Visual search has been a long-standing problem in applications such as location recognition and product search. Much research has been done on image representation, matching, indexing, and retrieval. Key component technologies for visual search have been developed, and numerous real-world applications are emerging. To ensure application interoperability, the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) has begun standardizing visual search technologies and is developing the compact descriptors for visual search (CDVS) standard. MPEG seeks to develop a collaborative platform for evaluating existing visual search technologies. Peking University has participated in this standardization since the 94th MPEG meeting, and significant progress has been made with the various proposals. A test model (TM) has been selected to determine the basic pipeline and key components of visual search. However, the first-version TM has high computational complexity and imperfect retrieval and matching. Core experiments have therefore been set up to improve TM. In this article, we summarize key technologies for visual search and report the progress of MPEG CDVS. We discuss Peking University’s efforts in CDVS and also discuss unresolved issues.