National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences will award SMPTE a Technology and Engineering Emmy for its ST 2067 standards, defining the Interoperable Master Format (IMF).
SMPTE has announced that The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) will award SMPTE a Technology and Engineering Emmy Award for its ST 2067 family of standards, which defines the Interoperable Master Format (IMF). The news follows the recent announcement that the Television Academy will award SMPTE, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), and Video Services Forum (VSF) an Emmy for Outstanding Achievement in Engineering, Science & Technology for the development of SMPTE ST 2110.
IMF is a file-based format for the exchange of finished long-form and episodic audio-visual masters. It was developed, and continues to be maintained, by the experts of SMPTE's 35PM Technical Committee.
"SMPTE thanks NATAS for recognizing the impact that IMF has had in the transition from tape-based to file-based workflows and in enabling modern large-scale content fulfillment," said Dr. Pierre-Anthony Lemieux, Chair of SMPTE IMF User Group. "IMF was the first professional open media format to support immersive sound, HDR video and worldwide subtitles and captions, and continues to be updated to meet the evolving needs of the media and entertainment ecosystem."
IMF stores audio, video and timed text separately and synchronizes them using a separate playlist. This allows efficient storage and delivery of language versions and redeliveries of fixes and last-minute changes, and this efficiency in turn results in cost and energy savings. It is now the preferred UHD media delivery format for several content providers, including Netflix, Disney and the BBC.
SMPTE, along with Advanced Media Workflow Association (AMWA), Digital Cinema Initiatives (DCI), and University of Southern California's Entertainment Technology Center [USC-ETC], will be honored at the upcoming 76th Annual Technology and Engineering Emmy Awards. The ceremony is set to take place on 4 December 2025, at Prince George's Ballroom in New York City. www.smpte.org
