Created on 2012-11-08 17:14:00

Metadata has been defined as “data about other data.” Some digital audio files and digital transport streams carry metadata that describe aspects of the stream and the audio content.

Linear files

Generally speaking, linear audio files such as WAV files do not contain metadata.

That being said, there are variants on WAV files (BWF or Broadcast Wave Files, for example) that contain channel allocation information or specialized broadcast production information. It is even possible to package coded audio with its attendant metadata in a WAV file. But common WAV files, and the WAV linear test signals we provide, do not carry metadata.

When linear audio data is routed out through a transport stream transmitter (such as IEC60958/AES3/SPDIF or HDMI), metadata is added by the transmitter.

Coded audio files

Coded audio files such as AC3, DTS, MLP and DTSHD do contain the proprietary metadata for the coding format. When such a file is routed out through a transport stream transmitter (such as IEC60958/AES3/SPDIF or HDMI), the coding metadata is maintained as embedded IEC61937 metadata, and transport stream metadata is added by the transmitter.