Overview

In this chapter we will go through the basic structure of an MXF file. We will illustrate the various structures and components of the MXF file with diagrams and descriptive text. Many of the diagrams will be oriented toward the structure of an MXF file that contains a short movie with long-GOP MPEG video and BWF (Broadcast Wave Format) stereo audio. The MXF file is intended to be played out in a software application and consists of some color bars, slate, the movie, and finally some black/silence. We will look at the two different aspects of an MXF file, the way the file s bytes are physically stored on the disc or tape, and also how the structural metadata describes what the MXF file is intended to represent.

This chapter is intended to be a quick run through the concepts and structures in MXF. All of the topics are covered in more detail elsewhere in the book.

In Figure 2.1, a very simple MXF file is represented. At the beginning of the file, there is the file header; in the middle is the file body; and at the end, the file footer. We will expand on the fine detail of the physical structure of an MXF file later in this chapter. For now, we will look at the structural metadata stored in the header to describe the structure of the MXF file and the multimedia content contained within it.

Figure 2.1: Basic structure...