[The Kwangwoon University 2025 Pre-Startup Package CEO] Mirage, A Leader in R&D for International Multimedia Compression Standard Technologies

Sea Nae Park CEO of Mirage

-Mirage specializes in the research and development of advanced compression technologies for video data

-Leveraging CEO Park’s extensive expertise to develop and commercialize core multimedia technologies

Mirage is a professional R&D firm specializing in international multimedia compression standards, focusing primarily on video data compression technologies. The company was founded in March 2025 by CEO Sea Nae Park (45).

To play or stream videos on devices like smartphones and TVs via platforms such as YouTube and Netflix, technologies known as ‘CODECs’ are essential. Familiar examples of CODEC applications include JPEG for still image compression (using the .jpg extension), MPEG-4 for video files (using .mp4), and MPEG-3 for audio files (using .mp3).

“Among these various types of multimedia data, Mirage primarily develops compression technologies for video data”, stated CEO Sea Nae Park. “Since most platform companies provide global services, the technologies embedded in their products and used for streaming must adhere to internationally unified specifications. These are what we call International Standard Technologies.”

Mirage’s primary business model involves developing proprietary core technologies that fall under these standards and either licensing them directly to end-users for royalties or divesting them to enterprises in need of such intellectual property. Furthermore, the company provides expert consulting for corporations and academic institutions that require specialized knowledge in the R&D and licensing of international standard technologies.

The competitiveness of Mirage can be summarized in two main aspects: the inherent strength of the market and the company’s unique capability as a provider.

“First, regarding the market, one only needs to consider how deeply multimedia is integrated into our daily lives. From OTT and SNS to IPTV, consumers use these services across various devices—mobile phones, large-screen TVs, tablets, and laptops—anytime and anywhere. Every single one of these devices applies international multimedia standards, meaning every manufacturer of these products is a potential consumer of our technology. The market is already vast and is expected to grow even further”, Park explained.

The second competitive advantage lies in the high barrier to entry. While the market is highly lucrative, the field is notoriously difficult to penetrate. Consumer expectations for multimedia services are constantly rising, users demand content that is more immersive, vivid, and high-definition. Future standard technologies are established with these next-generation applications in mind, targeting data specifications far higher than what we consume today. While higher quality typically means larger file sizes, high-ratio compression is required to transmit and store this data efficiently over networks.

“When compressed data is delivered to a user, it must maintain high visual quality. This necessitates the development of technologies that provide high compression efficiency with minimal loss in quality. This is a challenging, dual-objective—akin to making a product that is both high-quality and inexpensive—which makes the technology extremely complex. Consequently, it is difficult for others to reach or exceed the technical level of institutions and researchers who have dedicated years to this field. This technical depth is our second core strength.”

Regarding future plans, CEO Park remarked, “I embarked on this business with a long-term perspective. I expect that this patient approach will eventually yield significant achievements.”

Founded: March 2025
Core Business: R&D of core technologies for international multimedia compression standards
Key Achievement: Selected for the 2025 Pre Startup Package

reporter jinho lee
jinho2323@hankyung.com