MPEG-4 Part 14

MPEG-4 Part 14 or MP4 is a digital multimedia format most commonly used to store video and audio, but can also be used to store other data such as subtitles and still images. Like most modern container formats, it allows streaming over the Internet. The only official filename extension for MPEG-4 Part 14 files is .mp4, but many have other extensions, most commonly .m4a and .m4p. M4A (audio only) is often compressed using AAC encoding (lossy), but can also be in Apple Lossless format. M4P is a protected format which employs DRM technology to restrict copying. MPEG-4 Part 14 (formally ISO/IEC 14496-14:2003) is a standard specified as a part of MPEG-4.

Some devices advertised as "MP4 Players" are simply MP3 Players that also play AMV video or some other video format, and do not necessarily play the MPEG-4 Part 14 format.

History of MP4

MPEG-4 Part 14 is an instance of the more general ISO/IEC 14496-12:2004 (MPEG-4 Part 12: ISO base media file format) which is directly based upon the QuickTime File Format. MPEG-4 Part 14 is essentially identical to the QuickTime file format, but formally specifies support for Initial Object Descriptors (IOD) and other MPEG features. MPEG-4 Part 14 revises and completely replaces Clause 13 of ISO/IEC 14496-1 (MPEG-4 Part 1: Systems), in which the file format for MPEG-4 content was previously specified.

M4P

The term M4P, now more commonly known as Market Systems Development, refers to an approach in aid and development known as 'Making Markets Work for the Poor'. It seeks to change the way that markets work, so that poor people are included in the benefits of growth and economic development. The aim is to tackle market failures and strengthen the private sector in a way that creates large-scale, lasting benefits for the poor.

All poor people already participate in markets, whether as workers, subsistence farmers, consumers or entrepreneurs. Strengthening these markets in ways that secure higher incomes from or access to goods and services for the poor is therefore seen by M4P advocates as a sustainable way to fight poverty at scale.

The approach utilises systems analysis as a means of diagnosing and addressing the constraints that face poor and disadvantaged people in improving their position within markets. The approach conceptualises systems as inclusive of core markets, supporting functions, and the formal and informal rules that affect how the system works. As such, the market systems approach analyses functions of private market actors, individuals, government organisations and social and cultural norms in order to understand how a system operates.