MPEG-2 is a standard of the Moving Pictures Expert Group (MPEG), which deals with standardization of video formats. This standard uses the MPEG system with compression for use on TV sets. It is also often used for DVDs but only offers lossy compression. Therefore, a file should not be converted from another format to MPEG-2. 

In MPEG-2 there are five profiles with different resolutions and bit rates, most often the Main Profile at Main Level or at High Level is used:

Advantages:

- Since it is a format with a standardized compression process, the files are comparatively small with good image quality.

- pervasive

Disadvantages:

- Not suitable for further processing

- low compression