MPEG-4 and MP4 - what's the difference?

If you find the formats MPEG-4 and MP4, the difference is not visible at first glance. We show you what the two terms have to do with each other and how the file formats differ.

The difference between MP4 and MPEG-4

• MPEG-4 is the standard format for compressing (reducing) audio and video content. MPEG-4 consists of a total of 31 parts, so-called standards.
• The designation MP4 is a video container format. The MP4 format only consists of MPEG-4 parts 2, 3, 10, 12 and 14 and combines them in a container.
• These parts from MPEG-4 determine how sound and picture are stored together in the MP4 file.
• Therefore, MP4 files are usually much smaller than the MPEG-4 format.