In an effort to increase the presence of the Windows Media Format in the professional video, broadcast, and consumer electronics markets, Microsoft has submitted the compression technology used in Windows Media 9 Series to an international standards body, the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE). However, the format is unlikely to achieve the same widespread support as MPEG because of resistance from consumer electronics companies.

Main Target: MPEG

MPEG-1 and MPEG-2, established in 1992 and 1994, respectively, are the most widely used standards for compressing combined audio and video information into a digital format. Today, MPEG and standards based on MPEG are used and supported by an enormous variety of products, including digital video creation and editing software, satellite and cable TV distribution and playback systems, and consumer electronics devices, such as DVD players and high-definition TVs. The popular MP3 audio format is also based on MPEG-2.

One of the reasons for MPEG's ubiquity is the fact that it is an open set of standards owned by no single company. MPEG standards are governed by the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG), a working group that is part of the International Standards Organization and International Electrotechnical Commission (ISO/IEC), although many private companies, including Microsoft, own patents used in those standards.

Microsoft says that the latest version of its Windows Media compression technology, released toward the end of 2002, offers up to three times better video compression ratios than MPEG-2 and significantly better compression than MPEG-4, which has not yet found widespread adoption, mainly due to more onerous licensing restrictions than its predecessors.

Microsoft would like to see the Windows Media Format become the preferred successor (or at least one of a few popular successors) to MPEG-2 for several reasons:

• Microsoft earns a royalty for every consumer electronics product sold that supports the Windows Media Format
• Nearly all Microsoft products, including Windows PCs and forthcoming consumer electronics devices based on the Media2Go Platform, favor the Windows Media Format; wide availability of media in the format would increase the usefulness of these devices in home entertainment scenarios
• Windows Server comes with software for hosting and streaming Windows Media files; getting the format accepted by the professional video and broadcast industries could increase Windows server sales.

By submitting Windows Media technology to a standards body, Microsoft is taking the first steps toward building widespread industry support.

Who Will Bite?

On the same day that Microsoft announced the SMPTE submission, it also announced that a host of new partners—primarily small, specialized companies in various branches of the broadcasting industry—have agreed to support Windows Media 9 Series technologies in the following types of products:

• Tools for producing and broadcasting digital video (Digital Rapids, Harmonic, Omnibus Systems, Quantel, Tandberg Television, TWI Interactive, and others)
• Set-top boxes for digital TV systems (Biostar Group, Costron, Pace Micro, Samsung, Tcom&dtvro, and Wyse)
• Middleware and servers for various TV-related functions, such as video-on-demand and TV-over-IP (Alcatel, Infogate Online, Orca Interactive, SeaChange International, and Stellar One).

In addition, some media companies have agreed to try the Windows Media Format for video-on-demand (Monaco Telecom) and 5.1 surround-sound radio broadcasts (Capital Radio, NTL Broadcast, and RadioScape).

Despite this rash of announcements, the Windows Media Format continues to face resistance, particularly from consumer electronics companies wary of Microsoft's intentions. For instance, the Xbox game console competes with Sony's highly profitable PlayStation franchise, and the Media Center PC is an effort to place the PC, rather than a TV or other traditional consumer electronics device, at the center of the home entertainment experience. As long as Microsoft continues to compete with consumer electronics companies in their core areas of business, Windows Media will be unlikely to attain the widespread adoption that MPEG currently enjoys.

For more information on Windows Media and the recent partnership announcements, see www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia.The MPEG home page is at www.chiariglione.org/mpeg/index.htm. A good historical overview of MPEG is available at www.sims.berkeley.edu/courses/is224/s99/GroupG/report1.html.