ISO/IEC 14478规定了支持交互式单媒体和多媒体应用的技术，这些应用识别并强调用户界面、多媒体应用和多媒体信息交换之间的相互关系。 ISO/IEC 14478定义了一个包含模块化功能的灵活环境，并可通过在标准委员会内外创建未来组件进行扩展。它以一致的方式支持广泛的多媒体应用，从简单的绘图到全动态视频、声音和虚拟现实环境。 ISO/IEC 14478独立于任何特定的实现语言、开发环境或执行环境。为了集成到编程环境中，标准应按照该环境的特定约定嵌入到依赖于系统的接口中。 ISO/IEC 14478提供了超越单片单介质系统能力的多种封装技术。这允许重新安排和扩展功能，以满足特定应用领域的特定需求。ISO/IEC 14478是逐步开发的，第一部分至第四部分最初可用。其他组件预计将由ISO/IEC JTC 1 SC24或其他小组委员会进行标准化。 ISO/IEC 14478提供了一个框架，在该框架内，可以集成应用程序定义的与环境交互的方式。描述了输入和输出对象的定义、表示和操作方法。还允许应用程序提供的对象结构，例如，tan可作为开发工具包的基础，用于创建、展示多媒体和超媒体，并与之交互- 媒体文档和产品模型数据。 ISO/IEC 14478能够使用多种媒体支持多个同时输入和输出的构造、表示和交互。几个这样的活动可能同时发生，应用程序可以调整其行为，以充分利用其环境的功能。 ISO/IEC 14478包括多媒体对象的外部存储、检索和交换接口。

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 tan be integrated. Methods for the definition, presentation, and manipulation of both input and output objects are described. Applicationsupplied structuring of objects is also allowed and tan, 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 tan 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.