A full open-source implementation, named Genie, is currently under development by the MITOGEN group (https://mitogen.github.io/).

The code can be found here: https://github.com/mitogen/genie

The core compression technologies that will be integrated into the Genie code can be found here: https://mitogen.github.io/software/

Note that the Genie project aims at implementing only a subset of the functionalities of the MPEG-G standard and not the entire specifications.

The MPEG-G specifications are a written document and, as such, are not tied to a particular implementation. Hence, one cannot strictly compare MPEG-G to other implementations. However, one can compare different implementations of MPEG-G to other genomic data compression technologies. In this regard, some participants of MPEG-G are developing a baseline open-source implementation of the specifications. It is important to emphasize that the performance of these open-source implementations will serve as a baseline and does not reflect the ultimate performance capabilities of the MPEG-G standard. A goal of MPEG-G is to foster interoperability while allowing for innovation that can lead to improved performance for implementations of the standard.

With respect to existing genomic data formats, MPEG-G provides new solutions for the representation and compression of genome sequencing information by:

• Specifying an abstract representation of the sequencing information rather than specifying an implementation of the compression of a specific data format or file format
• Avoiding ambiguous, unspecified or ill-specified data representations that prevent interoperable information exchange. Being designed at a time point in which technologies and use cases are rather mature, incremental ad-hoc additions of new features are forbidden.
• Clearly and normatively separating user-defined information with no clear semantics from the normative genomic data representation. User-defined information is supported within a standardized syntax and semantics. This allows a fully interoperable and automatic exchange of information between different data producers and flexibility in satisfying specific user needs.
• Allowing multiplexing of relevant meta-data information with the data since data and meta-data are partitioned at different conceptual levels.
• Providing the specification of a transport format, a file format, compression technology and standard application program interfaces, following a model and development process which has proven successful in the last 30 years in the domain of digital media.

Any individual or organization can join the ISO/MPEG-G working group. Attendance at MPEG meetings requires accreditation by a National Standards Body or standards committee in liaison.

You can find detailed information about the National Standards Body in your country here. Please mention: ISO, IEC, JTC 1, SC 29 when registering.

The standard specification is the description of the normative decoding process to be performed to decompress the information from the encoded file. This process can be implemented using a variety of technologies and methods. Conformity of implementations with the standard specification can be assessed by a set of conformity tests normatively specified in a specific part of the standard (ISO/IEC 23092-5 for MPEG-G).