An extremely popular digital video format compatible among all platforms. MP4 files are supported by all current hardware and software players and are a common format for movie downloads from the Internet. Blu-ray players and A/V receivers are often able to play MP4 movies directly from a flash drive plugged into a USB port.
Part of the MPEG-4 Standard
The MP4 format is actually a multimedia container that holds audio, video, images, animations and menus. Files with the .MP4 extension are typically compressed via H.264, which is part of MPEG-4. For details, see
MPEG and
H.264. See
M4V and
MP4 player.