Controlware Communications Systems

You are here:Knowledge Base  » Security articles » CCTV video compression  » Motion JPEG

Motion JPEG CCTV video compression

The JPEG standard was developed by the Joint Photographic Expert Group (part of ISO) for efficient storage of individual frames. Motion JPEG or M-JPEG is a series of separate JPEG images that form a video sequence. When 16 JPEG image frames or more are joined together per second, the result is an illusion of motion video. Video reproduction at 30 frames per second (FPS) for NTSC signals or 25 FPS for PAL signals is called full motion video or continuous-motion video.

Although Motion JPEG is an unlicensed standard it is widely compatible with many applications that require low frame rates or technologies such as Video Analytics where frame by frame analysis is crucial.

Advantages

• Ability to support multi-mega pixel resolution
• Ideal for courtroom single frame evidence
• Clearer images at lower frame rates than MPEG-4
• Frame by frame playback offers more frames to view
• Technology is simpler; this can reduce the cost of a camera or video codec
• At low bandwidth priority is given to Image Resolution

Disadvantages

• No M-JPEG standard often means incompatibility issues
• High bit rate for scenes with little or no activity increases bandwidth and storage
• Video quality deteriorates at higher compression ratios
• Converting M-JPEG into another format reduces video quality
• Dated technology superseded by more bandwidth-efficient encoding techniques

• MPEG-4