AMWA Technical Information
Jump to:
 AMWA Specifications
AMWA Engineering Tasks
White Papers & Presentations
Developers Directory for AAF Programming Assistance
AMWA Developers Library
AAF DocVault (Docs under development in AAF committees)
Proposed MXF Master Format Specifications
AAF-MXF Subtitling
EBU Liaison
AAF and MXF - A complementary pair
The AAF Association, along with the Pro-MPEG Forum and the SMPTE, is a co-creator of MXF. AAF and MXF combine to offer a well-rounded, complementary solution to the complex problems involved in the interchange and movement of media throughout the post production and distribution processes. AAF is primarily intended for post production interchange and supports external content references and downstream processing (such as effect, fades, etc.); whereas, MXF is primarily intended for storage, broadcast and play-out interchange of complete programs.
AAF members will continue to conduct MXF-AAF interoperability testing, deliver free open-source testing and reporting software, and provide user feedback to continuously refine the MXF specification. Committed to the long-term success of the MXF standard, the AAF Association is pleased to announce that the AAF SDK version 1.2 includes a zero-divergence implementation of both AAF and MXF through a single open-source API, and version 1.3 will extend this zero-divergence implementation to three-way compatibility between MXF, AAF and XML.
AMWA Specifications
Protocols:
Format specifications:
Previous versions of AAF Object Specification:
AMWA Engineering Tasks
White Papers & Presentations
These documents provide additional information about the Advanced Authoring Format.
Ingest & Metadata - A presentation on metadata issues given at the 2000 SMPTE Pasadena Winter Conference. Includes a discussion of many SMPTE concepts including KLV, Registries, AAF, MXF, and GXF. (PowerPoint, 682k)
Understanding AAF - A Powerpoint presentation, presented as part of the Digital Video Production Workshop at NAB 2000 (PowerPoint, 891k)
Packaging and File Interchange - A general presentation on Packaging and Wrappers, given to the SMPTE Digital Cinema Study Group in Hollywood, California in October of 2000. Includes a discussion on AAF, MXF and templates. (PowerPoint, 1.46Mb)
Developers Directory for AAF Programming Assistance
As a courtesy, the AAF Association has developed a Developers Directory for individuals who may need some assistance working with the AAF toolkit.
This directory lists developers who are willing to contract for their services. The Advanced Authoring Format Association has no knowledge of the capabilities or quality of the services or products provided by the people listed in this directory nor does it accept responsibility for the skills and experience of developers, or the quality of their work. If you would like to be added to the directory, please contact Barbara_Main@aafassociation.org.
AMWA Developers Library
- AAF SDK API Documentation
- AAF SDK Plugin Programmer's Interface Documentation
- AAF Plugin Specification (PDF, 55k)
- AAF Object Manager Design (PDF, 171k)
- AAF Object Manager Documentation
- AAF Developers Guide (PDF, 155k)
- AAF FAQ for Programmers is a technical FAQ which offers answers to programming question.
- Null codec implementation and (re)use - Given by Jim Trainor, AAF Developer, at the October 2002 AAF Engineering Meeting, Atlanta (Powerpoint, 245k)
- Patterns in AAF Software - Given by Jim Trainor, AAF Developer, at the 2001 AAF Developers Conference in Barcelona, Spain (PowerPoint, 287k)
- New AAF Examples - Given by Jim Trainor, AAF Developer, at the 2001 AAF Developers Conference in Barcelona, Spain (PowerPoint, 445k)
- The AAF File Format: A Bottom Up Look at AAF Files and the AAF Open Source SDK - Given by Jim Trainor, AAF Developer, at the 2001 AAF Developers Conference in Barcelona, Spain (PowerPoint, 439k)
- The AAF File Format - Given by Jim Trainor, AAF Developer, this is a presentation on AAF for developers from the SMPTE 143rd Technical Conference in New York City (PDF, 47k)
- AAF For Developers - Jim Trainor, AAF Developer (PDF, 217k)
- AAF - Dodo and the Evolution of an interface
- Dodo Reference Manual
- Rebuilding Derived headers on Windows
- How to download Cygwin tools
- AAF and its use of COM
- Performance evaluation for AAF Structured Storage files - Results collated by Phil Tudor, 5 April 2005, version 0.1 (PDF, 127k)
- TN09 - I/O Performance and the AAF Toolkit - April 5, 2004 Tim Bingham (PDF, 30k)
- To download the SDK, follow this link to the download page.
Proposed MXF Master Format Specifications
(members only)
These documents are password protected. Contact Barbara Main for access codes.
AAF - MXF Subtitling
Background
AAF and MXF are seen as key formats for new file-based production, distribution and playout facilities. Methods have been defined and standardised for carrying video and audio essence and metadata within these new formats. The next important requirement that is emerging as AAF/MXF facilities are being planned is the requirement for the new formats to carry subtitling information (and other 'access' services).
Having recognized this requirement, the EBU, AAF Association and Pro-MPEG Forum, set up this ad-hoc group to discuss support for subtitling within AAF and MXF. Initial goals for the group are:
- to add clarity to the user requirements as these apply to AAF/MXF
- to help understanding of how AAF/MXF subtitling work could fit in with other initiatives in subtitling (e.g. SMPTE DC28, SMPTE D27-SDE, W3C Timed Text.)
- to help build support for defining and implementing solutions for carrying subtitles within AAF/MXF that maximise the potential for future interoperability between different systems.
Meetings Documents
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- Press
- EBU Liaison
Upcoming Events:
AMWA Technical Mtg
May 19-21, 2009
Santa Fe, NM, USA
Conference Notes:
Site Requirements:
- Adobe Acrobat
- Microsoft Word
- MS Power Point
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