Advanced Authoring Format

The Advanced Authoring Format (AAF) is a professional file interchange format designed for the video post production and authoring environment. AAF was created to help address the problem of multi-vendor, cross-platform interoperability for computer-based digital video production.

AAF does a number of things:

* Allows complex relationships to be described in terms of an object model.
* Facilitates the interchange of metadata and/or program content.
* Provides a way to track the history of a piece of program content from its source elements through final production.
* Makes downstream rendering possible (with appropriate equipment).
* Provides a convenient way to "wrap" all elements of a project together for archiving.

By preserving source referencing, and abstracting the creative decisions that are made, AAF tries to improve workflow and simplify project management.

AAF is designed to be a data representation of works in progress, as compared to MXF (Material Exchange Format), which is for exchanging finished media products. While MXF uses a KLV (Key Length Value) format for storage, AAF uses the Structured Storage system. MXF was developed to be essentially a subset of the AAF data model, under the Zero Divergence Directive (ZDD) policy. This allows for workflows that involve the mixing of AAF and MXF.

AAF's rich data model combining metadata and various types of essence has led to its use in non-broadcast applications as well. For example, AAF has been adopted by the DoD/IC Motion Imagery Standards Board (MISB) for their Aerial Surveillance and Photogrammetry Applications standard (ASPA).

Elements of AAF

The elements of AAF include:

* The AAF Object Specification, which defines the way AAF stores metadata and essence
* The AAF API Specification, which defines how software engineers can write applications
* The AAF Reference Implementation, which implements both these specifications in a completely cross-platform manner
* The AAF Software Development Kit (SDK), which includes developer utilities and validation test suites
* The AAF Example software which demonstrates how to use the AAF SDK to produce AAF files
* The AAF Example files created by working AAF implementations

AAF was originally created by the AAF Association Inc., a broadly based trade association created to promote the development and adoption of AAF technology. The AAF Object Model is now being standardized through SMPTE, including a better definition of the mapping between MXF and AAF essence.

AAF Standards

See: [http://www.aafassociation.org/html/techinfo/index.html AAF Technical Information]

ee also

*MXF, Material eXchange Format
*BWF, Broadcast Wave Format
*SNP, Microsoft Access Report Snapshot

References

* cite web
accessdate = 2006-12-21
format = PDF
url = http://sc.openoffice.org/compdocfileformat.pdf
title = Microsoft Compound Document File Format
work = OpenOffice.org CFBF description
* cite web
accessdate = 2006-12-21
format = PDF
url = http://www.aafassociation.org/html/specs/aafcontainerspec-v1.0.1.pdf
title = Advanced Authoring Format Low-Level Container Specification
work = Microsoft Structured Storage version 3 specification (PDF)

External links

* http://www.aafassociation.org
* [http://aaf.sourceforge.net/ Advanced Authoring Format - Developer Support Home]
* [http://ismc.nga.mil/misb/docs/NGA-MISB-ASPA-V1%200-20060110.doc Motion Imagery Standards Board Aerial Surveillance and Photogrammetry Applications standard using AAF]