Established in 1988 with the mission to establish standards for digital audio and video MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) has produced
MPEG1, the standard on which such products as
Video CD and
MP3 are based,
MPEG2 the standard on which such products as
Digital Television set top boxes and
DVD are based and
MPEG4, the standard for multimedia for the web and the mobile environment. Next to come is
MPEG7 "Multimedia Content Description Interface" whose completion is scheduled for July 2001. Work on the new standard
MPEG21 "Multimedia Framework" has started in June 2000.
http://www.cselt.it/mpeg/