MPEG4 part 2 is the ISO standard for video compression for storage and transmission. VideoFutures offering is the Baseline profile and provides compliant, high quality video based on this standard.

The Encoder takes a yuv 4:2:0 data sequence and encodes a frame at a time into MPEG4 format (simple profile). The output can be either a raw compressed bitstream, or RTP packets. If the packet mode is selected, packets can be defined either by a maximum size (in bytes) or by a number of macroblocks.

The Encoder will encode to a fixed bit-rate per second, specified by the user. Alternatively a fixed quantiser can be specified for fixed quality operation. In addition a flag can be set which identifies whether the bit-rate should be fixed per unit interval (instantaneous bit-rate) as required in real-time transmission over a fixed capacity network, or whether the bit-rate is required as an aggregate over the length of the sequence (used for downloaded decoding).

As a pre-process, a temporal noise reduction filter is available, with user controlled parameters to enable the filter to be matched to the source sensor.

Options available include Data Partitioning, HECs, Reversible VLCs, Video Packets, AC prediction, 4MVs, UMV, Intra_dc_vlc_thr.

The decoder is designed to take an input baseline MPEG4 bitstream, either in raw format or in RTP Packets, and output in YUV 4:2:0 format. There is an inbuilt error resilience to the decoder which ensures that any errors in the bitstream (either packets missing, or bit errors through transmission) are surmounted without the decoder crashing or hanging so that operation will continue with just a temporary effect on the output picture (depending on how catastrophic the error is). This decoder has been tested with real-time hardware encoders for resilience, compatibility and stability.

Additionally an out-of-loop deblocking filter is available for improved quality in bit-rate constrained applications.