An ITU standard for compressing video based on MPEG-4 that is popular, especially for high-definition video. Taking advantage of today's high-speed chips, H.264 delivers MPEG-4 quality with a frame size up to four times greater. It can also provide MPEG-2 quality at a reduced data rate, requiring as little as one third the original bandwidth.

Formerly known as "H.26L" by the ITU, H.264 is also known as "MPEG-4 Part 10" by the ISO MPEG group, which jointly developed the codec.

Advanced Video Coding (MPEG-4 AVC)
The H.264 enhancements over earlier MPEG modes and the ITU H.263 standard are achieved using a large number of techniques dubbed "Advanced Video Coding" (AVC). Compression is provided in several profiles from Baseline for low-end applications to High Profile for HD material. See H.263, H.323, MPEG and codec.