.5 seconds at 25 fps PAL or 0.5 seconds at 29.97 fps NTSC). This temporal prediction achieves compression ratios far beyond simple per-frame JPEG-style compression, though it introduces latency and requires careful handling during editing (cutting on I-frames to avoid artifacts).

MPEG-2 supports profiles and levels defining capabilities and computational requirements. DVD-Video uses Main Profile @ Main Level (MP@ML), supporting 720×480 or 720×576 resolution with 4:2:0 chroma subsampling at bitrates up to 15 Mbps (though DVD spec limits video to 9.8 Mbps), suitable for standard-definition consumer applications. High Profile (HP) adds support for 4:2:2 chroma sampling for professional video production. Higher levels like High Level (HL) and High-1440 Level (H-14) enable HDTV resolutions (1440×1080, 1920×1080) at higher bitrates (up to 80 Mbps for MP@HL), used in broadcast HDTV before H.264 adoption.

Audio in MPG files typically uses MPEG-1 Layer II (MP2, common in European broadcasting at 192-384 kbps), MP3 (MPEG-1 Layer III, 128-320 kbps, used in VCDs and some computer applications), or AC-3/Dolby Digital (standard for DVD, 192-448 kbps with up to 5.1 channels). DVD also supports DTS (Digital Theater Systems, 768-1536 kbps, higher quality than AC-3), LPCM (Linear PCM, uncompressed, 48 kHz 16/24-bit), and multi-channel configurations. MPEG-2 Audio (ISO/IEC 13818-3) extended MPEG-1 audio with backward-compatible multichannel extensions, though AC-3 became more popular in consumer DVD applications.

File sizes for MPEG content depend heavily on resolution, bitrate, and duration. A typical VCD (MPEG-1, 352×240 NTSC, 1.15 Mbps video + 224 kbps audio) produces approximately 80 MB per minute or 600 MB per 72-minute CD. A standard DVD movie (MPEG-2, 720×480, 5-8 Mbps average video bitrate + 384 kbps AC-3 audio) yields roughly 2-3 GB for a 90-minute film, though dual-layer DVDs (8.5 GB) can store longer movies or include extensive bonus features. Broadcast HDTV MPEG-2 (1920×1080i at 15-20 Mbps) requires 7-9 GB per hour. These figures are substantially larger than modern H.264 or H.265 files of equivalent quality, which is why MPEG-2 is largely obsolete for new content creation.

Modern playback of MPG files is nearly universal due to decades of standardization and ubiquitous DVD player deployment. All major operating systems and media players—VLC, Windows Media Player, QuickTime (with components), FFmpeg-based applications, MPC-HC, MPV, and hardware players—support MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 Program Stream playback out of the box. DVD authoring software like DVD Flick, DVDStyler, and professional tools like Adobe Encore rely on MPEG-2 Program Streams as the required format for DVD-Video creation. However, editing MPEG-2 content is computationally demanding due to GOP structures and long-GOP temporal prediction, so professional workflows often transcode to intermediate codecs (ProRes, DNxHD) before editing and return to MPEG-2 only for final DVD mastering.

Common Applications

DVD Authoring and Archival: The most enduring application of MPG/MPEG-2 is DVD-Video authoring. DVD-Video specification (DVD Forum, 1995) mandates MPEG-2 Program Streams for video content, with strict requirements: 720×480 NTSC or 720×576 PAL resolution, 4:3 or 16:9 aspect ratio, up to 9.8 Mbps video bitrate, AC-3 or LPCM audio, and VOB (Video Object) file format—essentially MPEG-2 PS with additional navigation and encryption structures. Individuals and small businesses creating DVD video discs for weddings, events, presentations, or archival purposes must produce MPEG-2-compliant files. Similarly, archival of legacy DVD collections often involves ripping DVDs to MPEG-2 files (preserving original quality) or transcoding to modern formats like H.264 MP4 (saving space).

Broadcasting and Professional Video: MPEG-2 Transport Streams (not Program Streams, but closely related) remain in use in broadcast television infrastructure worldwide, though migration to H.264 and HEVC is ongoing. Legacy broadcast archives from the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s contain enormous quantities of MPEG-2-encoded content—news footage, television programs, documentaries, sports events—stored as MPG or TS files. Television studios and broadcasters maintain extensive MPEG-2 libraries and require conversion tools to repurpose content for modern streaming platforms, Blu-ray releases, or archival preservation. Professional video workflows in regions or organizations that standardized on MPEG-2 decades ago continue to generate MPG files, particularly in contexts where changing formats would require expensive infrastructure upgrades.

Video CD (VCD) and Super Video CD (SVCD): Although VCD and SVCD are largely obsolete in Western markets, they remain relevant in certain regions and retro computing contexts. VCD brought movies to CD-ROM media in the 1990s and was massively popular in Asia through the early 2000s, with players in hundreds of millions of homes. SVCD offered improved quality in the late 1990s. Today, VCD and SVCD primarily appear in retro gaming communities, vintage computing preservation, and regions where older technology persists. Creating VCDs or SVCDs requires generating MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 files with very specific parameters (VCD: 352×240/288, 1.15 Mbps CBR; SVCD: 480×480/576, 2.6 Mbps max).

Digital Camcorders and Recording Devices: Many consumer digital camcorders from the late 1990s through the 2010s recorded directly to MPEG-2 format on MiniDVD, hard drives, or memory cards. Sony Handycam models, Canon camcorders, and DVD-based camcorders (which recorded directly to 8cm DVD-R or DVD-RW discs) output MPEG-2 PS files as their native format. Families and individuals who recorded home videos during this era often have archives of MPG files that require conversion to modern formats for playback on smartphones, tablets, or uploading to YouTube and cloud storage services.

Surveillance and Security Systems: Older digital video surveillance systems (DVRs—Digital Video Recorders) from the 2000s and early 2010s frequently used MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 compression for recording security camera footage. MPEG-2's relatively low computational requirements made it suitable for multi-channel DVR systems that needed to encode 4, 8, or 16 camera streams simultaneously. While modern surveillance systems use H.264 or H.265, organizations with legacy security footage archives often encounter MPG files when retrieving historical recordings for legal proceedings, incident investigation, or archival purposes.

Educational and Corporate Video Distribution: Educational institutions, corporations, and government organizations created vast libraries of training videos, instructional content, and presentations on DVD during the format's peak years (1998-2010). These materials—often stored as MPG files on institutional servers—require conversion to modern streaming-friendly formats (MP4 with H.264 or WebM) for distribution via learning management systems (LMS), corporate intranets, or public websites. The migration from DVD-based distribution to web-based delivery drives substantial demand for MPG-to-MP4 conversion tools.

Retro Computing and Gaming: Enthusiasts preserving vintage computer systems, video game consoles, and historical software often work with VCD and MPEG-1 content. Games like the Sega CD and Sega Saturn used MPEG-1 full-motion video (FMV) sequences, as did many PC games from the mid-to-late 1990s. Extracting, archiving, and restoring these video assets requires tools that can handle MPEG-1 and early MPEG-2 files. Similarly, archival projects preserving early internet multimedia, educational CD-ROMs, and electronic encyclopedias (like Encarta) encounter MPG files.

Advantages and Disadvantages