| Internet-Draft | MMT for MoQ | October 2026 |
| Ramadan | Expires 17 April 2027 | [Page] |
- Workgroup:
- moq
- Internet-Draft:
- draft-ramadan-moq-mmt-00
- Published:
- Intended Status:
- Standards Track
- Expires:
MPEG Media Transport (MMT) Packaging for Media over QUIC
Abstract
This document specifies the use of MPEG Media Transport (MMT) as a container format for Media over QUIC (MoQ). MMT provides a unified framework for streaming media over heterogeneous networks including broadcast (ATSC 3.0, ARIB STD-B60), multicast (SSM), and unicast (QUIC/WebTransport). This specification defines the mapping of MMT packets to MoQ objects, interaction with Application-Layer FEC, bidirectional conversion between S-TSID and MoQ catalogs, and compatibility considerations for both ATSC 3.0 and ARIB STD-B60 systems.¶
Status of This Memo
This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.¶
Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). Note that other groups may also distribute working documents as Internet-Drafts. The list of current Internet-Drafts is at https://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/.¶
Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any time. It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."¶
This Internet-Draft will expire on 17 April 2027.¶
Copyright Notice
Copyright (c) 2026 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the document authors. All rights reserved.¶
This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal Provisions Relating to IETF Documents (https://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of publication of this document. Please review these documents carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect to this document. Code Components extracted from this document must include Revised BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as described in the Revised BSD License.¶
1. Introduction
MPEG Media Transport (MMT) [ISO.23008-1] is a transport protocol designed for delivery of multimedia content over heterogeneous networks. MMT is supported as an alternative transport in ATSC 3.0 broadcast television (Americas, South Korea) alongside the primary ROUTE/DASH transport, and is the basis for ARIB STD-B60 (Japan). MMT provides native support for:¶
- Media Processing Units (MPU, branded "mpuf" in ISOBMFF) as the media container, with structural similarities to fMP4¶
- Application-Layer FEC (AL-FEC) supporting multiple schemes including RaptorQ and Reed-Solomon¶
- Cross-layer signaling for adaptive streaming¶
- Hybrid delivery combining broadcast and broadband¶
This document defines how MMT-encapsulated media can be transported over MoQ [I-D.ietf-moq-transport], enabling:¶
- Broadcast-to-Unicast bridging: Content from ATSC 3.0 or ARIB STD-B60 broadcasts can be relayed to MoQ subscribers without transcoding¶
- Unified FEC: MMT's AL-FEC integrates with MoQ FEC repair tracks per [MOQ-FEC]¶
- Multicast promotion: MoQ clients can receive SSM multicast directly when available, per [MOQ-MULTICAST]¶
- Bidirectional signaling: Convert between S-TSID (ATSC) and MoQ catalogs for seamless interoperability¶
1.1. Relationship to Other MoQ Media Formats
This specification complements existing MoQ packaging formats:¶
| Format | Container | Primary Use Case | FEC Support |
|---|---|---|---|
| MSF (LOC) | WebCodecs chunks | Low-latency unicast | No |
| CMSF | CMAF fMP4 | Adaptive streaming | No |
| CARP | CMAF fMP4 | ABR delivery | No |
| This spec (MMT) | MMTP + MPU (ISOBMFF) | Broadcast bridge | Yes |
MMT packaging is RECOMMENDED when:¶
- Ingesting ATSC 3.0 or ARIB STD-B60 broadcasts¶
- FEC protection is required for multicast delivery¶
- Hybrid broadcast/unicast architectures are deployed¶
- Interoperability with broadcast receivers is needed¶
CMAF packaging (CMSF/CARP) is RECOMMENDED when:¶
2. Terminology
The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in BCP 14 [RFC2119] [RFC8174] when, and only when, they appear in all capitals, as shown here.¶
MMTP: MMT Protocol - the packet layer of MMT (ISO 23008-1 Clause 9)¶
MPU: Media Processing Unit - a generic container for independently decodable timed or non-timed data ([ISO.23008-1] Clause 3.1.14)¶
MFU: Media Fragment Unit - a sample or subsample of timed media data, or an item of non-timed media data, within an MPU ([ISO.23008-1] Clause 9.3.1)¶
AL-FEC: Application-Layer Forward Error Correction¶
S-TSID: Service-based Transport Session Instance Description - ATSC 3.0 signaling table containing transport and FEC parameters¶
SLT: Service Layer Table - ATSC 3.0 bootstrap signaling¶
MPT: MMT Package Table - signaling table containing MMT asset info¶
PA: Package Access - the signaling message that carries the tables a receiver needs to consume a Package, among them the MPT ([ISO.23008-1] Clause 10.3.2)¶
MPI: Media Presentation Information - signalling table carrying the presentation information document ([ISO.23008-1] Clause 10.3.8)¶
3. MMT Overview
MMT uses a layered architecture:¶
+---------------------------------------------+ | Application Layer | +---------------------------------------------+ | MPU (Media Processing Unit) | | +---------+---------+---------+---------+ | | | MFU 0 | MFU 1 | MFU 2 | ... | | | | (IDR) | (P) | (P) | | | | +---------+---------+---------+---------+ | +---------------------------------------------+ | MMTP (MMT Protocol) | | +-----------------------------------------+| | | MMTP Header | Payload (MPU fragment) || | | 12 bytes | Variable || | +-----------------------------------------+| +---------------------------------------------+ | Transport: UDP/IP (broadcast/multicast) | | QUIC/WebTransport (unicast) | +---------------------------------------------+¶
3.1. MMTP Header Format
MMTP Header (12 bytes minimum) {
Version (2),
Packet Counter Flag (C) (1),
FEC_type (FEC) (2),
Reserved (1),
Extension Flag (X) (1),
RAP Flag (R) (1),
Reserved (2),
type (6),
Packet ID (16),
Timestamp (32),
Packet Sequence Number (32),
[Packet Counter (32)], // Present if C=1 (never: C=0)
[Header Extension (..)] // Present if X=1
}
¶
The fixed fields sum to 96 bits (three 32-bit words). Byte 0 is version(2) | packet_counter_flag(1) | FEC_type(2) | reserved(1) | extension_flag(1) | RAP_flag(1); byte 1 is reserved(2) | type(6), i.e. the packet type occupies the LOW six bits of the second byte ([ISO.23008-1] Clause 9.2).¶
Senders MUST set all reserved bits in the MMTP packet header to zero. Receivers MUST ignore their values after validating the header; they MUST NOT assign private semantics to reserved bits.¶
Every packet of an MMTP packet flow -- media, repair, and signaling packets alike, on every delivery path -- MUST set the packet counter flag C to 0, so no packet carries the Packet Counter field. [ISO.23008-1] Clause 9.2.3 requires all packets of an MMTP flow to share one setting of C; this profile fixes that setting at 0. The MMTP packet header is therefore 12 bytes unless X = 1 adds a header extension.¶
This document profiles MMTP version 0 (V = 00) of
ISO/IEC 23008-1:2023 as amended by Amd 1:2025. A packet whose version
is not 00 MUST be rejected before its type field is parsed: version
1 uses a different type-field layout and is not defined by this
profile. The C = 0 requirement above is also a conformance gate;
packets with C = 1 MUST be rejected. An X = 1 header extension is
parsed according to its declared length, but this document defines no
additional version or packet-counter semantics.¶
Key fields for MoQ mapping:¶
-
Packet ID: Maps to MoQ track within namespace. This document
reserves packet_id 0 for the MMTP signaling flow: MMTP packets of
packet type 0x02 carrying signaling messages, such as the PA message
of a multicast endpoint flow ([MOQ-MULTICAST] Section 5) and the
AL-FEC message of Section 8.3. No MoQ track is advertised for
the signaling flow, but an mmtp source track MAY carry its AL-FEC
message as an object (Section 8). An MMTP packet carrying media
(packet type 0x00) or a repair symbol (packet type 0x03) MUST NOT use
packet_id 0; a
track's packet_id is in the range 1..65535, and on multicast
delivery it is the
packetIdthe endpoint advertises for the track ([MOQ-MULTICAST] Section 4.1). On every delivery path, a receiver MUST NOT deliver an MMTP packet on packet_id 0 to a media or repair decoder, including one received as the payload of an object of a media or repair track: a receiver that processes MMTP signaling reads it as a signaling message, and any other receiver discards it ([MOQ-MULTICAST] Section 5 states the same rule for every unlisted packet_id on multicast)¶ - Timestamp: UTC wallclock send time in NTP short format (32 bits: 16-bit seconds and 16-bit fraction, relative to the NTP epoch), carried inside the object payload. MoQ Transport defines no per-object timestamp field; receivers needing the send time read it from the preserved MMTP packet header. Because the seconds part is 16 bits, the value wraps every 65 536 seconds (about 18.2 hours): it identifies the send time modulo that period and MUST NOT be interpreted as an absolute wallclock time without an out-of-band era reference. It is used for packet delivery and jitter measurement and is never media time: not a DTS, PTS, duration, media-clock epoch, or movie-fragment identifier¶
-
Packet Sequence Number: per-
packet_id, incremented by one modulo 2^32 across the flow ([ISO.23008-1] Clause 9.2.3); carried inside the object payload for wrap-aware MMTP-layer loss/ordering detection. It is NOT the MoQ Object ID -- Object IDs are the per-data-unit packet index within a subgroup (Section 4.1), which resets per subgroup.¶ - FEC Type: 0=no AL-FEC, 1=AL-FEC source packet (exactly one 4-byte Source FEC Payload ID trails the packet, [MOQ-FEC] Section 8.5), 2=AL-FEC repair packet for FEC payload ID mode 0, 3=AL-FEC repair packet for FEC payload ID mode 1 (not used by this mapping) ([ISO.23008-1] Clause 9.2.3)¶
- RAP Flag: 1 indicates Random Access Point. On a track that the catalog protects with a keyframe overlay, a packet with RAP_flag 1 also carries the overlay's SS_ID in a header extension of type 0x8B01 ([MOQ-FEC] Section 8.5.1)¶
A signaling packet (packet type 0x02, on packet_id 0) MUST carry its messages in the signaling message mode of [ISO.23008-1] Clause 9.3.4: its MMTP payload begins with the 2-byte payload header of Clause 9.3.4.2:¶
Signaling Message Payload Header {
f_i (2), // fragmentation indicator
RES (4), // reserved, set to 0
H (1), // 1: each MSG_length is 32 bits
A (1), // aggregation_flag
frag_count (8), // fragmentation counter
}
¶
When A = 1, a MSG_length field of 16 bits, or 32 bits when H = 1, precedes each aggregated message; when A = 0 no MSG_length field is present. The signaling message follows ([ISO.23008-1] Clause 10.2), beginning with its message_id. A packet that carries one complete signaling message without aggregation has f_i = 00, A = 0, and frag_count = 0, and its sender sets H = 0 (H has no effect when A = 0), so its payload header is the two bytes 0x00 0x00 and the message_id immediately follows them. A receiver ignores H when A = 0 and parses the header field by field, never by matching those two bytes.¶
4. MoQ Object Mapping
4.1. Track Structure
An MMT stream maps to MoQ tracks as follows:¶
| MMT Component | MoQ Mapping |
|---|---|
| Package | Namespace |
| Asset, by Packet ID (video) | Track "video" |
| Asset, by Packet ID (audio) | Track "audio" |
| MPU (one MPU per group) | Group; number derived from media time (Section 4.4.1) |
| MPU data unit (FT=0, FT=1, or FT=2) | Subgroup ID |
| MMTP packet (fragment) within a data unit | Object ID |
| AL-FEC signaling message (OPTIONAL, packet_id 0) | Object in Subgroup 0 immediately before FT=0 (Section 8) |
| AL-FEC repair | Track "video/repair" |
4.2. Object Payload
Each MoQ object carries one complete MMTP packet:¶
MoQ Object Payload {
MMTP Packet Header (12+ bytes),
MMTP Payload (MPU-mode payload header,
then an FT=0, FT=1, or FT=2 data-unit fragment),
[Source FEC Payload ID (32)], // trails FEC Type=1 packets
}
¶
The object payload begins at byte zero of the preserved MMTP packet
header. It has no MoQ-private envelope, length prefix, harness prefix,
or other undocumented bytes before that header. For an FEC Type 1
packet, the Source FEC Payload ID and any profile-defined MMTP header
extensions remain in their specified wire locations. No object-layer
prefix, suffix, or private replacement for those fields is permitted.
