Microsoft and Leading Professional Media Companies Release Advanced Authoring Format Specification
Specification defines MediaAuthoring Interchange Standard
REDMOND, Wash. - April 3, 2024 - Adobe Systems, Avid Technology, Matrox, Microsoft Corp., Pinnacle Systems, Softimage, Sonic Foundry, and Truevision, today released a jointly authored specification designed to boost productivity in the creation of television, motion picture and multimedia productions by enabling the easy exchange of rich media data among digital production tools and content creation applications. The emergence of a standard for rich media interchange will simplify the increasingly digital process of media creation and fuel industry growth.
The new Advanced Authoring Format (AAF) is the product of the Multimedia Task Force (MMTF) assembled by Microsoft that includes the leading providers of professional media authoring applications and hardware: Members of the MMTF presently include, Adobe, Avid Technology, Matrox, Microsoft Corp., Pinnacle Systems, Truevision, Softimage, and Sonic Foundry.
"After speaking with key players in the digital media production industry, it became clear that first generation, personal computer based multimedia file formats like AVI and WAV, were not capable of serving as interchange standards for professionally produced digital media." said David Cole, vice president at Microsoft. "With this feedback, Microsoft then set on a course to work with appropriate industry standards organizations and media industry companies to help forge a new, optimized standard for digital media production."
Members of the MMTF have been active participants in a comprehensive, long term initiative by the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU/SMPTE) to formalize standards for digital media production and transmission. AAF implements much of the preliminary work done by the EBU/SMPTE Wrappers and Metadata Subgroup and has, as a design point, support for emerging SMPTE standards.
AAF will benefit the professional film, video and audio production communities, by allowing them to work with a broader range of tools and to focus their creative energies on the quality of their content without having to convert media file formats. Tools developers will be able to focus on a broadly accepted file format that works with a wide range of systems.
AAF Builds Upon Recognized Industry Formats
All the MMTF members contributed intellectual property, component technology and ideas in the development of this new format. AAF is a truly open format in that its specification is publicly available, it is not owned by any single company, and has been submitted unencumbered to industry standards organizations. Additionally, the specification builds on a number of recognized industry formats including the Open Media Framework Interchange format (OMFI), from Avid, and Structured Storage, an open container format by Microsoft, both of which have been submitted to standards organizations including SMPTE.
AAF Targets Drawbacks of Current Multimedia Formats
AAF is designed to address the interchange drawbacks of existing multimedia file formats - such as AVI2 and WAV - that are not cross-platform, cannot be edited without re-writing the entire file, and cannot describe compositions with multiple layers or elements. This is a particularly difficult problem for high-end entertainment applications that must integrate multimedia of diverse types ( e.g., video, audio, graphic elements, MIDI ) and capture tools (e.g., cameras, keyboards, audio input, scanners), and then remix or edit those files while maintaining split-second synchronizations.
In contrast, AAF is a format that focuses exclusively on the needs of authoring, without the constraints associated with trying to meet the needs of consumer distribution. It allows true, comprehensive collaboration among digital artists and full use of the power of computer-based creative tools.
The AAF unified data model enables applications as different as audio editing and 3D graphics animation to work together to produce a final presentation without the need to recognize and interpret each others domain specific data.
The new specification compliments the Advanced Streaming Format (ASF) that Microsoft and industry leaders introduced last fall. ASF addresses the problems of media delivery and streaming over a network.
Availability
Microsoft will implement AAF in future versions of Windows. The specification is available for public review, without charge, from the Advanced Authoring Format Web site at http://www.microsoft.com/netmm/aaf/aaf_overview.htm. Additionally, an Advanced Authoring Format Software Development Kit (AAF SDK) will be made available later in 1998.
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (NASDAQ "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in software for personal computers. The company offers a wide range of products and services for business and personal use, each designed with the mission of making it easier and more enjoyable for people to take advantage of the full power of personal computing every day.
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For More Information, Press Only:
Adobe Systems Incorporated
Jennifer Polanski, Adobe Systems Incorporated,
(408) 536-3341, [email protected]
Avid
Andrew Dale, Avid, (978) 640-3561,
[email protected]
Microsoft Corp.
Lisa MacKenzie, MacKenzie Kesselring for Microsoft, (503) 225-0725,
[email protected]
Olivia Riley, MacKenzie Kesselring for Microsoft, (503) 225-0725,
[email protected]
Pinnacle
Blake Roberts, Pinnacle, (650) 237-1851,
[email protected]
Softimage
Lisa MacKenzie, MacKenzie Kesselring for Softimage, (503) 225-0725,
[email protected]
Hayley Reed, MacKenzie Kesselring for Softimage, (503) 225-0725,
[email protected]
Sonic Foundry
Mike Winter, Sonic Foundry, (608) 256.3133 x2152,
[email protected]
Truevision
Michael Young, Tech Image for Truevision, (847) 705-0040, [email protected]
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Last updated June 14, 2024 © 1999 Advanced Authoring Format Association. All rights reserved.
