An Introduction to IMF (Interoperable Master Format) - WHITE PAPER www.amberfin.com
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WHITE PAPER
An Introduction to IMF
(Interoperable Master Format)An Introduction to IMF (Interoperable Master Format)
WHITE PAPER
The broadcast industry as a whole is making the transition towards a more file-based workflow, while at the
same time content owners seek to squeeze the maximum amount of revenue from their assets via distribution
into ever more territories. These two factors generate ever-greater complexities, not to mention a significant
duplication of effort within the file exchange process. IMF (Interoperable Master Format, as opposed to its
more illustrious namesake) aims to solve this by creating a single - standardized - master file for distribution of
content between businesses into multiple territories.
In essence, IMF is an evolution of the DCP (Digital Cinema Package) architecture, providing a complete file
interchange unit to the distribution channel. DCP is really about finished content for theatrical presentation. IMF
is different. As content makers look to generate the maximum revenue from their products, via the maximum
number of bums on seats in as many markets as possible, this means creating multiple tailored versions of the
same piece of content for each of those audiences.
A film like Toy Story 3 for instance would involve thousands of different main and promotional versions for
each individual market, as well as airline and television edits, etc. With IMF, you wouldn’t need to create a
thousand plus copies of the content; what the standard does is separate the content into various ingredients or
components (namely, AS02 MXF media files), a number of ‘recipes’ (Composition Play Lists) and a selection
of instructions (or Output Program Lists) appropriate for each of those audiences. IMF is designed to take the
right mix of ingredients, the right recipe and a tailored set of instructions to create a dedicated version for
each market, without having to duplicate files.
Given that IMF aims to solve the problem of file duplication, it all sounds a bit difficult. Also, the lower level
technical process that makes all of this happen could become horribly complicated. On the plus side, this
means the number of vendors who are going to do this properly is not all that high.
What will it be used for?
Picking up on the recipe analogy, if you’re making a version of the same dish for each territory you want to
vary the ingredients slightly to suit each one. At present an editor needs to put together individual edits and
ship these to each market. What IMF does is circumvent this lengthy, and not to mention costly, process by
creating a standard IMF package which goes everywhere, and instead of shipping a specific media file, to
say Malaysia, you would validate the editing list and send this to the territory where the appropriate version
can be rendered from the master media files. This isn’t to say that you don’t need the same level of skill and
discernment during the editing process as we currently have. What it does mean though, is that the data
transfer is significantly less and the number of processes and duplication of effort and file creation necessitated
by all the file formats received, is significantly lower.
An IMF draft specification has now been presented for SMPTE standardization, supported by over 100
companies worldwide, including major studios and broadcasters, vendors and manufacturers. Efforts are also
underway to rally wider industry support for the initiative.www.amberfin.com How does it work? AS02 and IMF grew up at the same time and had exactly the same requirements in the early stages. However, we ended up in a situation where the level of complexity required by the broadcasters’ versioning process never really got to the stage of needing to be automated. No one broadcaster had enough of a need to economically automate the process of creating these various versions of their content back in the days when AS02 came about. When it came to merging the AS02 and IMF work, we looked at the question of what would be a good technical solution for all of the versioning that increasingly takes place. It came down to a very simple technical decision, and a simple case of math. AS02 does all of its versioning using MXF files, while IMF does all of its versioning using XML files; there are around 20-30 good MXF programmers in the world, while top quality XML programmers number in the hundreds of thousands. Given the growing amount of localized versioning that we are now faced with, it makes sense to utilize a more generic technology like XML to represent the various content versions and that’s what we did with IMF. In a nutshell this is the main difference between AS02 and IMF. Both standards have exactly the same pedigree and aim to solve exactly the same problems, but IMF benefits from a more sophisticated versioning model and therefore requires a greater degree of customization – and XML is a better means of achieving this. IMF is not going to replace AS02; rather the goal is to get to a place where we have a standardized IMF package as a means of exchanging versioned packages within the workflow. IMF will actually enhance the AS02 bundles that represent componentized clips. Who will use it and how? What we’ll see are AS02 media capture devices, ingest devices