The Material Exchange Format (MXF) and its application

This paper describes the specification of the Material eXchange Format (MXF) currently under joint development by the ProMPEG forum(1) and the AAF (Advanced Authoring Format) Association.(2) As the name implies, the specification is focused towards the exchange of program material between devices that support the MXF. An MXF file is a "wrapper" for containing audiovisual material in a playable format. Each le contains a comprehensive metadata structure together with component parts that enable MXF files to be written and read directly by AAF-compliant tools. The entire data structure is based on approved SMPTE standards relating to metadata coding using the KLV syntax(3) and standardized metadata dictionary items for interchange.(4) The paper will also describe how the G-FORS project actively contributes to the MXF specification in order to achieve its goals of network file-based TV production. Details of the project and its use of MXF are included to demonstrate applications of MXF.