# What makes an MPEG-4 file Simple Profile (SP) or Advanced Simple Profile (ASP)



## AhrenBa (Jul 21, 2005)

Hey Guys,

I have been trying to figure out what makes an MPEG-4 file Simple Profile (SP) or Advanced Simple Profile (ASP).... I have no clue.

I know that Xvid and DivX use the ASP, but how do you know the difference between SP and ASP? For instance, how would a person create a SP video instead of an ASP video? What makes each type unique?

Thanks.


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## orijimi (Sep 16, 2007)

I'm thinking ASP is a better encoder method that will take longer but produce better quality video at the same file size as a similar one in normal SP. Apparently, more recent codecs have ASP and that would back up my claim. There aren't any options that will make an mpeg 4 asp that isn't an xvid divx or x264 or h264 of some sort, those are all basically mpeg 4s. There's no normal mpeg 4 encoder. Xvid is the closest to it, because it's open source. But to make one, any processing utility will work. avidemux, virtualdub, mediacoder, mencoder/mplayer, kmplayer/its encoder, and etc.


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## AhrenBa (Jul 21, 2005)

orijimi said:


> I'm thinking ASP is a better encoder method that will take longer but produce better quality video at the same file size as a similar one in normal SP. Apparently, more recent codecs have ASP and that would back up my claim. There aren't any options that will make an mpeg 4 asp that isn't an xvid divx or x264 or h264 of some sort, those are all basically mpeg 4s. There's no normal mpeg 4 encoder. Xvid is the closest to it, because it's open source. But to make one, any processing utility will work. avidemux, virtualdub, mediacoder, mencoder/mplayer, kmplayer/its encoder, and etc.


Ok, cool. Thanks for your reply. Since the Xbox 360 only supported SP MPEG videos, what kind of codec would you use to make this type of video since you said most (xvid, divx, etc.) use ASP? Thanks.


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## orijimi (Sep 16, 2007)

I'm kind of confused here. For a long time Xbox 360s could only play WMVs, MPEG 1s, and MPEG 2s (which are both simple profile MPEGs). But since the April Dashboard update, you can now play h264 stuff. As in ASP. If you encode with the Xvid x264 codec, it'll work fine. To make it clean-cut and simple.


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## AhrenBa (Jul 21, 2005)

orijimi said:


> I'm kind of confused here. For a long time Xbox 360s could only play WMVs, MPEG 1s, and MPEG 2s (which are both simple profile MPEGs). But since the April Dashboard update, you can now play h264 stuff. As in ASP. If you encode with the Xvid x264 codec, it'll work fine. To make it clean-cut and simple.


Yes, I am confused too, here is what I found.

Spring '07 Update:
http://blogs.msdn.com/xboxteam/archive/2007/05/09/spring-07-video-playback-faq.aspx

Fall '07 Update:
http://blogs.msdn.com/xboxteam/archive/2007/11/30/december-2007-video-playback-faq.aspx

As you can see, it says that the Spring Update supports MPEG-4 SP videos. This is what I am confused about. Are there even such things as MPEG-4 SP videos since most of the codecs require ASP?


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## orijimi (Sep 16, 2007)

I think this how-to will work.
http://www.digital-digest.com/articles/Xbox_360_H.264_Conversion_Guide_page1.html


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