MXF is a media container developed by SMPTE association for professional use. MXF implements subset of Advanced Authoring Format (AAF) data model and nowadays become a standard in professional non-linear video editing. MXF files can be compressed with almost any codec and easily converted to any popular video format. Worth noting that Sony's, Panasonic's and Canon's implementation of this format carries a lot of incompatibilities, that was a big flaw of this container. These issues were addressed in the 2009 version of the standard.

MP4 is an extension defined by MPEG-4 video standard and AAC audio standard. It is a container that supports all kinds of media such as video, audio, subtitles, 2D and 3D graphics. It is possible to open MP4 file with almost any player on Windows but on Mac you should use a plug-in or just convert the file to another format.