When [MOQ-FEC] requires the FEC Source Info Object Property (type
0x11), its value remains the four-byte, network-byte-order SS_ID
defined by that document; the property is object metadata and is not
inserted into this payload.¶
The one exception is the OPTIONAL AL-FEC signaling object of Section 8: its payload is a complete MMTP signaling packet (packet type 0x02) on packet_id 0 with FEC Type 0. Its MMTP payload is the signaling message payload header of Section 3.1 followed by one complete AL-FEC message (f_i = 00, A = 0), rather than an MPU-mode payload header and data-unit fragment, and it carries no Source FEC Payload ID. No other object on an mmtp source track uses packet type 0x02 or packet_id 0.¶
Throughout this document, "MMTP packet" means the header-included wire unit and "MMTP payload" means the bytes that follow the packet header, per [ISO.23008-1]. Both MMTP header layers are always preserved: the packet header carries the FEC Type, RAP Flag, and timestamp, and the MPU-mode payload header (the first bytes of the MMTP payload) carries the Fragmentation Indicator and MPU sequence number that receivers and the FEC layer depend on. A publisher that wishes to deliver raw ISOBMFF fragments without MMTP encapsulation publishes the track with CMAF packaging [I-D.ietf-moq-cmsf] instead. In this profile an MPU can contain one or more ISOBMFF movie fragments: FT=1 carries one movie fragment's metadata and each FT=2 data unit carries one whole sample or one producer-authored subsample of a sample (Section 5.2.1).¶
4.3. Group Boundaries
This section defines the object layout of mfu mode
(mmtpMode: "mfu", Section 12.1).¶
Group boundaries align with MPU boundaries, and subgroup boundaries align with MPU data-unit boundaries:¶
- Each group contains all objects of exactly one MPU: a change of MPU sequence number starts a new group, numbered per Section 4.4.1.¶
- Subgroup 0 of each group carries exactly one complete FT=0 MPU
metadata packet. Its data unit contains the authored initialization
boxes, including
ftyp,mmpu, andmoov, and uses FI=0. When the publisher carries the OPTIONAL AL-FEC signaling object of Section 8, that object is in Subgroup 0 of the same group and is the object immediately before the FT=0 object; Subgroup 0 then carries exactly these two objects. No other object precedes FT=0, and a group carries at most one signaling object.¶ - Subgroups 1..M each carry exactly one subsequent MPU data unit in
authored order. An FT=1 movie-fragment-metadata data unit is one
complete FI=0 object. An FT=2 timed sample is either one FI=0 object
or an FI=1, zero-or-more FI=2, FI=3 object chain. A timed sample
whose media exceeds one data unit's capacity is carried as a
contiguous run of producer-authored subsample data units
(Section 5.2.1), one subgroup per subsample data unit, in ascending
offsetorder. Section 5.2 defines the only permitted fragmentation state machine.¶ - A timed MPU MUST publish its single FT=0 metadata data unit before any FT=1 or FT=2 data unit; only the OPTIONAL signaling object of Section 8 may precede FT=0. It then MUST publish each FT=1 data unit before every FT=2 sample or subsample that references that movie fragment. If an MPU contains multiple movie fragments, the sequence repeats as FT=1 followed by its FT=2 samples. A receiver MUST validate and process subgroups in ascending Subgroup ID, not network arrival order, and MUST NOT admit an FT=2 sample before its FT=1 metadata: concurrently delivered subgroups MAY arrive in any order and are buffered until their turn. A missing or duplicate FT=0 invalidates the group; a gap, duplicate data-unit identity, or invalid FT=1/FT=2 sequence in that logical order invalidates the affected movie fragment. A receiver MUST NOT infer the missing structure. The signaling object is not a data unit: its presence or absence does not affect this validation, and a signaling object anywhere other than immediately before FT=0 in Subgroup 0, or a second one in a group, invalidates the group.¶
- The FI=0 or FI=1 object that begins the first FT=2 sample of each timed group -- for a subsample-partitioned sample, the object that begins its offset-0 data unit -- MUST have RAP Flag = 1.¶
The MPU sequence number remains present in-band (in the MMTP payload header of every MPU fragment) and delimits which packets belong to the same group, but it is NOT the MoQ Group number. Publishers MUST NOT copy the MPU sequence number into the Group number, and subscribers MUST NOT derive media time or switching decisions from it. (The MPU sequence number is a per-Asset counter. It starts at zero for the first MPU in an Asset and increments by one for every following MPU ([ISO.23008-1] Clause 7.3.3), but it is Asset-local: independently packetized renditions need not assign the same MPU number to the same media instant. Counter-based group numbering therefore cannot satisfy the switching-set alignment requirements of Section 4.4.)¶
For an ISOBMFF source, the publisher MUST preserve initialization in
FT=0, MUST copy the authored moof and the original mdat prefix
through the byte before the first media sample byte-for-byte into FT=1,
and MUST copy the referenced sample bytes byte-for-byte and without
transformation into FT=2. A receiver can therefore reconstruct the
authored movie fragment without synthesizing box fields, sample timing,
or media bytes (Section 5.1).¶
Mapping each data unit to its own subgroup makes a complete metadata unit or sample the unit of in-order delivery, loss, and FEC. Relays MAY deliver subgroups concurrently. Under unrecoverable congestion a relay MAY drop a subgroup; the resulting gap invalidates the affected movie fragment rather than authorizing inferred metadata, timing, or cadence.¶
4.4. Switching Sets
When multiple tracks represent alternative renditions of the same media (e.g., an ABR ladder), they form a switching set: a set of alternate tracks that MUST be time-aligned per [I-D.ietf-moq-msf] Section 4.2 (the same construct that [I-D.ietf-moq-cmsf] Section 3.2 applies to CMAF tracks). MoQ Group numbers MUST be media-time-aligned across all tracks of a switching set so that subscribers can switch at group boundaries; the switch is without discontinuity when the MPUs are closed GOPs. On a join or switch at a Group boundary, leading pictures (Section 4.4.1) that reference the preceding Group are not decodable, and presentation of the new track begins at its RAP. If the old track's next MPU has leading pictures, neither track has decodable pictures for their presentation interval, and the receiver conceals that gap.¶
Switching-set membership is declared in the catalog via the per-track field:¶
altGroup (OPTIONAL, unsigned integer)¶
defined by [I-D.ietf-moq-msf] Section 5.2.12: an integer
identifying a group of tracks that are alternate versions of one
another. Two tracks are members of the same switching set if and only if both
carry the altGroup field and the values are equal. A track that
omits altGroup is a member of no switching set, and the
switching-set requirements of this section do not bind it. A repair
track (Section 8.2) protecting a member track
carries the same altGroup value as the track it protects.¶
4.4.1. Group Number Formula
The Group number of every mmtp-packaged track MUST be computed from media time by the formula in this section. This single definition is what makes group boundaries align across the renditions of a switching set. FEC interleave timing is independent of this grouping; Section 7.1 does not derive FEC block boundaries or a number of Groups per FEC block from this formula:¶
relative_ticks = ticks - presentationAnchorTicks group_number = floor(relative_ticks / groupDurationTicks)¶
where:¶
-
ticksis the presentation timestamp (PTS) of the MPU's first AU in decode order, expressed in the track'stimescale(Hz, Section 4.4.2) as a signed integer. That AU is first in the MPU payload, as ISO/IEC 23008-1 requires, and is the MPU's RAP (Section 4.3). Leading pictures, which follow the RAP in decode order but present before it, do not selectticks, even when they present within the preceding MPU's Group interval.¶ -
groupDurationTicksis the per-track group duration expressed in the sametimescale, as a positive integer. The catalog signals it either directly or through an exact millisecond conversion as specified in Section 4.4.2.¶ -
presentationAnchorTicksis the signed timestamp in this track'stimescalethat corresponds to presentation time zero. It includes the publisher's edit-list, encoder-priming, and composition-time decisions, and MUST be applied before the formula. A track that is intended to be rendered with another audio or video track MUST signal this field; a track that is not part of a synchronized presentation MAY omit it and use zero as its local origin.¶
The publisher MUST choose presentationAnchorTicks no later than the
smallest ticks value of the MPUs it admits for the track. If an
MPU's ticks is earlier than the anchor, the publisher MUST reject
that MPU. Before the first group is published, the publisher MAY
instead revise the catalog anchor and validate the complete initial
input again; after publication, the anchor is immutable for that track
instance. It MUST NOT clamp the Group number to zero. The floor in
the formula is mathematical floor (floor division), not truncation
towards zero. With the anchor requirement, every admitted MPU has a
non-negative relative_ticks value. The requirement binds ticks
only; a leading picture of an admitted MPU can present before the
anchor.¶
Timeline origin: ticks is measured on the track's media
presentation timeline; presentationAnchorTicks maps that track to
the shared presentation timeline. For every set of audio and video
tracks intended to be rendered together, the publisher MUST choose one
presentation origin and MUST signal an anchor for each track such that¶
presentation_time = (ticks - presentationAnchorTicks) / timescale¶
has the same rational value for samples representing the same media
instant. This is a media-time relation, not an NTP or wall-clock
relation, and it is not the Timestamp field of the MMTP packet header
(Section 3.1). For
ISOBMFF-derived MPU content, the anchor is applied to the composition
timeline after edit-list and priming adjustments. All tracks of a
switching set MUST use the same presentation origin as well. A
publisher that resets the timeline (a timeline discontinuity) MUST
reset it identically, at the same media instant, across every affected
audio, video, and switching-set track. A discontinuity on an existing
track does not reset its Group number sequence.¶
This Group anchor is a MoQ scheduling and switching key only. ISO/IEC
23008-1 presentation timing remains authoritative: the presentation time
of an MPU is signaled by the presentation information (or the
mpu_timestamp_descriptor when no presentation information is present),
with any applicable elst offset, and is not rewritten by this Group
number calculation.¶
For each track, when the MPU changes, the computed Group number MUST be strictly greater than the Group number of the preceding admitted MPU. The publisher MUST NOT put two different MPUs in one Group, reuse a Group number, or alter authored timestamps to satisfy this rule. A publisher that restarts or declares a discontinuity MUST retain the last Group number for the existing track instance and resume with a greater number; numeric gaps are allowed. If it cannot do that while preserving the formula and authored timing, it MUST close that track instance and start a new track with a distinct (namespace, track name) pair before emitting the reset MPU. That new identity is the Group-number scope for the restarted stream; it MUST NOT be presented as a continuation of the old track. Group-number state is transport state; this document defines no new catalog field for it.¶
For two tracks A and B, a receiver can verify that timestamps describe the same presentation instant without floating-point conversion:¶
(ticksA - presentationAnchorTicksA) * timescaleB ==
(ticksB - presentationAnchorTicksB) * timescaleA
¶
The group-duration agreement rule in this section applies after the
same anchor conversion. Consequently, equal rational values of
groupDurationTicks / timescale and correctly paired
presentationAnchorTicks values are what align 30-fps video with
audio; per-track timescale and groupDurationTicks values alone do
not establish synchronization.¶
All arithmetic is in integers: relative_ticks and groupDurationTicks
are integers, floor(relative_ticks / groupDurationTicks) is integer division,
and implementations MUST NOT compute the group number in floating
point or apply any tolerance. An input held in another unit
(seconds, milliseconds, a different timescale) MUST be converted to
an exact integer tick count before the formula is applied; if that
conversion is not exact, the publisher's timescale or group-duration
choice is wrong (Section 4.4.2) -- implementations MUST NOT round to
compensate.¶
For ISOBMFF content, authored composition timestamps use the media
track's mdhd timescale. If that differs from the catalog timescale,
the publisher MUST convert the adjusted composition timestamps by the
exact ratio timescale / mdhd.timescale before applying this formula.
