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ISO/IEC 14478 specifies techniques for supporting interactive single, and multiple media applications which recognize and emphasize the interrelationships among user interfaces, multimedia applications, and multimedia information interchange.

ISO/IEC 14478 defines a flexible environment to encompass modular functionality and is extensible through the creation of future components, both within and outside of standards committees. It supports a wide range of multimedia applications in a consistent way, from simple drawings up to full motion video, sound, and virtual reality environments.

ISO/IEC 14478 is independent of any particular implementation language, development environment, or execution environment. For integration into a programming environment, the standard shall be embedded in a system dependent interface following the particular conventions of that environment. ISO/IEC 14478 provides versatile packaging techniques beyond the capabilities of monolithic single–media systems. This allows rearranging and extending functionality to satisfy requirements specific to particular application areas. ISO/IEC 14478 is developed incrementally with parts 1 through 4 initially available. Other components are expected to be standardized by ISO/IEC JTC 1 SC24 or other subcommittees.

ISO/IEC 14478 provides a framework within which application–defined ways of interacting with the environment can be integrated. Methods for the definition, presentation, and manipulation of both input and output objects are described. Application–supplied structuring of objects is also allowed and can, for example, be used as a basis for the development of toolkits for the creation of, presentation of, and interaction with multimedia and hyper–media documents and product model data.

ISO/IEC 14478 is able to support construction, presentation, and interaction with multiple simultaneous inputs and outputs using multiple media. Several such activities may occur simultaneously, and the application program can adapt its behaviour to make best use of the capabilities of its environment.

ISO/IEC 14478 includes interfaces for external storage, retrieval and interchange of multimedia objects.