A development of the Four Thirds format originally developed by Olympus and then Panasonic, which keeps the same sensor size but changes the lens mount and lenses to allow smaller, hybrid cameras.
The sensor size is 17.3 x 13mm, which is smaller than the APS-C format used for most digital SLRs, but still many times larger than the sensors used in compact cameras. Technically, Micro Four Thirds cameras should not be able to match APS-C cameras at higher ISO settings, but in practice the differences are not always easy to spot.
A combination of good quality lenses and compact, efficient camera designs means that Micro Four Thirds hybrid cameras are seen to offer pretty much the same quality as digital SLRs.
