IEC 62942:2019

File format for professional transfer and exchange of digital audio data

IEC 62942:2019

Name:IEC 62942:2019   Standard name:File format for professional transfer and exchange of digital audio data
Standard number:IEC 62942:2019   language:English language
Release Date:11-Dec-2019   technical committee:TA 6 - Storage media, storage data structures, storage systems and equipment
Drafting committee:PT 62942 - TC 100/TA 6/PT 62942   ICS number:01 - GENERALITIES. TERMINOLOGY. STANDARDIZATION. DOCUMENTATION

IEC 62942
Edition 1.0 2019-12
INTERNATIONAL
STANDARD
File format for professional transfer and exchange of digital audio data




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IEC 62942
Edition 1.0 2019-12
INTERNATIONAL
STANDARD
File format for professional transfer and exchange of digital audio data

INTERNATIONAL
ELECTROTECHNICAL
COMMISSION
ICS 33.160.30 ISBN 978-2-8322-7722-5

– 2 – IEC 62942:2019 © IEC 2019
CONTENTS
FOREWORD . 5
INTRODUCTION . 7
1 Scope . 8
2 Normative references . 8
3 Terms and definitions . 8
4 BWF file . 10
4.1 Existing chunks defined as part of the RIFF Format . 10
4.2 Additional chunks . 10
4.3 Contents of a BWFF . 10
4.4 Broadcast audio extension chunk . 11
4.5 Filename . 13
4.6 Channel usage . 13
4.7 File size . 13
Annex A (normative) RIFF WAVE file format . 14
A.1 General . 14
A.2 Resource Interchange File Format (RIFF) . 14
A.2.1 General . 14
A.2.2 Chunks . 14
A.2.3 RIFF forms . 15
A.3 Waveform audio file format (WAVE) . 15
A.3.1 General . 15
A.3.2 WAVE format chunk . 16
A.3.3 WAVE format categories . 16
A.4 Storage of WAVE data . 19
Annex B (normative) Chunk order . 20
Annex C (normative) Filename conventions . 21
C.1 General . 21
C.2 File-name length . 21
C.3 File-name extension . 21
C.4 File-name character set . 21
Annex D (informative) Multi-channel usage . 23
D.1 General . 23
D.2 Multi-channel audio data packing . 23
D.3 Channel assignments in multi-channel files . 24
D.3.1 General . 24
D.3.2 Distribution and archive . 24
D.3.3 Production recordings . 24
Annex E (informative) Other audio codings . 25
E.1 General . 25
E.2 MPEG files . 25
Annex F (normative) Extended file format (BWF-E) . 26
F.1 General . 26
F.2 Exceeding the 4-GB limit . 26
F.2.1 General . 26
F.2.2 64-bit resource interchange file format (RF64) . 27

F.3 Compatibility between BWF and BWF-E . 28
F.3.1 General . 28
F.3.2 Initialisation as BWF . 28
F.3.3 Transition to BWF-E . 28
F.4 RIFF/WAVE and RF64/WAVE structures . 29
F.4.1 Chunks and structs specific to the RIFF/WAVE format . 29
F.4.2 Chunks and structs specific to the RF64/WAVE (BWF-E) format . 29
Annex G (normative) bext chunk versions . 31
G.1 Version 0 . 31
G.2 Version 1 . 31
G.3 Version 2 . 31
Annex H (normative) Loudness parameters. 32
H.1 Treatment of loudness parameters . 32
H.2 Loudness parameter references . 33
Annex I (informative) Definition of the format for "Unique" Source Identifier (USID) for
use in the field . 34
I.1 USID . 34
I.2 Examples of USIDs . 34
Annex J (informative) Specification of the format for field . 35
J.1 General . 35
J.2 Syntax . 35
J.3 Examples of coding history fields . 35
Annex K (normative) Universal broadcast audio extension chunk . 37
K.1 General . 37
K.2 Contents of a BWFF with 'ubxt' chunk . 37
K.3 Universal broadcast audio extension chunk . 37
Bibliography . 40

Figure D.1 – Data packing for 24-bit mono PCM audio data . 23
Figure D.2 – Data packing for 16-bit stereo (2-channel) PCM audio data . 23
Figure D.3 – Data packing for 24-bit, 4-channel PCM audio data . 23
Figure D.4 – 24-bit sample packing . 24
Figure F.1 – Conventional RIFF/WAVE format . 26
Figure F.2 – Extended RF64/WAVE format . 27
Figure F.3 – Compatible RIFF/WAVE structure . 28

Table 1 – bext field content definitions . 12
Table A.1 – Chunk description . 14
Table A.2 – Format chunk – Common fields . 16
Table A.3 – WAVE format categories . 17
Table A.4 – Data packing for 16-bit mono PCM . 17
Table A.5 – Data packing for 16-bit stereo PCM . 18
Table A.6 – PCM data format . 18
Table A.7 – PCM data format – 16-bit . 18
Table A.8 – PCM WAVE format chunk examples . 18
Table C.1 – Permitted file-name characters . 21

– 4 – IEC 62942:2019 © IEC 2019
Table C.2 – Non-permitted file-name characters . 22
Table C.3 – Non-permitted file-name terminators . 22
Table H.1 – Rounding negative values . 32
Table H.2 – Rounding positive values . 32
Table J.1 – CodingHistory parameters . 35
Table K.1 – ubxt field content definitions .
...

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