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Multimedia information is getting more abundant and the means to produce it are becoming a commodity, but finding and managing multimedia content is getting harder and harder. In 1996, MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) started a project formally named "Multimedia Content Description Interface", but better known as MPEG-7, acknowledging the need to efficiently and effectively describe and retrieve multimedia information and recognizing the substantial technological developments in the area of multimedia content description. MPEG-7 sets a standard for multimedia description tools, notably so-called descriptors, description schemes, systems tools and a description definition language. MPEG-7 is generic in the sense that it is not specially designed or optimized for a particular application domain. It is however clear that image and video database applications are among its most important application domains. This paper intends to overview the context, objectives, technical approach, workplan and achievements of the MPEG-7 standard. The first version and main body of this standard should be ready by July 2001.