Specifications

Chapter 1: Introduction 5
Embedded Media
Exporting to OMF or AAF with embedded media
results in one large OMF or AAF file containing
both the metadata and all associated media files.
Media Data (Media Files)
Media data represents raw audio or video mate-
rial and is stored in individual media files. Every
time you record a piece of video or audio mate-
rial into an application, you are creating a media
file containing media data. Audio media data is
stored as samples (such as 44,100 or 48,000 sam-
ples per second of recording) while video media
is typically stored as frames (24, 25, or 30 frames
per second of recording).
The size of each media file depends on how
much audio or video material it contains. For
example, if you record ten minutes of continu-
ous video material at a high resolution, you
might end up with a video media file that is
1.8 GB in size, whereas a one minute recording
at the same resolution might result in a 180 MB
file. Media files tend to be large, since high qual-
ity audio and video signals are data intensive.
Video data generally requires considerably more
storage than audio data.
MXF Media Data Locations On the volumes you
have designated for media storage, Avid editing
applications store all MXF media:
• When stored locally, MXF media is placed in
the Avid MediaFiles/MXF/1 folder. The Avid ed-
iting application can also read MXF media lo-
cated at Avid MediaFiles/MXF/2, Avid
MediaFiles/MXF/3, and so on.
• When stored in a shared environment, MXF
media is placed in a folder called
Avid MediaFiles/MXF/client.1 (where client rep-
resents the name of the client computer).
This guide refers to the root folder name (Avid
MediaFiles) whenever referencing this folder.
OMF Media Data Locations On the volumes you
have designated, Avid editing applications store
all OMF media in the OMFI MediaFiles folder.
Metadata
Metadata is used to describe:
• Information about each media file. This
may include sample rate, bit depth, region
names, the name of the videotape from
which the media file was captured, and
even time code values that specify where a
file was used in a Pro Tools session.
• Information about Pro Tools sessions or
other sequences, including what files are
used, where they appear in a Timeline, and
automation.
• For AAF or OMF sequences, metadata also
includes information about unrendered
AudioSuite effects (such as real-time EQ) on
Avid workstations. Pro Tools skips unren-
dered effects on import. Rendered effects
are media files, that can be imported or
skipped on import into Pro Tools.
• For AAF or OMF sequences, information
about automation (clip-based gain or key-
frame gain).