and transcode devices all generating AS02 bundles that will end up in an IMF workflow. Someone who is making the editing decisions or CPL and OPL decisions, will then generate instructions for compiling the various components for each version of a piece of content. AS02 will in effect become the carrier for the raw data essence, while the CPL/OPL will represent the individual recipes and instructions for each territory/version. IMF encompasses not just file storage, but also the CPL and OPL details for each version as well as a packing list to ensure that the right components end up in the right version of the content. The content creation workflow is currently very unwieldy and ‘messy’ with multiple incompatible processes, all using different technology. The goal is to streamline this and have a common set of telemetry and rules that take us from the producer’s vision for the film, to the manufacturer and distribution of cinema variants, film variants as well as versions for other distribution channels, such as television and the Internet. Once IMF is rolled out in to the content creation workflow, we’ll begin to see IMF appearing in the drop boxes of Tier 1 broadcasters. At that point the need to automate the conversion of IMF to other formats such as The Digital Production Partnership (DPP) -- an initiative formed by the UK’s public service broadcasters to help producers and broadcasters maximize the potential of digital production -- will become more pertinent. Both these formats have strict rules for file and metadata creation, and both are solving business problems with stringent requirements. As a result, automating the exchange between the two should be straightforward, with less need for human interaction within that process. For more information on DPP please refer to the AmberFin White Paper: Digital Production Partnership – A UK roadmap to maximize the benefits of digital media production.
An Introduction to IMF (Interoperable Master Format)
WHITE PAPER
IMF sits at the top of the food chain of these interoperable applications, which solves the very specific issue
of how to manage the data essence that resides within a large number of versions. IMF will feed the food
chains of DPP and other content exchange applications. Because both IMF and DPP are so well defined,
this facilitates a high level of automation and efficiency, and lower costs, as well as a significant increase in
media re-use.
What is unclear at this stage is whether content from a broadcaster such as the BBC or Channel 4 will ever
actually see an IMF file that will have to be converted to DPP, or if this process will be done by third parties
such as post production specialists like DeLuxe, by the content creators (Disney, etc.) or in the cloud as an
on-demand service. However, what is certain is that it can all be done automatically by AmberFin’s iCR,
regardless of who owns the software.
AmberFin and IMF: making IMF boring
AmberFin was really responsible for the development of AS02, doing a lot of the legwork trying to get the
different vendors involved. We were also involved in sitting down with AMWA (Advanced Media Workflow
Association) to ensure that there is as much commonality between the standards as possible, and that there
is transparency in the transfer between the AS02 and IMF standards. As a result, there shouldn’t be much of
a problem once this is done.
Because we’ve already rolled out a high volume of AS02 projects, extending that to IMF isn’t all that
complicated as the engineering process is already there.
AmberFin has also been active in SMPTE (Society of Motion Pictures and Television Engineers) to update
and upgrade the underlying MXF specifications and close the various loopholes. AmberFin has also been
active in creating and delivering educational material to inform users, vendors and even competitors on the
advantages of adopting these highly efficient formats.
This is one of the few products that is really tailored to spanning the world, where you currently have all the
essence represented by MXF and AS02 files and tape replacements files (DPP, XD-CAM, etc.) and bridge the
gap between the two as seamlessly as possible.
If we get it right, IMF will become one of the most significant bits of hidden technology in our industry. From
the end-user perspective, IMF will not be something they ever see, but which will bring significant efficiencies
to their workflow; the idea is that it will be so boring, it will all just work.www.amberfin.com
An Introduction to IMF (Interoperable Master Format)
WHITE PAPER
www.amberfin.com
Want to know more?
AmberFin iCR award winning technology, is widely used by Content Owners,
Broadcasters, Sports Organizations and Post Production Facilities worldwide.
To find out more, contact your local AmberFin channel partner, or contact AmberFin:
info@amberfin.com
www.amberfin.com
AmberFin and iCR are trademarks of AmberFin Limited. All other trademarks mentioned herein are duly acknowledged.
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At AmberFin we continually strive to improve our software in-line with customer demands. Therefore the specification of our current software release may differ slightly
from the specification listed here. Please check with your usual AmberFin representative or refer to www.amberfin.com for the latest information.
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