Why use MPEG-4 over MPEG-2?

MPEG-4 is the latest ISO/IEC standard for video compression developed by the Emmy Award winning Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG). It was developed by a large, international group of researchers and engineers and was finalized in October 1998, becoming an International Standard in early 1999. MPEG-4 will be the standard for multimedia in the future, building on the success of digital television (HDTV), interactive graphics applications and interactive multimedia.

MPEG-4 has several advantages over MPEG-2

Compression - The MPEG-4 compression algorithm provides much higher compression than MPEG-2, which allows you to get the higher quality video while reducing the overall file size.

MAC & PC Editing - Utilizing the WMV format for MPEG-4, the Leica MDRS4 videos are rapidly becoming the easiest and most cross-compatible format to work with. With advent of Flip4Mac (www.flip4mac.com) MAC users can now use their favorite editing software for creating their presentations.

Power Point - Our MPEG-4 files are designed to integrate directly into Microsoft PowerPoint, making the creation of your presentations simpler, while providing a richer and more powerful experience for the viewers.

Streaming Technology - MPEG-4 video files begin playing immediately, and finish loading as they go, whereas MPEG-2 video files must finish loading before they can begin playing. This gives MPEG-4 a significant advantage over MPEG-2 when you want to add multimedia to a PowerPoint presentation or to a web site.

Here is a quote from Apple's website:

"MPEG-4: The Next Generation
The new revolution in digital media is here. MPEG-4 is the next-generation, global multimedia standard, delivering professional-quality audio and video streams over a wide range of bandwidths, from cell phone to broadband and beyond."