It MUST reject a timestamp that is not an integer in the selected
catalog clock; it MUST NOT relabel media ticks as asset-clock ticks.¶
Worked example. A switching set of two video renditions of the same
content: rendition A with timescale: 90000, rendition B with
timescale: 44100, both with presentationAnchorTicks: 0 and
groupDurationMs: 2000 in the catalog (Section 4.4.2). The sample
that is 10.5 seconds into the shared presentation timeline has an
integer timestamp in both timescales:¶
A: groupDurationTicks = 2000 * 90000 / 1000 = 180000 B: groupDurationTicks = 2000 * 44100 / 1000 = 88200 Same media instant, t = 10.5 s on the shared timeline: A: relative_ticks = 945000 -> floor(945000 / 180000) = 5 B: relative_ticks = 463050 -> floor(463050 / 88200) = 5¶
Both renditions place the instant in group 5. No intermediate value is shared between the two computations -- only the integer results agree -- which is exactly the property group-boundary switching requires.¶
Negative authored timestamps use the same rule and are not clamped. For
one 90 kHz track with groupDurationTicks: 180000, choose the shared
presentation anchor presentationAnchorTicks: -180000, which is earlier
than the ticks of the first admitted MPU:¶
MPU 0 ticks = -90000: relative_ticks = 90000 -> group 0 MPU 1 ticks = 90000: relative_ticks = 270000 -> group 1¶
The negative authored PTS therefore maps to group 0 through the shared
earlier anchor. A catalog with the same samples and
presentationAnchorTicks: 0 is invalid for this profile; the publisher
rejects MPU 0 instead of mapping it to group 0.¶
With reordered samples, the first AU in decode order selects the Group number. This example lists the authored PTS values of the first three AUs of two consecutive MPUs in decode order. MPU 0 is a closed GOP. MPU 1 is an open GOP: its RAP presents at 180000, and its two leading pictures present before it, inside Group 0's interval:¶
{
"timescale": 90000,
"presentationAnchorTicks": 0,
"groupDurationTicks": 180000,
"mpuSamplePtsInDecodeOrder": [
[0, 6000, 3000],
[180000, 174000, 177000]
],
"ticks": [0, 180000],
"groupNumbers": [0, 1]
}
¶
ticks is the first entry of each MPU's list. Selecting the minimum
presented PTS instead would give ticks 0 and 174000, both in Group 0,
which violates the strictly-greater rule above.¶
4.4.2. Catalog Signaling of Group Duration
For a subscriber to apply the formula in Section 4.4.1, the catalog MUST publish the group duration for every mmtp-packaged track. The catalog publishes either the millisecond form or the exact tick form defined here:¶
groupDurationMs (REQUIRED unless groupDurationTicks is present,
positive unsigned integer, milliseconds)
¶
The timescale is the MSF timescale field ([I-D.ietf-moq-msf]
Section 5.2.21), resolved per the track's packaging value
([I-D.ietf-moq-msf] Section 5.2.4; this document adds mmtp,
Section 12.1):¶
packaging
|
Timescale source |
|---|---|
mmtp
|
The timescale field, REQUIRED for mmtp tracks (Section 12.1); absence is a catalog error, and the 90 000 asset_timescale default of [ISO.23008-1] Clause 10.3.9.3 does not apply. |
cmaf
|
The timescale field. [I-D.ietf-moq-cmsf] leaves it OPTIONAL, so this document makes it REQUIRED for any cmaf track to which this section applies (a member of a switching set governed by Section 4.4.1); leaving it unset on such a track is a catalog error. |
loc
|
The timescale field; when absent, 1 000 000 -- LOC timestamps are expressed in microseconds [I-D.ietf-moq-loc]. |
(absent or unrecognized packaging) |
1 000 000 (microseconds). This row covers track entries whose packaging value is missing or unrecognized; the convention is fixed by this document and does NOT derive from [I-D.ietf-moq-transport]. |
When groupDurationTicks is absent, conversion is
groupDurationTicks = groupDurationMs * timescale / 1000. The
catalog publisher MUST choose a groupDurationMs such that the
resulting tick count is a positive integer and the conversion is exact
(i.e. (groupDurationMs * timescale) % 1000 == 0). If this cannot be
satisfied, or if the intended cadence is not an integer number of
milliseconds, the catalog MUST publish ticks directly via the exact
tick field:¶
groupDurationTicks (OPTIONAL, positive unsigned integer)¶
If both groupDurationMs and groupDurationTicks are present,
groupDurationTicks wins and groupDurationMs is informational; it is
not used in the conversion and need not have an exact millisecond
conversion. Cases where the override is required include:¶
- An MPU group duration at a 30-per-second cadence
(
1/30 s = 33.333... ms): expressing this in integer ms is impossible. If the tracktimescaleis divisible by 30, publishers setgroupDurationTicks: timescale / 30directly (e.g.3000at 90 000 Hz,1500at 45 000 Hz). A timescale not divisible by 30 cannot represent this cadence as an integer tick count and MUST be changed or rejected for this profile; it MUST NOT be rounded.¶ - Audio sample-rate timescales not divisible by 1000 Hz, such as
44 100 Hz: a 333 ms field would imply
333 x 44 100 / 1000 = 14 685.3ticks. A publisher whose authored cadence is the exact integral cadence of 14 685 ticks MUST publishgroupDurationTicks: 14685(about 332.993 ms); it MUST NOT claim that this preserves an exact 333 ms duration. A publisher that requires exactly 333 ms MUST choose a compatible timescale or reject that cadence.¶
For example, this catalog uses the exact 30-per-second cadence on a
44 100 Hz track. It omits groupDurationMs because 33.333... ms is
not an integer millisecond value:¶
{
"version": "draft-01",
"tracks": [{
"name": "video-30fps",
"packaging": "mmtp",
"mmtpMode": "mfu",
"timescale": 44100,
"presentationAnchorTicks": 0,
"groupDurationTicks": 1470,
"codec": "avc1.64001f",
"framerate": 30
}]
}
¶
Switching-set agreement: every track in the same switching set MUST
publish the same effective group duration as a rational number of
seconds. Raw groupDurationTicks values need not be equal when track
timescales differ. For tracks A and B, subscribers validate exact
equality with integer arithmetic:¶
A.groupDurationTicks * B.timescale ==
B.groupDurationTicks * A.timescale
¶
Subscribers SHOULD validate this at catalog load and, on disagreement, SHOULD reject the catalog and signal a catalog-validation error to the application. Subscribers that proceed despite disagreement are non-conformant for switching across the affected tracks; ABR transitions on such tracks will produce group-boundary discontinuities.¶
4.4.3. Catalog Signaling of Keyframe Interval
The group duration above describes the cadence of MMTP media groups (one MPU per group, Section 4.3). It does NOT describe whether an MPU contains additional keyframes after its required group-start random access point. This document defines an OPTIONAL per-track field for the cadence of all keyframes, which the repair policy of [MOQ-FEC] Section 11.4.1 uses to classify FEC blocks:¶
keyframeIntervalMs (OPTIONAL, unsigned integer, milliseconds)¶
keyframeIntervalMs is the interval between consecutive video
keyframes, in integer milliseconds. It is distinct from
groupDurationMs: groupDurationMs is the duration of
one MPU/group, whereas keyframeIntervalMs describes every keyframe,
including any additional keyframes inside an MPU. When the only
keyframes are the required group-start RAPs and group duration is
constant, the two values are equal; additional RAPs can make the
keyframe interval shorter. The field applies to video tracks only; a
publisher that cannot determine the cadence simply omits it.¶
Its absence is not a catalog error:
subscribers MUST NOT reject a catalog solely because it is missing,
and a receiver MUST NOT substitute a locally chosen or observed
cadence for it. When present, keyframeIntervalMs MUST be a
positive integer; a zero value is a catalog error.¶
The repair policy of [MOQ-FEC] Section 11.4.1 relies on a published keyframe interval to exclude keyframes from part of a group, so when the field is present it binds every keyframe of the track: the publisher MUST NOT emit a keyframe other than at a group start or a whole number of intervals after one. A publisher whose encoder can place keyframes off that cadence, for example at scene cuts, omits the field.¶
As with the group duration, the integer-millisecond form cannot express a keyframe cadence whose tick count is non-integer on the track's timescale. A publisher MAY publish an exact override:¶
keyframeIntervalTicks (OPTIONAL, unsigned integer)¶
expressed in the same timescale as groupDurationTicks (Section 4.4.2,
selected by the track's packaging). If both
keyframeIntervalMs and keyframeIntervalTicks are present,
keyframeIntervalTicks wins. Unlike
groupDurationTicks, this document places NO switching-set agreement
requirement on the keyframe interval: it is a per-track hint,
and tracks in a switching set MAY carry different keyframe cadences.¶
4.5. Init Segment Signaling
Publishers signal MPU metadata inline as the complete FT=0 object in
Subgroup 0 of every group (Section 4.3), preceded in that subgroup only
by the OPTIONAL AL-FEC signaling object of Section 8. Its data unit contains the
authored initialization boxes, including ftyp, mmpu, and moov.¶
In addition, publishers SHOULD carry decoder initialization data directly in the catalog via the per-track field:¶
initData (OPTIONAL, string)¶
initData is the base64 encoding of an ISOBMFF initialization
segment (ftyp + moov) sufficient to initialize the decoder for
the track (including the codec configuration record, e.g. avcC or
hvcC). The field name and carriage -- a base64 string in the
track's catalog entry -- are those of the initData field defined
by [I-D.ietf-moq-cmsf] Section 3.1 for CMAF headers; this
document applies the same field to mmtp-packaged tracks and
constrains its decoded content as below. (The base catalog
[I-D.ietf-moq-msf] Sections 5.1.7 and 5.2.13 additionally define
an indirected initDataList/initRef mechanism; this document
does not use the indirection -- mmtp tracks carry initData
inline.) It lets a subscriber initialize its decoder at
catalog load,
before the first FT=0 MPU metadata object arrives,
removing one delivery round trip from the join path (Section 6.1).¶
initData is a join optimization, not a replacement for in-band
metadata: the per-group FT=0 MPU metadata remains
authoritative, and a receiver MUST adopt in-band metadata when it
differs from initData. Catalog content is untrusted input; a
receiver MUST validate that decoded initData is a well-formed
ftyp + moov sequence before passing it to a decoder, and MUST
discard it otherwise.¶
4.6. Object Identifier Reconstruction
Within a subgroup, MoQ Object IDs increase monotonically, but the increment between successive objects is not guaranteed to be one; depending on the transport encoding an object's ID may be carried as a delta from the previous object rather than as an explicit absolute value. A receiver MUST reconstruct each object's absolute Object ID by maintaining a running value per subgroup; it MUST NOT assume successive objects differ by a fixed nonzero step, nor that an absolute Object ID is carried explicitly.¶
Object IDs identify preserved source objects within a subgroup; they do not replace the MMTP packet sequence, FI countdown, or active-data-unit association required by Sections 5.2 and 5.3.¶
5. Media Fragment Unit (MFU) Mode
This timed-media profile transports each authored MPU data unit without rewriting it:¶
MFU Mode (one subgroup per MPU data unit):
Group N:
[SG 0 / Obj 0: [MMTP type=0x02 id=0][SH][AL-FEC msg]] (Section 8)
SG 0 / next: [MMTP][PH FT=0 FI=0][ftyp+mmpu+moov]
SG 1 / Obj 0: [MMTP][PH FT=1 FI=0][moof+mdat prefix]
SG 2 / Obj 0: [MMTP][PH FT=2 FI=0][DU][sample 1]
SG 3 / Obj 0: [MMTP][PH FT=2 FI=0][DU][sample 2]
...
