material exchange format (DCI) (MXF)

Material Exchange Format (MXF) is an open exchange format for audiovisual data in television production. The MXF format can be used to exchange payload data, i.e. video, audio and control data, between editing suites and video servers; also metadata, which is data about data used for optimizing television features.

Such metadata is described by other data and can only be used as described data. MXF is also used in D-Cinema for the compressed image data that is stored in this format in the Digital Cinema Package( DCP) containers.

MXF files are compatible with Advanced Authoring Format( AAF) and can contain information about audio and video edits and playlists. The MXF format, developed by MPEG and the AMW Association, is suitable for exchanging raw footage and finished edited video and can be viewed during dubbing.

Another exchange format used in audio and video is the General Exchange Format( GXF).