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MPG files.

MPG is transforming how the world gathers multimedia information. Whether on streaming services or viral videos, MPG has become the go-to name for video storing, sharing, and streaming today.

Explore MPG files, how they work, and why they’re so essential to life today.

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History of the MPG file.

Even though MPG or MPEG is a widely used audio-video container file, most don’t know that the name is an acronym that stands for Moving Pictures Experts Group — a group founded back in 1988 with a dream to revolutionize multimedia.

MPEG's first ground-breaking success came from audio formatting when it gave the world the hugely successful MP3 file — a format that still dominates the modern-day digital soundscape.

The first-generation MPG is a far cry though from its current version. Originally it became the standard for compressing audio and video, because it could compress VHS-quality video and CD audio without any significant loss of quality. The MPEG-1 file extension uses a data rate of 1.2 Mbps, basically the speed of a CD-ROM, while the MPEG-2 supports a higher quality with a bit rate of 1.2 to 15Mbps, which made it the more favored format for video on demand and digital television.

Pros and cons of MPG files.

How to open an MPG file.

How you open an MPG depends on the program and operating system you’re using.

  • To open MPG files on Windows, simply double-click on the file, and it will open on your Windows Media Player.
  • To open MPG files on Mac, open the file with Quick Time Player.
  • To open an MPG file on your iPhone, you'll first need to convert it to an MP4 file.

You may also need to install a compatible application in order to open your MPG file.

How to create and edit an MPG file.

You can open up an MPG file in Adobe Premiere and edit the file as you wish in that program. You can also export the video or convert it to another format in Adobe Media Encoder, which gives you flexibility with the file you want to export.

MPG files are also compatible with After Effects, which allows you to add additional visual effects and graphics to your file.

Questions? We have answers.

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