Fragmented FT=2 sample (Section 5.2):
Group N, SG 2:
Obj 0: [MMTP][PH FT=2 FI=1][DU][sample part 1]
Obj 1: [MMTP][PH FT=2 FI=2][sample part 2]
Obj 2: [MMTP][PH FT=2 FI=3][sample part 3]
Subsample-partitioned FT=2 sample (Section 5.2.1) -- one sample,
two producer-authored subsample data units:
Group N:
SG 4 / Obj 0..j: [MMTP][PH FT=2 FI=1][DU offset=0] ... FI=3
SG 5 / Obj 0..k: [MMTP][PH FT=2 FI=1][DU offset=L0] ... FI=3
[MMTP] = MMTP packet header (Section 3.1): 12 bytes, since C = 0,
plus a header extension when X = 1.
[PH] = MPU-mode payload header, which carries the Fragmentation
Indicator (FI); the FI is NOT in the MMTP packet header.
[SH] = signaling message payload header (Section 3.1).
[...] = OPTIONAL signaling object. When present it is the first
object of SG 0 and FT=0 is the object after it; when absent,
FT=0 is the first object of SG 0 (Obj 0).
¶
For conformance, an mmtp track in this document carries timed media
only. ISO/IEC 23008-1 Clause 9.3.2.3 defines the Timed Flag as
indicating whether the MPU is timed or non-timed, independently of the
FT value. Every MPU-mode packet with FT=0, FT=1, or FT=2 in this
profile MUST carry T = 1; a packet with T = 0 MUST be rejected.
Checking only FT=2 would leave metadata packets unchecked. The ISO
non-timed DU identity and four-byte header remain outside this profile;
no Item_ID-based mapping is defined here.¶
FT=0 initializes the track, FT=1 supplies the authoritative movie fragment structure and sample table, and FT=2 supplies the exact bytes of each sample. That order is a decoder contract, not a hint.¶
5.2. Fragmentation and Strict Active-DU Reassembly
A single MFU can exceed the path MTU, but the ISO MPU-mode payload
header does not permit an unbounded number of fragments. The 8-bit
fragment_counter is the number of MMTP payloads containing fragments
of the same data unit that succeed the current payload; it is not a
modulo sequence number. A complete FI=0 data unit MUST carry zero.
For a fragmented data unit carried in N payloads, where 2 <= N <= 256,
the FI=1 payload MUST carry N - 1, every succeeding payload MUST
decrement the value by one, and the FI=3 payload MUST carry zero. The
counter MUST NOT wrap or repeat within a data unit.¶
The mfu mapping defined here carries exactly one data unit per MMTP
payload, so aggregation_flag MUST be zero. The upstream MMTP
packetizer produces conformant data units, and an input MMTP flow used
by this mapping MUST already satisfy the 256-payload bound for every
data unit. In this profile an FT=2 timed data unit carries one whole
sample, or exactly one producer-authored subsample of it
(Section 5.2.1). A sample whose media exceeds one data unit's
capacity MUST be partitioned into subsample data units by the origin
packetizer per Section 5.2.1, before this mapping applies -- never by
a relay and never by this mapping, which does not repacketize or
subdivide an input data unit. Such a sample MUST NOT be carried by
wrapping or extending the counter, silently truncated, or split into a
second MPU, and an access unit MUST NOT be split across multiple MPUs
([ISO.23008-1] Section 6.4). A publisher MUST reject a purported
data unit that exceeds the bound, has an invalid countdown, or uses
aggregation. It MUST NOT wrap or extend the counter, divide one data
unit's overflow between subgroups, or synthesize MoQ Object IDs to
make a non-conformant MMTP data unit appear valid.¶
Each MMTP packet maps to exactly one MoQ object, and the publisher MUST NOT reassemble MFU fragments:¶
- The publisher MUST publish each MMTP packet of a data unit as a separate object within that data unit's subgroup (Section 4.3), preserving the MMTP packet header and the MPU-mode payload header. Those headers carry the Fragmentation Indicator and MPU sequence number. Object IDs identify the preserved source packets within the subgroup but are not MFU identities or media timestamps.¶
- The publisher MUST NOT reassemble or reorder fragments based on the Fragmentation Indicator. It routes each packet to (track, group, subgroup) by packet_id, MPU boundary, data-unit type, and the strict active-DU state of Section 5.3: a change of MPU sequence number starts the next group (Section 4.3), and each distinct data unit within the group maps to its own subgroup as defined in Section 5.3.¶
-
The receiver MUST reassemble each data unit from the objects of its subgroup before media processing. After restoring serial packet order (Section 5.3.3), it applies the FI/counter state machine of Section 5.3:¶
- A single object with FI=0 is a complete, unfragmented data unit; for FT=2 that data unit is one MFU.¶
- FT=2 objects with FI=1 (first), FI=2 (zero or more middle), and FI=3 (last) reassemble, in that restored MMTP order, into one MFU by concatenating each fragment's media bytes, delimited as defined below.¶
- The receiver MUST validate the
fragment_countercountdown with the state machine of Section 5.3.2. Any missing, repeated, wrapped, or non-decrementing count invalidates the entire MFU.¶ - The reassembled MFU's RAP flag is taken from its FI=1 (or FI=0) object.¶
The bytes concatenated are each fragment's media (data unit)
bytes only -- NOT everything after the MMTP packet header. Every
fragment begins with a 12-or-more-byte MMTP packet header. The
receiver MUST parse the C and X flags, packet-counter presence, and
header-extension length to locate the following 8-byte MPU-mode
payload header; it MUST NOT assume a fixed offset of 12 bytes. The
MPU-mode payload header contains, by [ISO.23008-1]
Clause 9.3.2.3 name with this document's alias in parentheses,
length (payload_length, 16), FT (fragment_type, 4), T
(timed_flag, 1), f_i (fragmentation_indicator, 2),
aggregation_flag (1), fragment_counter (8), and
MPU_sequence_number (32); both headers are stripped from every
fragment.¶
The 16-bit payload_length field MUST be encoded and interpreted
as the number of bytes following that field within the MPU payload,
as defined by [ISO.23008-1]. It therefore includes the remaining
six bytes of the 8-byte MPU-mode payload header. For FT=2 packets,
the declared lengths are:¶
FI=0 or FI=1: payload_length = 6 + DU_header_octets + media_octets FI=2 or FI=3: payload_length = 6 + media_octets¶
DU_header_octets is 14 for timed media and 4 for non-timed media,
and the right-hand side MUST NOT exceed the 16-bit maximum of 65535.
A trailing Source FEC Payload ID is outside the declared MPU payload
and MUST NOT be counted. A publisher MUST NOT encode a media-only or
DU-plus-media length convention. A receiver MUST require the
declared MPU payload to end exactly at the protected MPU boundary
before the Source FEC Payload ID, when present. It MUST reject a
declaration that is too short, cannot contain the required header
bytes, extends beyond the available MPU payload bytes, leaves
undeclared bytes before the outer trailer, or consumes that trailer.¶
The DU header ([ISO.23008-1] Figures 12 and 13: 14 bytes for
timed media -- movie_fragment_sequence_number (32),
sample_number (32), offset (32), priority (8),
dep_counter (8) -- or 4 bytes for non-timed media) follows the
payload header on an FI=0 object and on the FI=1 first fragment;
it is likewise stripped rather than concatenated into the media
stream. When the packet's FEC Type is 1, the trailing 4-byte
Source FEC Payload ID ([MOQ-FEC] Section 8.5) is excluded as
well.
4. FT=0 and FT=1 MUST each be unaggregated, complete FI=0 data units
with fragment_counter zero. Their payload length is six plus the
metadata octets; they have no DU header. Fragmented or empty
metadata is rejected by this profile.
