[1] It was developed in response to the need for a generic method for coding of text as one of the multimedia components within audiovisual presentations.
[3][4][5] 3GPP approved the Timed text format for 3G multimedia services in 3GPP TS 26.245 in 2004.
MPEG-4 Timed Text is heavily based on XML semantics.
On October 7, 2005, VideoLAN added decoding support for MPEG-4 Timed Text subtitles in VLC.
[8] On October 30, 2005, Gabest added decoding support for MPEG-4 Timed Text subtitles in MPC.