Overview
A media processor, mostly used as an image/video processor, is a microprocessor-based system-on-a-chip which is designed to deal with digital streaming data in real-time (e.g. display refresh) rates. These devices can also be considered a class of digital signal processors (DSPs).
Unlike graphics processing units (GPUs), which are used for computer displays, media processors are targeted at digital televisions and set-top boxes.
The streaming digital media classes include:
uncompressed video
compressed digital video - e.g. MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4
digital audio- e.g. PCM, AAC
Such SOCs are composed of:
a microprocessor optimized to deal with these media datatypes
a memory interface
streaming media interfaces
specialized functional units to help deal with the various digital media codecs
From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).