5. The receiver MUST bound both in-flight data-unit memory and pending
FT=1 sample records. At either bound it MUST reclaim a slot by
evicting the least recently admitted incomplete record — an open
data unit or a parked continuation run alike — and admit the new
one; it rejects only when no such record exists. A record that has
already completed is never a candidate. An incomplete data
unit is discarded on declared discontinuity or unrecoverable loss
and is never emitted.¶
For very large frames where FEC cannot recover the loss, receivers SHOULD support resolution-tier fallback (subscribe to a lower-resolution track of the switching set and upscale) rather than stalling.¶
5.2.1. Subsample Data Units
At a given packet size, one data unit carries at most 256 MMTP
payloads of media. A single intra-coded 4K or 8K sample routinely
exceeds that capacity. This section defines the only conformant way
to carry such a sample: the origin packetizer partitions it into
subsample data units, using the offset field that [ISO.23008-1]
Section 9.3.2.3 already defines in the timed-MFU DU header. The
partition is producer-authored and wire-stated; nothing about it is
inferred.¶
A subsample data unit is an ordinary FT=2 timed data unit: it has its
own DU header, its own FI chain, and its own fragment_counter
countdown bounded by 256 payloads (Section 5.2). Its identity is
(packet_id, MPU_sequence_number, movie_fragment_sequence_number,
sample_number, offset), where offset is the authored byte position
of the data unit's first media byte within the sample.¶
Origin packetizer requirements:¶
- A packetizer MUST emit a sample as a single whole-sample data unit
(
offsetzero) whenever the sample fits within one data unit's capacity. Subsample partitioning of a sample that fits is not conformant.¶ - When partitioning, the first subsample data unit MUST carry
offsetzero and each subsequent one MUST carry anoffsetequal to the sum of the media lengths of all preceding subsample data units of that sample: offsets are strictly increasing, with no gap and no overlap.¶ - Each subsample data unit of one sample MUST be published as its own subgroup per Section 5.3.2, contiguously per Section 5.2.2.¶
-
priorityanddep_counterdescribe the sample and SHOULD be identical across its subsample data units.¶
Relays and this mapping MUST NOT create, merge, or re-partition subsample data units.¶
Receiver sample assembly: a subsample-partitioned sample completes
only when every one of its subsample data units has completed under
the state machine of Section 5.3.2 and, ordered by offset, the data
units begin at zero, are byte-adjacent (each offset equals the
preceding offset plus the preceding data unit's media length), and
their total media length equals the sample's authored size from the
FT=1 record. A gap, overlap, duplicate offset, or length mismatch
invalidates the sample; the receiver MUST NOT emit a partial sample or
synthesize missing bytes. Completion is a protocol event -- every
constituent subgroup complete -- and on reliable transport a receiver
MUST NOT substitute timers, cadence, buffer occupancy, or successor
arrival for it. On lossy datagram paths the existing per-data-unit
deadline derivation applies to each subsample data unit unchanged; no
additional sample-level timer is defined or permitted.¶
The sample's RAP flag is the RAP flag of the FI=0 or FI=1 object of its offset-0 data unit. FEC is unaffected by the partition: source symbols are MMTP packets ([MOQ-FEC]), and the packet stream's block and interleave structure does not depend on data-unit boundaries.¶
5.2.2. Source Contiguity
[ISO.23008-1] does not prohibit a packetizer from emitting an
unrelated payload of the same packet_id between two fragments of one
data unit. This profile does prohibit it.¶
An origin packetizer MUST emit every multi-packet unit on consecutive
packet_sequence_number values of its packet_id, in authored order,
with no other payload of that packet_id between its packets: the
fragments of a data unit in FI order, and the subsample data units of
one sample (Section 5.2.1) in ascending offset order. The sequence
numbers of the FI=1 fragment, of each FI=2 fragment, and of the FI=3
fragment MUST be successive values under
modulo-2^32 arithmetic. A data unit of a different packet_id MAY be
emitted at any point, and a further data unit of the same packet_id
MAY be emitted once that data unit's FI=3 fragment has been emitted,
subject to the sample-level contiguity above.¶
The requirement constrains the packetizer's emission order only. Loss
or reordering on the path does not violate it: the receiver restores
serial packet order before reassembly (Section 5.3.3). Repair
carried on its own flow bears a different packet_id and therefore
cannot interleave.¶
A violating data unit never completes at the receiver, which associates continuations only through active data-unit state (Section 5.3) and evicts the stranded records without a protocol error (Section 5.2, item 5). A receiver MUST NOT relax association to tolerate such a producer: a continuation admitted into the wrong data unit corrupts media that would otherwise have been discarded.¶
5.3. Active Data-Unit Association and Subgroup Derivation
Object IDs are transport coordinates, not an MMTP continuation key. A fragment recovered below the MoQ object layer has no Object ID, and Object IDs from two delivery paths are not comparable. The MMTP DU header is also not a per-fragment coordinate: this profile carries it only in the FI=0 or FI=1 payload ([ISO.23008-1] Clause 9.3.2 does not specify whether FI=2 and FI=3 fragments repeat it). FI=2 and FI=3 continuations carry media bytes but no movie-fragment sequence, sample number, or sample offset.¶
Consequently a receiver MUST associate continuations through the ordered, bounded active-data-unit state defined here. It MUST NOT use an MMTP Timestamp, MoQ Object ID, signaling identifier, packet arrival time or order, inferred byte offset, recently completed identity, or a (stream, MPU sequence number) pair or fragment counter alone as a fallback association.¶
5.3.1. First-Fragment Identity
For an FT=2 first or complete fragment, [ISO.23008-1] defines a transport-independent data-unit identity in the DU header:¶
| Object class | Data-unit identity | [ISO.23008-1] |
|---|---|---|
| Timed-media MFU | packet_id, MPU_sequence_number, movie_fragment_sequence_number, sample_number, offset | Section 9.3.2.3 |
| Non-timed media MFU | packet_id, MPU_sequence_number, Item_ID | Section 9.3.2.3 |
For this timed-media profile, offset MUST be zero for a whole-sample
data unit and MUST equal the authored subsample byte position for a
subsample data unit (Section 5.2.1);
movie_fragment_sequence_number and sample_number MUST be non-zero,
and MPU_sequence_number MAY be zero (indeed, ISO/IEC 23008-1 requires
zero for the first MPU in an Asset). The packet_id MUST be
non-zero: packet_id 0 is the MMTP signaling flow (Section 3.1) and
carries no media data unit, so a receiver MUST reject an MPU-mode
packet (packet type 0x00) on packet_id 0 rather than admit it to
active state. A non-zero packet_id is validated in the scope of its
MMTP session; on multicast delivery it is validated against the
packetId values the endpoint advertises ([MOQ-MULTICAST]
Section 5). A continuation inherits the accepted first-fragment
identity from active state; it does not reconstruct or guess another
copy of the DU header.¶
5.3.2. Subgroup Derivation
Section 4.3 assigns Subgroup 0 to FT=0. The publisher assigns every
following FT=1 or FT=2 data unit the next unused Subgroup ID in source
order. All packets from one FI=1 through FI=3 chain share that ID.
An FI=2 or FI=3 packet therefore remains in the subgroup opened by the
immediately preceding FI=1 packet on the same packet_id; a new data
unit MUST NOT interleave before the chain closes (Section 5.2.2).¶
The publisher and receiver each maintain at most one active fragmented
data unit per (packet_id, MPU_sequence_number) while processing
subgroups in order:¶
- FI=0 requires
fragment_counter == 0and no active data unit. For FT=2 it requires a valid DU header and represents the complete sample. FT=0 and FT=1 are permitted only in this form.¶ - FI=1 requires no active data unit, a counter
cin 1..255, and, for FT=2, a valid DU header. It creates active state containing the data-unit type, timed flag, full first-fragment identity, destination subgroup, andnext_expected_counter = c - 1.¶ - FI=2 requires exactly one matching active state and a non-zero counter equal to the next expected counter. It appends only the declared media bytes and decrements the expected counter.¶
- FI=3 requires exactly one matching active state,
next_expected_counter == 0, and a wire counter of zero. It appends the declared media bytes, closes the state, and emits the complete data unit only after all size and authored-timing checks succeed.¶
An FI=0 or FI=1 while state is active is an overlap. An FI=2 or FI=3 without it is an orphan. A changed packet ID, MPU sequence, FT, timed flag, subgroup, skipped/repeated counter, FI=2 at zero, or FI=3 before the expected counter reaches zero is a mismatch or gap. The receiver MUST reject all of these and MUST NOT advance, replace, or consume valid state or pending sample timing on rejection. A new MPU arriving while the prior MPU has an incomplete data unit declares loss and discontinuity; the incomplete unit is discarded and never emitted.¶
5.3.3. Receiver Admission and Completion
A receiver admits a fragment only after its declared MPU payload
boundary, outer FEC trailer, stream scope, subgroup order, and active-DU
transition all validate. Duplicate packets may be dropped by exact
MMTP packet identity before admission, but a duplicate MUST NOT create
or advance active state. Multi-path combining and FEC recovery MUST
restore the same per-packet_id serial packet order before this state
machine, using modulo-2^32 serial-number arithmetic across
packet_sequence_number wrap within a bounded replay window. The
MMTP-session and MoQ-track scope are part of that ordering state;
neither mechanism may fabricate a missing transition.¶
Completion is transactional. For a whole-sample data unit the
receiver first validates the full FI chain and the matching unconsumed
FT=1 sample record; the reassembled FT=2 media length MUST equal that
sample's authored size. For a subsample-partitioned sample it
additionally requires every constituent subsample data unit to have
completed, with the byte-adjacency and total-length checks of
Section 5.2.1. Only then may it emit the sample and consume that
record. Every (sample, offset) data unit is admitted at most once,
and every described sample is emitted at most once. A failed check leaves every pre-existing valid state and timing record
unchanged, except that an explicitly declared discontinuity discards
the incomplete prior unit.¶
5.3.4. Random Access and Priority
An MPU begins at a Stream Access Point: the first access unit of an MPU is a random access point (RAP) ([ISO.23008-1] Section 6.4; Section 4.3). Accordingly a receiver:¶
- SHOULD gate the start of media decoding on the availability of a complete RAP MFU, including a RAP MFU completed by FEC recovery; and¶
- SHOULD prioritize FEC recovery and retention of fragments whose DU header carries a higher priority or dep_counter value (Section 5.2; the subsample_priority and dependency_counter of [ISO.23008-1] Section 9.3.2.3), since these are decode-order roots upon which other access units depend.¶
On a multicast or AMT leg, [MOQ-FEC] Section 11.4 specifies the receiver repair policy this implies.¶
6. Subscriber Join and Relay Behavior
This section defines the join procedure for subscribers and the retention behavior relays apply so that late joiners reach first frame without waiting for the next group boundary. The retention rules in Section 6.2 are purely positional (group, subgroup, and object identifiers plus the Subgroup 0 convention of Section 4.3), so relays remain container-blind and never parse MMTP.¶
6.1. Subscriber Join Procedure
A subscriber joins a live mmtp-packaged track as follows:¶
-
Catalog. Fetch and validate the catalog (the track named
catalog, Section 12). Validation includes the per-track REQUIRED fields of Section 12.1 and the switching-set agreement check of Section 4.4.2. A subscriber MUST NOT issue SUBSCRIBE for a track whose catalog entry fails validation.¶ -
Decoder initialization. If the track carries
initData(Section 4.5) and it validates, initialize the decoder from it immediately. In all cases the subscriber MUST accept the authoritative FT=0 object in Subgroup 0 before admitting this group's FT=1 or FT=2 data units. An AL-FEC signaling object that precedes FT=0 in Subgroup 0 (Section 8) is not decoder initialization and does not satisfy this step.¶ -
Subscribe at a group boundary. Issue SUBSCRIBE requesting delivery from the start of the newest available group, not from the latest object. The group start carries FT=0 initialization (Subgroup 0), the FT=1 metadata governing the first samples, and the RAP-bearing first FT=2 subgroup (Section 4.3); a mid-group start position yields objects that cannot be decoded until the next group. Where the relay retains the current group (Section 6.2), starting at the newest group boundary gives immediate decodability; otherwise the subscriber waits for the next group boundary.¶
-
Repair track. If the subscriber wants FEC protection and the catalog signals FEC for the track, it SHOULD subscribe to the repair track (Section 8.2) at the same time as the source track, so that the first FEC block spanning the join point is repairable. Repair-track subscription is selective and optional ([MOQ-FEC] Section 6.2).¶
-
Presentation gate. A subscriber MUST NOT submit media to the decoder until it has (a) accepted the authoritative FT=0 and FT=1 data units and (b) a completely reassembled FT=2 sample whose RAP flag is set (Section 5.2). Objects received before that point are buffered or discarded according to the receiver's reassembly bounds.¶
-
Loss and discontinuity. If a RAP MFU is discarded under unrepairable loss (Section 5.2), the subscriber MUST treat the track as discontinuous and MUST NOT resume presentation before the next completely reassembled RAP MFU (normally the start of the next group). The same holds when the group's FT=0 data unit, or the FT=1 data unit governing its RAP, is lost, since the RAP then cannot be admitted (Section 4.3). On a multicast or AMT leg, loss that spares those three data units does not make the track discontinuous; [MOQ-FEC] Section 11.4 specifies its handling.¶
6.2. Relay Retention for Late Joiners
A relay that admits subscribers mid-stream SHOULD retain, for each track it serves, all objects of the current (most recent) group.¶
When a subscription joins mid-group, the relay SHOULD deliver the retained objects of the current group from the group start -- including objects of subgroups that were already complete or still open at join time -- in subgroup and object order, ahead of or interleaved with newly arriving objects. A relay that holds earlier objects of the current group MUST NOT deliver only objects published after the join; doing so strands the subscriber until the next group boundary and defeats retention.¶
Two completeness rules apply to replayed subgroups:¶
- The relay MUST track which retained subgroups are finalized (closed by the publisher) and, when replaying a finalized subgroup, MUST deliver it completely; replaying a partial prefix of a finalized subgroup and silently omitting the remainder produces an MFU the receiver can never reassemble and is indistinguishable from network loss.¶
- The relay SHOULD deliver retained subgroups in ascending Subgroup ID and objects in their source order. Under the positional mapping of Section 4.3, this delivers Subgroup 0 and every lower-numbered governing metadata subgroup before its FT=2 subgroup without parsing MMTP. Receivers still enforce Subgroup-ID order (Section 4.3).¶
Retention of groups older than the current group (for example to serve FETCH-based catch-up) is permitted but out of scope for this document. Under cache pressure a relay MAY evict retained objects; eviction converts a late join into a wait for the next group boundary, which is the same behavior as a relay that retains nothing.¶
7. FEC Integration
MMT's AL-FEC framework supports multiple FEC schemes, with the MMT FEC codes specified in [ISO.23008-10] and parameters signaled via MMTP signaling messages or, in ATSC 3.0, via S-TSID (which is part of the ROUTE transport layer). For MoQ, RaptorQ [RFC6330] is the mandatory-to-implement and only fully specified scheme ([MOQ-FEC] Section 4.3), and FEC repair uses the model defined in [MOQ-FEC]:¶
Source Track: video +-- Objects: MMTP packets with FEC Type=0 or 1 (source) Repair Track: video/repair +-- Objects: MMTP packets with FEC Type=2 (repair)¶
7.1. Interleaving
Interleaving and typical interleave windows (interleaveDepthMs)
follow [MOQ-FEC] Section 9. A positive interleaveDepthMs is the
elapsed source/repair send-span bound for each actual FEC block; it does not
select FEC block boundaries, derive a number of groups per block, or
require a fixed relationship between an FEC block and a media Group.
