H.264, H.265 (HEVC), and MPEG-4 are all video compression standards that are used to encode and compress video data. While they serve a similar purpose, there are some key differences between them.
MPEG-4:
MPEG-4 is a video compression standard developed by the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG). It was introduced in 1998 and has several parts, including MPEG-4 Part 2 and MPEG-4 Part 10 (also known as Advanced Video Coding or AVC). MPEG-4 Part 2 is an older standard that provides relatively good compression while maintaining reasonable video quality. It is widely used for video streaming, video conferencing, and storage on various devices.
H.264 (AVC):
H.264, also known as AVC (Advanced Video Coding), is a video compression standard jointly developed by the ITU-T Video Coding Experts Group (VCEG) and the ISO/IEC Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG). It was released in 2003 and quickly gained popularity due to its superior compression efficiency compared to MPEG-4 Part 2. H.264 is widely used for video streaming, Blu-ray discs, video conferencing, and various other applications. It provides good video quality at lower bitrates, making it suitable for low-bandwidth environments.
H.265 (HEVC):
H.265, also known as HEVC (High-Efficiency Video Coding), is the successor to H.264 and was jointly developed by the ITU-T VCEG and the ISO/IEC MPEG. It was introduced in 2013 and offers significant improvements in compression efficiency compared to its predecessor. H.265 can achieve approximately 50% higher compression while maintaining similar video quality compared to H.264. This makes it particularly useful for high-resolution video content, such as 4K and 8K, and applications with limited bandwidth. However, due to the increased complexity of the encoding and decoding processes, H.265 requires more computational resources.
In summary, MPEG-4 is an older video compression standard, while H.264 (AVC) and H.265 (HEVC) are more advanced standards. H.264 offers good compression efficiency and is widely used for various applications. H.265 provides even better compression while maintaining similar video quality, making it suitable for high-resolution content and bandwidth-constrained environments.