Tech for every day use

Information and communication technologies pervade our daily lives and all economic sectors. The way we access and use information has changed. We view, send and receive documents and images for work and leisure on our smartphones, tablets, laptops and TVs, whose screen quality continues to improve.

Additionally, virtual and augmented reality applications are being used by more industries, from broadcasting, sports, health and tourism, to manufacturing, marketing, real estate and construction. Their innovative, interactive features personalize the user’s experience and can improve safety and efficiency.

ISO and IEC JTC 1/SC 29 standardization work covers coding of audio, picture, multimedia and hypermedia information.

Key working groups (WGs) and advisory groups (AGs) within it include:

  • ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 29/AG 1 Chair Support Team and Management
  • ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 29/AG 2 MPEG Technical coordination
  • ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 29/AG 3 MPEG Liaison and communication
  • ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 29/AG 4 JPEG and MPEG Collaboration
  • ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 29/AG 5 MPEG Visual quality assessment
  • ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 29/WG 1 JPEG Coding of digital representations of images
  • ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 29/WG 2 MPEG Technical requirements
  • ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 29/WG 3 MPEG Systems
  • ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 29/WG 4 MPEG Video coding
  • ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 29/WG 5 MPEG Joint video experts team (JVET) with ITU-T SG 16
  • ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 29/WG 6 MPEG Audio coding
  • ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 29/WG 7 MPEG 3D Graphics and haptics coding
  • ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 29/WG 8 MPEG Genomic coding

International Awards

On nine occasions, the ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 29 group has received the coverted Emmy Awards for outstanding achievements in engineering and technical development. These have included three Primetime Emmy Engineering Awards from the  Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS) and six Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards from the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) for outstanding achievement in engineering and technical development. They are listed chronologically below:

  • 1996 – Technology and Engineering Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Technical/Engineering Development – JPEG, MPEG-1 and MPEG-2
  • 2008 – Primetime Emmy Engineering Award – MPEG-4 AVC video coding standard
  • 2009 – Technology and Engineering Emmy Award – MPEG-4 AVC video coding standard
  • 2014 – Technology and Engineering Emmy Award – MPEG-2 transport stream format
  • 2017 – Primetime Emmy Engineering Award – • The High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) standard
  • 2019 – Primetime Emmy Engineering Award – JPEG standard
  • 2021 – Technology and Engineering Emmy Award – ISO Base Media File Format (ISOBMFF) standard
  • 2022 – Technology and Engineering Emmy Award – MPEG-DASH video streaming protocol
  • 2022 – Technology and Engineering Emmy Award – Open Font Format standard

Lawrence D. Eicher Award

ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 29 was the inaugural recipient of the Lawrence D. Eicher Award, named in honour of ISOʼs late Secretary-General, Lawrence D. Eicher. The Lawrence D. Eicher Leadership Award is a prestigious award that recognized the significant contributions and superior performance of SC 29 to the development of ISO International Standards.