Absent and zero values follow [MOQ-FEC] Section 5.1 and do not supply
an elapsed-time deadline. A typical window for ARIB STD-B60 content is
2000 ms.¶
7.2. OTI Signaling
The S-TSID carries the RaptorQ OTI of [RFC6330] Section 3.3 in its
fecOTI attribute. MoQ carries no OTI in-session: receivers derive
it per block from the catalog fec fields and the block's SSB_length
per [MOQ-FEC] Section 4.2, and Section 12.2 converts an ingested
fecOTI to catalog fields.¶
8. FEC Parameter Signaling
FEC parameters for mmtp-packaged tracks are signaled in the catalog
fec object, defined normatively in [MOQ-FEC] Section 5, which is
authoritative for MoQ receivers ([MOQ-FEC] Section 5.2). A MoQ
receiver requires no in-session FEC signaling: the catalog carries
every FEC parameter it needs.
This document does not redefine the catalog fields but specifies
MMT-specific considerations for their use.¶
A publisher MAY also carry the MMTP AL-FEC signaling message of
Section 8.3 on a MoQ mmtp source track, as an object whose payload
is an MMTP signaling packet on packet_id 0 (Section 3.1). When
present, it is published in Subgroup 0 of an MPU group as the object
immediately before, and in the same subgroup as, that group's FT=0
object, and a group carries at most one such object (Sections 4.2
and 4.3). On a MoQ
track such an object is a redundant in-band copy of catalog state:
the message MUST NOT signal FEC parameters that contradict the
track's catalog fec object, and where the two disagree the catalog
governs. The object carries no media data
unit and no repair symbol, so a MoQ receiver MUST NOT deliver it to
a media or repair decoder (Section 3.1); a receiver that does not
process MMTP signaling discards it.¶
The signaling object is not an FEC source symbol. Its MMTP packet
has FEC Type 0 and no Source FEC Payload ID; it is not protected by
any repair symbol, is not counted in any FEC block or in
sourceSymbols (K), and has no SS_ID and no Encoding Symbol ID.
Because it occupies an Object ID in Subgroup 0, Object IDs on an mmtp
source track are not positions in the FEC block: a receiver MUST take
each source symbol's SS_ID from the Source FEC Payload ID that trails
its FEC Type 1 packet ([MOQ-FEC] Section 8.5), never from its
Object ID, and places the symbol in its block by that SS_ID
([MOQ-FEC] Section 8.3).¶
A MoQ track carries only the signaling packets its publisher chose to place on that track, so the packet_sequence_number values it exhibits on packet_id 0 need not be contiguous. A receiver MUST NOT infer loss from a packet_sequence_number gap on packet_id 0 of a MoQ track, and MUST NOT defer any packet, including a later packet on packet_id 0, behind such a gap.¶
8.1. MMT-Specific FEC Parameters
When used with MMT packaging, the catalog fec fields map as
follows:¶
- algorithm: Typically "raptorq" for ATSC 3.0 ingest, or as specified in MMTP AL-FEC signaling¶
-
blockProfile: "iso-ssbg1-v1" ([MOQ-FEC] Section 5.1), the
ISO 23008-1 Annex C block profile, for which an AL-FEC message
carries the coding byte 0x14 (Section 8.3); REQUIRED when
algorithmis not "none"¶ - sourceSymbols: The largest number of MMTP packets (source symbols) that an FEC block may hold; each block holds SSB_length of them ([MOQ-FEC] Section 7.4). On the MMT path the canonical FEC source symbol is one whole MMTP packet, before its Source FEC Payload ID, framed with its length ([MOQ-FEC] Section 7.3)¶
-
interleaveDepthMs: When positive, the elapsed source/repair send
span bound of each actual FEC block, as defined by [MOQ-FEC]
Section 5.1; that section also defines absent and zero values. It is
independent of
groupDurationMsand does not imply a block count or block boundary from MoQ Groups. When ingesting broadcast content, use the ISO protection-window signaling or a known source/repair send-span bound. A source-frame count alone does not bound the actual packet send span (Section 12.2).¶
See [MOQ-FEC] for the complete catalog field definitions, the algorithm registry, and the OTI derivation.¶
8.2. Repair Tracks
A source track's repair tracks are the track its fec.repairTrack
names and the tracks that name it in depends ([MOQ-FEC]
Section 5.1.1); [MOQ-FEC] Section 6.1 gives their conventional
names. Subscription to them follows [MOQ-FEC] Section 6.2, and
their priorities [MOQ-FEC] Section 10.¶
8.3. FEC Signaling for Multicast Delivery
For multicast (SSM/ASM) delivery there is no bidirectional signaling channel. FEC parameters reach multicast receivers via:¶
-
MoQ Catalog Extension (authoritative for MoQ receivers, [MOQ-FEC] Section 5.2): out-of-band delivery in the catalog
fecobject (see the worked catalog of [MOQ-FEC] Section 5.1.2).¶ -
MMTP AL-FEC Signaling (message_id=0x0203): in-band delivery of the AL-FEC message of [ISO.23008-1] Clause C.6, with Table C.3 as replaced by [ISO.23008-1.AMD1], for ISO/IEC 23008-1 receivers that consume the flow without the catalog, such as native broadcast (ATSC 3.0, ARIB STD-B60) receivers. A publisher that sends this message MUST carry it in an MMTP signaling packet (packet type 0x02) on packet_id 0, the MMTP signaling flow, after the signaling message payload header of [ISO.23008-1] Clause 9.3.4.2 (Section 3.1); on multicast delivery it shares the multicast group of the media it describes, and on MoQ delivery it MAY be carried as an object of an mmtp source track under the rules of Section 8. No track is advertised on packet_id 0 ([MOQ-MULTICAST] Section 4.1), and a receiver does not deliver these packets to a media or repair decoder (Section 3.1; [MOQ-MULTICAST] Section 5)¶
Each FEC source flow has one FEC encoded flow ([ISO.23008-1]
Clause C.6.3), so the message describes a source track's flow as one
entry of the message's fec_flow_descriptor naming exactly one repair
flow,
the track's layer-0 repair track ([MOQ-FEC] Section 6.3). For a
track whose fec.blockProfile is "iso-ssbg1-v1", that entry carries:¶
- the coding byte 0x14, that is
fec_coding_structure0001 (one-stage),ssbg_mode01,ffsrpts_flag0 andfec_payload_id_mode0 ([MOQ-FEC] Section 7.3);¶ - as its
repair_flow_id, the packet_id of the layer-0 repair packets. [ISO.23008-1.AMD1] makes this field 16 bits in the one-stage branch, where the 2023 edition of Table C.3 gives it 8 bits and so cannot name a repair packet_id above 255; and¶ - as its
maximum_k_for_repair_flow, the track'sfec.sourceSymbols: like that field, it bounds each block's SSB_length and is not the size of any particular block ([MOQ-FEC] Section 7.4).¶
A publisher MUST NOT describe a repair layer above layer 0, or a
keyframe overlay, in the message, whether in that entry or in an
entry of its own: the one-stage coding structure names one repair
flow per FEC encoded flow, the overlay protects a RAP subset that no
packet_id identifies, and only the catalog declares either
([MOQ-FEC] Sections 6.3, 6.4 and 8.5.1).¶
9. Multicast Integration
MMT content can be delivered via IP multicast (SSM, AMT) and TreeDN for scalable distribution. Platform-specific delivery paths, the multicast endpoint catalog extension, and TreeDN/AMT integration are defined in [MOQ-MULTICAST], and the multicast packet format in its Section 5.¶
10. ARIB STD-B60 Compatibility
ARIB STD-B60 [ARIB-B60] (Japan's MMT-based broadcasting standard) uses the same ISO 23008-1 foundation as ATSC 3.0. Publishers SHOULD preserve the original FEC parameters when ingesting ARIB STD-B60 content.¶
10.1. Clock Reference
ARIB STD-B60 uses the MMTP Timestamp of Section 3.1: the UTC send time of the packet in NTP short format.¶
11. Transport Hierarchy
Clients SHOULD attempt transports in the preference order that [MOQ-MULTICAST] Section 3 defines for native and browser clients. AL-FEC (Section 7) is the loss recovery on SSM/AMT paths, which have no retransmission.¶
12. Catalog Signaling
The MoQ catalog indicates MMT packaging and multicast endpoints.¶
The catalog of this suite is an MSF catalog: the root object and
its fields (version, generatedAt, tracks, ...), the
requirement that parsers ignore fields they do not understand, and
the base per-track fields are those of [I-D.ietf-moq-msf]
Section 5. The catalog is delivered as a MoQ track whose
case-sensitive Track Name is catalog ([I-D.ietf-moq-msf]
Section 5). The documents of this suite extend the base in the
same manner as
[I-D.ietf-moq-cmsf] extends it: this document adds the packaging
value mmtp and the mmtp track fields (Section 12.1), [MOQ-FEC]
adds the per-track fec object and the fec-repair packaging
value, and [MOQ-MULTICAST] adds the root-level multicast
member. Every catalog field this suite uses is defined either by
[I-D.ietf-moq-msf] or locally by a document of this suite (with
cmaf tracks and initData per [I-D.ietf-moq-cmsf]); no field
is defined by any other catalog specification.¶
12.1. Packaging Value and Track Fields
This document defines a single packaging value:¶
packaging: "mmtp"¶
carried in the per-track packaging field of the catalog
([I-D.ietf-moq-msf] Section 5.2.4). The value extends the
allowed packaging values of that specification in the same manner
as the cmaf value of [I-D.ietf-moq-cmsf] Section 3.5.1; see
Section 14 for the registry request. Object payloads of an
mmtp-packaged track are whole MMTP packets per Section 4.2.¶
Per-track catalog fields for mmtp packaging:¶
| Field | Status | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
packaging
|
REQUIRED | String | MUST be "mmtp" |
