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SMPTE Documents

SMPTE Document Types

SMPTE Engineering Documents

SMPTE Engineering Documents consist of the following, including amendments to those documents:

Standards (ST)
Recommended Practices (RP)
Engineering Guidelines (EG)

SMPTE Engineering Documents may be intended for further submission to the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the International Standards Organization (ISO), or other standards bodies.

SMPTE engineering documents are available free of charge in the SMPTE Document Library. For detailed information about the different types of documents, please see below.

SMPTE Document Suite Landing Pages

A number of SMPTE Standards are published as suites of standards documents, some of which feature landing pages:

SMPTE Engineering Documents

Standards Documents (ST)

A Standard is a document that states basic specifications, dimensions, or criteria that are necessary for effective interchange and/or interconnection within the system described. A SMPTE Standard may also define the functions necessary to achieve effective interchange among users. A SMPTE Standard shall contain Conformance Language.

Engineering Guideline Documents (EG)

An Engineering Guideline is an informative document, often tutorial in nature, which incorporates engineering consensus on specifications, dimensions, and/or version practices. It is intended to guide Users or to provide designs or procedures for producers. It shall not contain conformance language, normative text, or normative references.

Other SMPTE Documents

Overview (OV) Documents

A multipart set of documents should be supplemented by an Overview Document (OV), which describes the relationships among the parts and may describe the relationships of the parts to other Engineering Documents. Overview documents are identified by the family number, followed by part number zero "-0". OV documents are not due process Engineering Documents.

Public Committee Drafts (pCD)

Public CDs are open documents that are distributed for review and comment by the professional community for a limited time. Distribution of public CDs does not constitute publication, as the material remains work under development. Therefore, public CDs shall not be referred to as a SMPTE Standard, Recommended Practice, or Engineering Guideline.

Registered Disclosure Documents (RDD)

Registered Disclosure Documents (RDDs) are not Engineering Documents and do not represent findings, representations, or recommendations by the Society. Registered Disclosure Documents are documents within the scope of interest of the Society, submitted by any entity (the “Sponsor”) that wishes to make a disclosure available to the public and to use the Society’s publication and distribution mechanisms for this purpose. Documents that may be suitable as Registered Disclosure Documents include, but are not limited to, specifications of existing products, instructions for interfacing to products, instructions for controlling products and systems, and descriptions of design approaches intended to encourage design of similar or compatible systems. Registered Disclosure Documents shall not be used as Normative References in Engineering Documents.

Engineering Reports (ER)

An Engineering Report (ER) is an informative document developed by a Study Group, a Technology Committee, or a Task Force on a topic of interest to the industry. Publication shall be with the approval of the Standards Vice President.

Advisory Notes (AN)

An Advisory Note is a brief informative document developed by Consensus of a Technology Committee detailing an issue before the Technology Committee.

SMPTE Timed Text Documents

The U.S Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has declared the closed-captioning standard for online video content developed by the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) – the worldwide leader in motion-imaging standards and education for the communications, media, and entertainment industries – to be a safe harbor interchange and delivery format. The ruling means that captioned video content distributed via the Internet that uses the SMPTE standard — known officially as SMPTE Timed Text — will comply with the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA), a landmark U.S. law designed to ensure the accessibility, usability, and affordability of broadband, wireless, and Internet technologies for people with disabilities.

SMPTE 2052 Timed Text Format (SMPTE-TT)

SMPTE OV 2052-0 Timed Text Format (SMPTE-TT) — Roadmap for the 2052 Document Suite

SMPTE ST 2052-1 Timed Text Format (SMPTE-TT) — Timed Text Format (SMPTE-TT)

SMPTE RP 2052-10 Timed Text Format (SMPTE-TT) — Conversion from CEA-608 Data to SMPTE-TT

SMPTE RP 2052-11 Timed Text Format (SMPTE-TT) — Conversion from CEA-708 Caption Data to SMPTE-TT