Acronym SOS

Tasha

We rely on acronyms so much. For example, more than 60 acronyms will be used during the talks at this year’s Demuxed conference. Daily is one of the sponsors, so I started putting together a cheat sheet that can be referenced during the event.

BUT THERE's SO MANY 😵‍💫

Can you help? Here’s how:

• Below, are the acronyms that appeared in this year’s talk overviews.
• If you recognize one that has not been defined yet, add a comment to this thread that says (1) what the acronym stands for, and (2) includes a link to where more can be learned about the topic.

As comments come in, I’ll update the list here. When there is additional explanation provided in a comment, I will add a [see comment] note that links to it.

Acronym List

5G - fifth generation mobile network

ABR - adaptive bit rate

ADA - Americans with Disabilities Act

AI - artificial intelligence

API - application programming interface

AV1 - AOMedia Video 1

B-frame - bi-directional frame

BBR - bottleneck bandwidth and round-trip propagation time

CBCS - cipher block chaining scheme

CD - compact disc

CDN - content delivery network

CMAF - Common Media Application Format

CMCD - common-media-client-data

CMSD - core manufacturing simulation data

CRF - constant rate factor

CTCWT - dual-tree complex wavelet transform

DASH - Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP [see comment]

DCT - discreet cosign transform

DRM - digital rights management

DVD - digital video disc, digital versatile disc

EOTFs - electro-optical transfer functions

FAANG - Meta (Facebook), Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Alphabet (Google)

FBI - Federal Bureau of Investigation

FCC - Federal Communications Commission

FFMARK -

ffmpeg - fast forward moving picture experts group [see comment]

GOPs - group of pictures

HDR TV - high-dynamic-range television

HDR+ - [see comment]

HDR10 - HDR10 media profile [see comment]

HEVC

HLG - hybrid log–gamma

HLS - HTTP live streaming [see comment]

HTTP -  Hypertext Transfer Protocol

HTTP/3 - Hypertext Transfer Protocol - version three [see comment]

I-frame - intra frame, key frame

IETF

iOS - iPhone operating system

IP - internet protocol

KLV

M&E - media and entertainment

macOS - Macintosh operating system

MPEG DASH

OTT - over-the-top media service

P-frame - predicted frame

QoE - quality of experience

QUIC - [see comment]

RIST

RTMP - Real-Time Messaging Protocol [see comment]

SDI VITC - Vertical Interval Timecode over Serial Digital Interface [see comment]

SMPTE - Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers [see comment]

SRT - Secure Reliable Transport [see comment]

SSAI

TCP - Transmission Control Protocol

UGC - user generated content

URL - uniform resource locator

UTC - coordinated universal time

v4l2loopback - Video4Linux (version 2) loopback interface

VHS - video home system

VMAF

VOD - video on demand

VP9 - [see comment]

VR - virtual reality

VVC - versatile video coding

W3C - The World Wide Web Consortium

WebRTC - web real-time communications

XDP

other useful terms to know

Other acronyms/terms/abbreviations related to WebRTC & video technology that are equally important but are not referenced in Demuxed speaker overviews. Maybe they'll get some love next year 😏

FEC - forward error correction [see comment]

GDP -  Gross Domestic Product (here's a nice listen)

GDPR -  General Data Protection Regulation

gRPC - Google Remote Procedure Call

HTTP/2 (H2) - Hypertext Transfer Protocol - version two [see comment]

IOW - in other words

RTP - real-time protocol [see comment]

RTMFP - Real-time Media Flow Protocol

W3C TPAC - World Wide Web Consortium All Working Group meetings, Technical Plenary, and Advisory Committee

chad

FFMPEG - Schrödinger's acronym. :) MPEG is a video codec that stands for Motion Picture Experts Group, but FFMPEG is usually styled ffmpeg because it's a really useful app for converting video and a whole lot more

ashley

I don't want to spoil the fun so I'll pick one:

OTT: Over The Top

:P

ashley

I realize that sounds like I'm joking but I mean it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Over-the-top_media_service

karl

DRM = Digital Rights Management, or Digital Restrictions Management...depending largely on your views of IP on the producer or consumer side

Tasha

Thanks for the help so far! I'm really enjoying the commentary too.

vr000m

BBR : Bottleneck Bandwidth and Round-trip propagation time, a congestion control protocol for TCP, similar to TCP Cubic, TCP Vegas, TCP Reno.

