mpeg

Mpeg stands for Motion Picture Expert Group. Mpeg is an ISO/IEC working group for compression, decompression, processing, and coded representation of moving pictures, audio. As a result of the work by the mpeg group we have a number of video and sound standards. The mpeg standards contain a lot more than only the compression and file format. But for video files the three "important" ones are:

mpeg-1

mpeg-1 is mainly used for compression on video cds. In windows video files in this format has a mpg or mpeg extension.

mpeg-2

mpeg-2 is mainly used for film on DVDs and digital broadcasts. In windows videom files in this format has an mpeg2, mpeg or mpg extension.

DVD

DVD video files are compressed in mpeg-2 format. The video files are always stored on the DVD in a folder called VIDEO_TS. The files have the .VOB extension.

mpeg-4

mpeg-4 is the newest compression format and takes most computer power to decompress but also yields the best compression result. mpeg-4 includes the Advanced Video Coding or H.264 compression and files come in a number of containers including QuickTime and DivX. File extensions in Windows can be qt, mov and divx.

Playing mpeg files

To play mpeg files in windows you need to have a mpeg codec installed. This is not installed by default in windows before Vista but many large computer manufacturers bundle dvd players including mpeg-2 codecs with their computers.

Capturig video frames

Fast video indexer can capture video frames from mpeg files if the computer has direct show codecs for mpeg installed.

Links

To read more about mpeg visit Wikipedia
Fast video indexer visit can be downloaded from its homepage www.FastVideoIndexer.com.
Plug-ins for Windows Media Player - a list of mpeg2 codecs for Windows XP and Vista.
The MPEG Home Page