mmtpMode
|
REQUIRED | String | MUST be "mfu" (Section 5); defined by this document |
timescale
|
REQUIRED | Number | Media timescale in Hz ([I-D.ietf-moq-msf] Section 5.2.21, profiled REQUIRED here; Section 4.4.2) |
presentationAnchorTicks
|
REQUIRED for synchronized audio/video tracks | Signed integer | Track timestamp corresponding to shared presentation time zero (Section 4.4.1); defined by this document |
groupDurationMs
|
Conditional | Number | REQUIRED without the tick form; positive integer ms (Section 4.4.2); informational when ticks are present |
groupDurationTicks
|
OPTIONAL | Number | Positive exact group duration in track ticks; authoritative when present (Section 4.4.2); defined by this document |
altGroup
|
OPTIONAL | Number | Switching-set membership key ([I-D.ietf-moq-msf] Section 5.2.12, profiled in Section 4.4) |
keyframeIntervalMs
|
OPTIONAL | Number | Keyframe/GOP cadence, integer ms; video only (Section 4.4.3); defined by this document |
keyframeIntervalTicks
|
OPTIONAL | Number | Integer-tick override for the keyframe interval (Section 4.4.3); defined by this document |
initData
|
OPTIONAL | String | Base64 ftyp+moov init segment ([I-D.ietf-moq-cmsf] Section 3.1, profiled in Section 4.5) |
fec
|
OPTIONAL | Object | AL-FEC parameters, defined in [MOQ-FEC] Section 5 (Section 8) |
All other base track fields of [I-D.ietf-moq-msf] Section 5.2
apply unchanged. In particular name and the rendition
parameters -- codec ([I-D.ietf-moq-msf] Section 5.2.18; required
for media tracks per that section), framerate, width, height,
samplerate, channelConfig, bitrate, and lang -- are flat,
top-level fields of the track object.¶
mmtpMode selects the object layout and MUST be "mfu". It delivers
one subgroup per FT=0, FT=1, or FT=2 data unit as defined in Sections
4.3 and 5. A subscriber MUST reject a track whose
mmtpMode is absent or has any other value; the object layout cannot
be inferred safely from received objects.¶
Example:¶
{
"tracks": [{
"name": "video",
"packaging": "mmtp",
"mmtpMode": "mfu",
"timescale": 90000,
"presentationAnchorTicks": 0,
"groupDurationMs": 1000,
"codec": "avc1.64001f",
"width": 1920,
"height": 1080,
"framerate": 30
}]
}
¶
12.2. S-TSID to MoQ Catalog Conversion
This section and its inverse (Section 12.3) are informative: they document a mapping for ingesting ATSC 3.0 broadcast signaling into MoQ catalogs and exporting it back, and impose no interoperability requirements on MoQ publishers or subscribers. A converter's output catalog is subject to the normative catalog requirements of Section 12.1 like any other catalog.¶
When ingesting ATSC 3.0 content delivered via ROUTE, generate MoQ catalog from the S-TSID signaling table (defined in ATSC A/331 [ATSC-A331] for the ROUTE transport layer). For MMT-delivered content, equivalent parameters are obtained from the MP table (asset locations, [ISO.23008-1] Clause 10.3.9) and the AL-FEC message (FEC parameters, [ISO.23008-1] Annex C.6). A complete worked example is given in Appendix A.¶
Overhead arithmetic. FECParameters@overhead is an integer
percentage. Below, a div b is the integer quotient floor(a / b) of a
non-negative integer a and a positive integer b. Export
(Section 12.3) rounds up, computing ceil(100 x P / K) as
(100 x P + K - 1) div K; ingest (this section) rounds down, computing
P = floor(K x overhead / 100) as (K x overhead) div 100. The two are
matching inverses: ceil(100 x P / K) <= overhead if and only if
P <= (K x overhead) div 100, so ingest yields the largest P whose
exported @overhead does not exceed the ingested one.¶
The multicast field in the output uses the multicast endpoint format
defined in [MOQ-MULTICAST] Section 4.1. Conversion rules:¶
-
RS@sIpAddr->multicast.endpoints[].sourceAddress¶ -
RS@dIpAddr->multicast.endpoints[].groupAddress¶ -
RS@dPort->multicast.endpoints[].port¶ - each
LSSrcFlow and RepairFlow -> a distinctmulticast.endpoints[].tracks[]entry, withpacketIdassigned per the rule below¶ -
LS@bw->bitrate([I-D.ietf-moq-msf] Section 5.2.22)¶ - the source composition/edit-list origin for each synchronized media
track ->
presentationAnchorTicks; a converter MUST preserve one common presentation origin across audio and video and MUST NOT emit zero merely because the source offset was unavailable¶ -
FECParameters@overhead->fec.repairSymbols, computed as P = (K x overhead) div 100 (overhead arithmetic above)¶ -
fecOTIF,T ->fec.sourceSymbols(K = ceil(F / T)),fec.symbolSize(T)¶ -
FECParameters@maximumDelayhas no direct catalog mapping. A/331 defines it as the maximum delivery delay between a source packet and its associated repair packet, whereasfec.interleaveDepthMsis the ISO protection-window send span from the first source or repair packet to the last. The converter MUST NOT copy this attribute intointerleaveDepthMs. It setsinterleaveDepthMsonly when an ISO AL-FECprotection_window_timevalue or an independently known source/repair send schedule supplies that first-to-last span, using a positive integer millisecond upper bound that covers the complete span. It MUST NOT round a fractional span down. If the span is unknown, or ISO signals zero (the size-based case), the converter omitsinterleaveDepthMs. The RFC 6330 Z parameter -- the number of source blocks -- is likewise unrelated to interleaving and does not map to any catalog FEC field.¶
An ingested @overhead with K x overhead < 100 yields P = 0, less
than one repair symbol per block. A catalog cannot express that for
a flow that has a RepairFlow (repairSymbols is at least 1 when a
repair track is published, [MOQ-FEC] Section 5.1), so the
conversion of such an S-TSID fails: the converter neither rounds P
up nor emits the source flow without its RepairFlow. The
round-trip properties of Section 12.3 assume that the ingested
@overhead was rounded up as that section specifies; an
@overhead that its producer rounded down or to nearest can ingest
to a P below the one it was computed from.¶
No OTI is carried in the output catalog. The MoQ-side decoder configuration is re-derived per block from the catalog fields and the block's SSB_length (Section 7.2), and the ingested F does not survive conversion: it yields only K = ceil(F / T), the upper bound on a block's source symbol count ([MOQ-FEC] Section 7.4). The transfer length of a full MoQ-side block, K x T, exceeds the ingested F when F is not a multiple of T.¶
packetId is assigned per flow, not per tsi. An LS (ROUTE
transport session) carrying both a SrcFlow and its RepairFlow yields
two tracks[] entries, and Section 4.1 of [MOQ-MULTICAST]
requires each packetId value to denote exactly one sub-flow across
all endpoints of the MMT sending entity ([MOQ-MULTICAST]
Section 2); reusing tsi directly would collide for a repair flow
that shares its source's tsi, and for LS elements of different
RS elements that reuse a tsi. The converter assigns packetId
sequentially from 1, in RS document order and in tsi order
within each RS, without restarting at a new RS, and emits each
source flow immediately before its repair flow (so tsi 1
source -> packetId 1, its repair -> packetId 2, tsi 2
source -> packetId 3); it never assigns 0, which is reserved for the
MMTP signaling flow ([MOQ-MULTICAST] Section 4.1). The numbering
scope is the MMT sending entity, which serves exactly one MoQ
namespace ([MOQ-MULTICAST] Section 4.1) but is not limited to one
S-TSID: when the converter publishes the flows of several S-TSIDs
under one namespace, it continues the sequence from one S-TSID to
the next, in ingestion order, rather than restarting at 1, so that no
two flows of that sending entity share a value. S-TSIDs published
under different namespaces belong to different sending entities, and
each is numbered from 1. Flows sharing one
(sourceAddress, groupAddress, port) tuple collapse into a single
endpoint whose tracks[] array lists them all.¶
timescale, the group-duration field, and mmtpMode are not carried in
S-TSID, yet they are REQUIRED fields (Section 12.1). The converter
takes timescale from asset_timescale in the MP table when
asset_timescale_flag is 1, and uses 90 000 Hz when that flag is 0,
as specified by [ISO.23008-1] Clause 10.3.9.3. For each timed
Asset, it obtains the presentation time of each MPU's first AU in
presentation order from the PI document when PI is present;
ISO/IEC 23008-1 Clause 10.5.2.1 says that the MPU timestamp
descriptor is ignored in that case. Otherwise it decodes each
descriptor's 64-bit NTP mpu_presentation_time value
([ISO.23008-1] Clause 10.5.2) and MUST NOT treat the encoded NTP
integer as a media tick count. It converts those presentation
instants through the selected asset/media clock, retaining the
authored media timing when NTP fractional quantization does not land
on an integer media tick. That instant is not ticks
(Section 4.4.1) when the MPU has leading pictures: ticks is that
instant plus the difference between the authored composition times
(Section 5.1) of the MPU's first AU in decode order and its
earliest-presented AU, converted to the selected timescale as
Section 4.4.1 requires.¶
The converter derives the group duration from the authored MPU/media
cadence and validates it against those ticks values. It may emit
groupDurationMs only when the conversion to the selected timescale
is an exact positive integer tick count; when the cadence is exact
only in ticks it emits groupDurationTicks.