SRT: Secure Reliable Transport, a transport for streaming

VVC: Versatile Video Coding, also sometimes called H.266, the successor to H.265/HEVC.

HEVC: High Efficiency Video Coding, also called H.265, the successor to H.264 AVC

AVC: Advanced Video Coding,

SVC: Scalable Video Coding, incorporated spatial scalability in to the codec.

v4l2loopback: Video4Linux (version 2) loopback interface

QUIC: is not an acronym, it was the breakaway part from SPDY. SPDY was an extension for HTTP. SPDY inspired people and resulted in updating TCP's Initial Window, and birthed HTTP/2. The Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) uses an initial window of 3 packets, after SPDY was released, new experiments were run and the IW was increased to 7 from 3. I think the acronym for QUIC was generated retroactively, Quick UDP Internet Connections -- which did not catch on.

VPx (VP3, VP7, VP8, VP9): Not sure if these are acronyms, if they are, I am completely blanking on what it is. The VPx is a codec series built by On2 technologies (from upstate NY), they opensourced VP3 in 2000s via xiph.org. The popularity lead the On2 to be acquired by Google, it was part of the acquisitions Google made to build WebRTC. VP7 was the codec when Google acquired On2 in late 2007/08. VP8 was in progress and was immediately opensourced to compete with H.264.

Dom

SMPTE - Stands for Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers. In my experience, I've mostly used the SMPTE acronym when working in the TV/film and post-production industry. SMPTE timecode for example is used to synchronise multiple video or audio sources. We also used it to synchronise when actions should be taken on stage by certain speakers. ie. Cueing a presentation, turning on / off lights etc.

Dom

SDI VITC - Related to the SMPTE description I gave. VITC is Vertical Interval Timecode, and SDI VITC is Vertical Interval Timecode over SDI. SDI stands for Serial Digital Interface. Often used in production to send 1080p and 4K video over much longer distances than HDMI using copper coaxial cable.

VITC timecode is similar to linear timecode (the timecode I mentioned in the SMPTE description) but targetted towards interlaced video versus progressive video. VITC puts the timecode in each interlaced field, so essentially puts the timecode in there twice per 'frame'.

Dom

HDR TV I believe refers to HDR content on televisions. HDR content on televisions can be in multiple formats. HDR10, HDR+, HLG, DV.

Dom

HDR10 - The default specification when talking about HDR content. The 10 comes from the fact that HDR content is in 10 bit as compared to the 8 bit of SDR content. Somewhat confusingly, HDR10 can also be in 12 bit though.

HDR+ (I'm assuming this isn't HDR10+) is a way of 'faking' HDR content on your HDR compatible TV. If your TV supports HDR content but the content is SDR you can use HDR+ to make it look like it's HDR. (Honestly it doesn't look anything like HDR content and is mostly a marketing gimmick).

HDR10+ - HDR10+ is an extension to the HDR specification to make it more in line with Dolby Vision content. Dolby Vision requires a hardware manufacturer to pay a license fee to use the technology. To combat this Samsung decided to create a competing specification that doesn't require a license fee. However, it hasn't seen much adoption in the real world and most of the time you'll either see HDR10 content or Dolby Vision content.

HDR10 content uses metadata embedded in the video to tell a display to get brighter or darker. Standard HDR10 content uses static metadata. Meaning that the brightness is defined at the start of the film and it can't be changed after the fact.

HDR10+ content changes this metadata to be dynamic. Meaning at any point in a movie, the TV can be told to get brighter or darker. This often results in punchier and better-looking images and content. Dolby Vision is able to do something similar.

HLG is an HDR format specific to TV broadcasts. It's a way of displaying HDR content over the air. HLG is generally considered to be lower quality when compared to HDR10 or DV content.