Information, tips and instructions

Media File Formats

MP4 Media Container Format

Since you came here looking for 3GP files information it may be usefull to read about MP4 format since 3GP is a simplified version of it.

MP4 (MPEG-4) is a format which is very similar to archive file (like ZIP, RAR, etc.) but with a difference that it was designed to store media content. Typical content that is stored in MP4 files includes:

• Video in MPEG-4, MPEG-2 or MPEG-1 format
• Audio in various formats (MPEG2, MP3, MIDI and others)
• Subtitles in 3GPP Timed Text

But technically data provider can store almost any information in MP4 files using private streams.

OGG File Format

OGG is another container file format maintained by Xiph.Org Foundation. Technically it is very similar to MP4 format but it is not restricted by any software patents thus anyone can use this format in their software without paying loyalties.

Even though OGG files could be used to store media content in any formats it is primarily used for following media formats:

• Audio: Speex, Vorbis, FLAC
• Video: Theora, Tarkin, Dirac, OggUVS
• Text: Writ, CMML

FLV (Flash Video) media container

FLV is a container format used by Adobe Flash Player to deliver video/audio/subtitles content to the user. In Flash Player 9 Adobe extended this format to be compatible with MPEG-4 standard. Thus in its current format FLV is very similar to MP4.

FLV is usually delivered to user as part of SWF files. SWF files should be very familiar to you since they are used to deliver all these cool games and animations that you see on internet.

QuickTime Movie (MOV) media container

QuickTime Movie formats is probably one of the oldest formats for delivering media content. It was introduced by Apple on December 2, 1991 as a multimedia add-on for System Software 6. MOV in its current form is also very similar to MP4 and it is possible to easily convert both formats to each other. Actually MP4 format was even derived from Quicktime on February 11, 1998 when ISO approved the QuickTime file format as a basis of MPEG-4 Part 14 (.MP4) container standard.