The fixed-cadence profile cannot represent a source whose MPU cadence
is not one constant positive duration, so conversion MUST fail rather
than round or invent a cadence. It sets mmtpMode itself. Nor does
S-TSID carry fec.blockProfile, which is REQUIRED for a
track whose fec.algorithm is not "none" ([MOQ-FEC] Section 5.1);
for such a track the converter sets it to the profile under
which the MoQ-side publisher protects the track, "iso-ssbg1-v1".¶
12.3. MoQ Catalog to S-TSID Conversion
When generating ATSC-compatible output, convert the MoQ catalog to S-TSID by inverting the mapping of Section 12.2. Conversion rules:¶
-
multicast.endpoints[].sourceAddress->RS@sIpAddr¶ -
fec.repairSymbols(P) andfec.sourceSymbols(K) ->FECParameters@overhead, computed as (100 x P + K - 1) div K (Section 12.2)¶ -
fec.interleaveDepthMshas no direct inverse toFECParameters@maximumDelay: the former is the ISO protection-window source/repair send span, while the latter is the maximum delay from a source packet to its associated repair packet. Emit@maximumDelayonly when the target converter separately computes that A/331 delivery delay; otherwise omit it rather than copyinginterleaveDepthMs(and document that the field was not preserved).¶ -
fec.sourceSymbolsandfec.symbolSize->fecOTI, exactly the OTI of a full block (SSB_length = K) derived from them (Section 7.2)¶
Because export rounds up, for a catalog whose only FEC instance is
the source track's own, the exported overhead never understates the
catalog's repair rate. That guarantee does not extend to a catalog
that declares layered repair tracks ([MOQ-FEC] Section 6.3) or a
keyframe overlay ([MOQ-FEC] Section 6.4). There fec.repairSymbols
is P_0, the base layer only; layers i >= 1 and the overlay carry
repair symbols of their own, and a single FECParameters@overhead
cannot represent them. Converting such a catalog with this rule
therefore understates its repair rate, and the exported
FECParameters describes the base layer alone, not the catalog's
full repair capacity.¶
Like the rest of this section, the round-trip properties that follow from the overhead arithmetic of Section 12.2 are informative:¶
- catalog -> S-TSID -> catalog always reproduces
repairSymbolswhen K <= 100. For larger K, several values of P can share one whole-percent@overhead, and the round trip yields the largest of them.¶ - S-TSID -> catalog -> S-TSID always reproduces
@overheadwhen K >= 100. For smaller K it reproduces@overheadif and only if the ingested value equals ceil(100 x P / K) for some P; otherwise it yields the largest such value below the ingested one.¶ - Either round trip is stable: converting its output again changes nothing.¶
13. Security Considerations
MMT content protection uses Common Encryption (CENC) which is preserved through MoQ transport. The MMTP packet and payload headers are not encrypted by CENC, allowing relays and receivers to inspect packet type, sequence, and fragmentation metadata without accessing media sample content.¶
13.1. Multicast Security
Multicast-specific security considerations (source authentication, replay protection, AMT relay trust) are defined in [MOQ-MULTICAST] Section 7.¶
14. IANA Considerations
This document defines the catalog packaging value "mmtp"
(Section 12.1), extending the allowed packaging values of the MoQ
Streaming Format [I-D.ietf-moq-msf] Section 5.2.4 in the same
manner as [I-D.ietf-moq-cmsf]. If a registry of packaging
values is established for that format, this document requests
registration of:¶
| Value | Description | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| "mmtp" | MMTP packets carrying MPU/MFU payloads | This document |
This document requests no MoQ message type registrations. FEC signaling uses no MoQ control message ([MOQ-FEC] Section 5.2); no document in this suite requests a control-message codepoint.¶
15. References
15.1. Normative References
- [I-D.ietf-moq-msf]
- Law, W. and S. Nandakumar, "MOQT Streaming Format", Work in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-ietf-moq-msf-01, , <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-ietf-moq-msf-01>.
- [I-D.ietf-moq-transport]
- Nandakumar, S., Vasiliev, V., Swett, I., and A. Frindell, "Media over QUIC Transport", Work in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-ietf-moq-transport-22, , <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-ietf-moq-transport-22>.
- [ISO.23008-1]
- ISO/IEC, "Information technology - High efficiency coding and media delivery in heterogeneous environments - Part 1: MPEG media transport (MMT)", ISO/IEC 23008-1:2023, .
- [ISO.23008-1.AMD1]
- ISO/IEC, "Information technology - High efficiency coding and media delivery in heterogeneous environments - Part 1: MPEG media transport (MMT) - Amendment 1: Signalling of adaptive FEC scheme", ISO/IEC 23008-1:2023/Amd 1:2025, .
- [MOQ-FEC]
- Ramadan, O., "Forward Error Correction for Media over QUIC", Work in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-ramadan-moq-fec-00, , <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-ramadan-moq-fec-00>.
- [MOQ-MULTICAST]
- Ramadan, O., "Multicast Delivery and Endpoint Discovery for Media over QUIC", Work in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-ramadan-moq-multicast-00, , <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-ramadan-moq-multicast-00>.
- [RFC2119]
- Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, DOI 10.17487/RFC2119, , <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2119>.
- [RFC6330]
- Luby, M., Shokrollahi, A., Watson, M., Stockhammer, T., and L. Minder, "RaptorQ Forward Error Correction Scheme for Object Delivery", RFC 6330, DOI 10.17487/RFC6330, , <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6330>.
- [RFC8174]
- Leiba, B., "Ambiguity of Uppercase vs Lowercase in RFC 2119 Key Words", BCP 14, RFC 8174, DOI 10.17487/RFC8174, , <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8174>.
15.2. Informative References
- [ARIB-B60]
- ARIB, "MMT-Based Media Transport Scheme in Digital Broadcasting Systems", ARIB STD-B60 Version 1.14.
- [ATSC-A331]
- ATSC, "Signaling, Delivery, Synchronization, and Error Protection", ATSC A/331:2026-02, , <https://www.atsc.org/atsc-documents/3312017-signaling-delivery-synchronization-error-protection/>.
- [I-D.ietf-moq-cmsf]
- Law, W., "CMSF- a CMAF compliant implementation of MOQT Streaming Format", Work in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-ietf-moq-cmsf-01, , <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-ietf-moq-cmsf-01>.
- [I-D.ietf-moq-loc]
- Zanaty, M., Nandakumar, S., and P. Thatcher, "Low Overhead Media Container", Work in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-ietf-moq-loc-04, , <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-ietf-moq-loc-04>.
- [ISO.23008-10]
- ISO/IEC, "Information technology - High efficiency coding and media delivery in heterogeneous environments - Part 10: MPEG media transport forward error correction (FEC) codes", ISO/IEC 23008-10.
Appendix A. S-TSID Conversion Example
This appendix is informative, like the conversion mapping it illustrates (Section 12.2).¶
Complete example showing bidirectional conversion between ATSC S-TSID and MoQ catalog for a multi-track service.¶
A.1. Original ATSC S-TSID
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<S-TSID
xmlns="tag:atsc.org,2016:XMLSchemas/ATSC3/Delivery/S-TSID/1.0/">
<RS sIpAddr="10.0.0.1" dIpAddr="232.1.1.10" dPort="5000">
<!-- Video 1080p -->
<LS tsi="1" bw="7984000">
<SrcFlow rt="true" minBuffSize="8000000">
<ContentInfo>
<MediaInfo contentType="video" repId="1080p" lang="en"/>
</ContentInfo>
<EFDT>
<FDT-Instance Expires="4294967295">
<File Content-Location="video/1080p/init.mp4" TOI="1"/>
</FDT-Instance>
</EFDT>
<Payload codePoint="128" formatId="2" srcFecPayloadId="6"/>
</SrcFlow>
<RepairFlow>
<FECParameters maximumDelay="1000" overhead="25"
fecOTI="F=1000000;T=1000;Z=1;N=1;Al=8">
<ProtectedObject tsi="1">
<SourceTOI x="0" y="65535"/>
</ProtectedObject>
</FECParameters>
</RepairFlow>
</LS>
<!-- Audio Stereo -->
<LS tsi="2" bw="128000">
<SrcFlow rt="true">
<ContentInfo>
<MediaInfo contentType="audio" repId="stereo" lang="en"/>
</ContentInfo>
<Payload codePoint="128" formatId="2"/>
</SrcFlow>
</LS>
</RS>
</S-TSID>
¶
A.2. Converted MoQ Catalog
{
"version": "draft-01",
"tracks": [
{
"name": "video/1080p",
"packaging": "mmtp",
"mmtpMode": "mfu",
"timescale": 90000,
"presentationAnchorTicks": 0,
"groupDurationMs": 1000,
"codec": "avc1.64001f",
"width": 1920,
"height": 1080,
"framerate": 30,
"bitrate": 7984000,
"lang": "en",
"fec": {
"algorithm": "raptorq",
"blockProfile": "iso-ssbg1-v1",
"sourceSymbols": 1000,
"repairSymbols": 250,
"symbolSize": 1000,
"reorderToleranceMs": 40,
"repairTrack": "video/1080p/repair"
}
},
{
"name": "video/1080p/repair",
"packaging": "fec-repair",
"priority": 240
},
{
"name": "audio/stereo",
"packaging": "mmtp",
"mmtpMode": "mfu",
"timescale": 48000,
"presentationAnchorTicks": 0,
"groupDurationMs": 1000,
"codec": "mp4a.40.2",
"samplerate": 48000,
"channelConfig": "2",
"bitrate": 128000,
"lang": "en"
}
],
"multicast": {
"endpoints": [{
"protocol": "ssm",
"sourceAddress": "10.0.0.1",
"groupAddress": "232.1.1.10",
"port": 5000,
"tracks": [
{ "name": "video/1080p", "packetId": 1 },
{ "name": "video/1080p/repair", "packetId": 2 },
{ "name": "audio/stereo", "packetId": 3 }
]
}],
"networkSource": [{
"type": "amt",
"discovery": "driad"
}]
}
}
¶
The catalog envelope is the MSF root ([I-D.ietf-moq-msf]
Section 5.1); the version value names the MSF revision the
catalog conforms to. The converter publishes the catalog under the
namespace derived from the ingested service, and the track entries
inherit that namespace from the catalog track
([I-D.ietf-moq-msf] Section 5.2.2). Rendition parameters
(codec, width, bitrate, lang, ...) are the flat base track
fields of [I-D.ietf-moq-msf] Section 5.2 (Section 12.1).¶
The FEC fields recompute from the S-TSID as follows:¶
-
sourceSymbols: K = ceil(F / T) = ceil(1,000,000 / 1,000) = 1000¶ -
repairSymbols: P = (K x overhead) div 100 = (1000 x 25) div 100 = 250 (Section 12.2); re-exporting gives@overhead= (100 x 250 + 1000 - 1) div 1000 = 25, the ingested value (Section 12.3)¶ -
interleaveDepthMs: omitted. The source S-TSID valuemaximumDelay="1000"describes the maximum delivery delay from a source packet to its associated repair packet; it does not provide the ISO protection-window send span required by this catalog field.¶ -
blockProfile: set by the converter (Section 12.2), since S-TSID carries none and the track'salgorithmis not "none"¶ - Derived MoQ OTI of a full block (SSB_length = K, Section 7.2):
F = K x T = 1000 x 1000 = 1,000,000 bytes, identical to the
ingested
fecOTI, so the round trip is lossless¶
This S-TSID example supplies no ISO protection-window send span, so the
converted catalog does not signal interleaveDepthMs. If a publisher
has that span independently, it may add the field; it still does not
imply that one MoQ Group is one FEC block or that a block contains a
fixed number of Groups. The publisher signals each block's SS_Start
and SSB_length in its repair packets ([MOQ-FEC] Sections 7.1 and
7.4). The full-block OTI calculation above is therefore a catalog
bound and does not replace that per-block signaling.¶