Production Glossary
Advanced Authoring Format (AAF)
Advance Authoring Format is a professional file interchange format designed for use in the post production and authoring setting of videos. Created to display works in progress through data, AAF works to streamline the production process and make project management straightforward. Developed by the Advanced Media Workflow Association (AMWA), AAF was devised to bridge the gap in multi-vendor, cross-platform interoperability for digital video production that is computer-based.AAF accords intricate connections to be communicated as an object model, aids in the exchange of program content and/or meta-data, allows for the the tracking of the history of a program piece to final production, with the right equipment, can make downstream rendering a possibility, and administers convenient archiving by "wrapping" all of the project elements together.
AAF uses two types of data: essence data , or data within a mixed media program that can be recognized by the user, and meta-data ,which provides pertinent info so the pieces of essence data can be brought together in a complete multimedia program. Two important components of AAF are the AAF Object Specification and AAF Software Development Kit Reference Implementation. The former efficiently stores essence data and meta-data using an object-oriented model, while the latter distinguishes the logical aspects of said object models and establishes how they relate to each other.
