Federal Agencies
Digital Guidelines Initiative

Audio System Performance | Content Categories & Digitization Objectives | Digital Imaging Framework | Digitizing Motion Picture Film | Digitization Activities - Project Planning | Embedded Metadata in Broadcast WAVE Files | Embedded Metadata in Digital Still Images | Embedded Metadata in DPX Files | Embedded Metadata in TIFF Images |  File Format ComparisonsMXF Application Specification | Technical Guidelines for Digitizing Cultural Heritage Materials

Home > Guidelines > MXF Application Specification

Guidelines: MXF Application Specification
Audio-Visual Working Group

The document known as RDD 48 specifies a vendor-neutral subset of the Material Exchange Format (MXF) file format for the long-term archiving and preservation of moving image and other audiovisual content, including all forms of ancillary data, together with associated materials. Among other features, RDD 48 defines a means for the carriage and labeling of multiple timecodes and audio tracks; the handling of captions, subtitles, and Timed Text; a minimal core metadata set; program segmentation metadata; and embedded content integrity data.

The overall RDD has been written broadly, to cover a wide range of audiovisual content. One derivative or secondary related version (referred to by the former Advanced Media Workflow Association or AMWA term shim) is included via a set of constraints specified in annex J. This derivative version is named the RDD 48 Baseband Shim: Single Items from Baseband Video, and it is intended to serve the most critical current needs of many archives: the reformatting of older analog and digital videotapes and, for some organizations, the encoding and packaging of "live" video streams sent to an archive via a serial interface. Additional derivative or secondary related versions may be developed in the future, e.g., for born digital (retain and rewrap essence as acquired), scanned film, and other content types.

Comments are welcome.

Current Version

Sample Files

Sample files for PAL and NTSC are availabe including for FFV1 in MXF mapping for Amd 1 2022.  

Document History

This document began as the Application Specification for Archiving and Preservation (ASAP) by FADGI. The AS-07 designation was assigned in 2012 when the specification came under AMWA auspices. Although AMWA had not yet established its Work in Progress (WIP) category, versions of AS-07 have been shared in a WIP manner with the archiving community five times and once as a Proposed Specification with peer review. The 2017 version was published under FADGI sponsorship, again with community peer review and is the last iteration to carry the AS-07 designation. Starting in 2018, the name is changed to Registered Disclosure Document (RDD) 48 and the document is published by SMPTE. Links to all published versions of the document are available below.

Previous Versions

Posted on the FADGI Web site

Posted at the AMWA Web site:

BACKGROUND DOCUMENTS

Back to Top

Working Groups

Still Image Working Group
This group is involved in a cooperative effort to develop common digitization guidelines for still image materials.

Audio-Visual Working Group
This group works collaboratively on common and sustainable technical guidelines, methods, and practices for digitized and born digital sound recordings and moving images.

Last Updated: 7/15/2019