Terminology and Digital Cinema Glossary

​A
AES Acronym for Advanced Encryption Standard
​AES Acronym for Audio Engineering Society
AES3 Audio Engineering Society - Recommended Practice for Digital Audio Engineering Serial transmission format for two-channel linearly represented digital audio data
ANSI Acronym for American National Standards Institute
Answer Print A color-corrected film print made directly from the cut film negative. It is also the culmination of the creative color timing process, where final creative approval is granted before the film is duplicated for release
API Acronym for Application Programming Interface

B
BER Acronym for Basic Encoding Rules
Broadcast Wave Digital Audio file format developed and standardized by the EBU (European Broadcast Union, a standardization organization)
Burned-In Where visual data that is normally supplemental to a motion picture is irrevocably added to the motion-picture image by compositing the data with the underlying image
​
C
Captions Text that is a representation, often in the same language, of dialog and audio events occurring during scenes of a motion picture. (Generally associated with a dialog and audio event translation for the deaf and hard of hearing.)
CBC Acronym for Cipher Block Chaining mode
CBR Acronym for Constant Bit Rate for image compression
Central Storage A central location where the packaged Digital Cinema content is stored for a multiple screen installation
Chunk A section of a PNG file. Each chunk has a type indicated by its chunk type name. Most types of chunks also include some data. The format and meaning of the data within the chunk are determined by the name.
CIE Acronym for International Commission on Illumination (Commission Internationale de l’Eclairage)
Closed Referring to visual data that is supplemental to a motion picture being displayed off- screen
COC Acronym for Coding style Component – see JPEG 2000 specification [ISO/IEC 15444-1]
COD Acronym for Coding style Default – see JPEG 2000 specification [ISO/IEC 15444-1]
Composition A motion picture, or a trailer, or an advertisement, etc. Composition consists of a metadata Composition Playlist along with the essence and other metadata track files that define the work.
Container Level Metadata that indicates the size of the image/structure container and the frame rate of the images – this does not indicate the image structure or resolution
CPL Acronym for Composition Playlist, the definitive Playlist for specifying how a Composition is played and what track files are required
CPRL Acronym for Component Position Resolution Layer – see JPEG 2000 specification [ISO/IEC 15444-1]
CSP Acronym for Critical Security Parameter
D/HOH Acronym for Deaf and Hard Of Hearing

D
DCDM Acronym for Digital Cinema Distribution Master. A master set of files that have not been compressed, encrypted, or packaged for Digital Cinema distribution. The DCDM contains essentially all of the elements required to provide a Digital Cinema (DC) presentation.
DCDM* Acronym for Digital Cinema Distribution Master*. When the DCP is unpackaged, decrypted and decompressed, it is referred to as the DCDM*. The DCDM* is visually indistinguishable from the original DCDM.
DCI Acronym for Digital Cinema Initiatives, LLC
DCP Acronym for a Digital Cinema Package, the set of files that are the result of the encoding, encryption and packaging process
DER Acronym for Distinguished Encoding Rules
DES Acronym for Data Encryption Standard. DES was adopted as a federal standard in 1976 [FIPS (46-3)] and [ANSI standard X9.32]
Distribution Package The collection of files delivered by the distributor to the exhibitor. A Distribution Package may contain pieces of a Composition or several compositions, a complete Composition, replacement/update files, etc.
DM Acronym for Descriptive Metadata
DRM Acronym for Digital Rights Management
DSM Acronym for Digital Source Master, a digital master created in post-production from which different versions and duplication masters may be created.

E
End Credits A credit sequence generally shown at the end of a motion picture
Essence Image, audio, subtitles, or any content that is presented to a human being in a presentation
ETM Acronym for Extra-Theater Message
Event Playlist A playlist of Compositions, describing an assembly of Compositions in sequence. An Event Playlist is typically created by a content distributor and transferred to exhibition.

F
Fingerprint Dynamic playback or distribution watermark
FIPS Acronym for Federal Information Processing Standards
FM Acronym for Forensic Marking
FMID Acronym for Forensic Marking Identification. The FMID is a unique fixed identifier of the specific instance of the Forensic Marking application.
Forensic Marking Data embedded in essence to provide forensic tracking information in the event of content theft. Such marking can be visible or non-visible, audible or non-audible.
FPS Acronym for Frames Per Second

G
Generic Forensic Mark Inserter In this architecture, metadata is first created at authoring that contains:
1) locations within the title where forensic marking may be inserted, and 2) commands that set the type of steganographic marking to be used to encode the actual forensic information. In the theater, at the time of playback, the metadata is used to instruct the inserter in the Media Block how, where, and when the required information will be hidden within the sound and/or picture.
GPIO Acronym for General Purpose Input or Output
GUI Acronym for Graphical User Interface

H
HMAC Acronym for Hashing Message Authentication Codes
HVS Acronym for the Human Visual System
Hz Abbreviation for Hertz, a unit of frequency expressed in cycles per second

I
IANA Acronym for Internet Assigned Numbers Authority
ICT Acronym for Irreversible Color Transformation – see JPEG 2000 specification [ISO/IEC 15444-1]
IEC Acronym for International Electrotechnical Commission
IETF Acronym for Internet Engineering Task Force
IMB Acronym for Image Media Block
IP Acronym for Intellectual Property
ISAN Acronym for International Standards Audiovisual Number
ISO Acronym for International Organization for Standardization
ITM Acronym for Intra-Theater Message

J
JPEG Acronym for Joint Photographic Experts Group, the international body that developed the JPEG 2000 standard

K
KDM Acronym for Key Delivery Message
KEK Acronym for Key-Encrypting Key
Key Electronic data used to allow data encryption and decryption
Key Epoch The period of time during which a given decryption key is valid. The key epoch defines a minimum practical time period for use of encrypted track files.
kHz Acronym for kilo Hertz, one thousand cycles per second, a measure of frequency
KLV Acronym for Key Length Value – used by the MXF to parse binary data

L
LD Acronym for Link Decryption
LDB Acronym for Link Decryption Block
LE Acronym for Link Encryption
LED Acronym for Light Emitting Diode
Local Storage A storage device that is associated with an individual playback device
Localizations Text on screen representing either non-source language dialog or information pertinent to the story such as time and place. This is specifically the text that is absent in text-less masters. This text is localized or translated for various markets either through subtitles or entire image replacement.
LTC Acronym for Linear Time Code

M
Main Titles A credit sequence generally shown near the beginning of a motion picture
MB Acronym for Media Block
MD Acronym for Media Decryptor, the device located in the Media Block that decrypts the compressed content.
ME Acronym for Media Encryptor
Metadata Data about data or data describing other data. Information that is considered ancillary to or otherwise directly complementary to essence. Information that is useful or of value when associated with the essence being provided.
MTBF Acronym for Mean Time Between Failure
MXF Acronym for Material eXchange Format

N
NIST Acronym for National Institute of Standards and Technology
NSA Acronym for National Security Agency
NTSC Acronym for National Television System Committee, which developed the NTSC television broadcasting standard

O
OAEP Acronym for Optimal Asymmetric Encryption Padding
Open Referring to visual data that is supplemental to a motion picture being displayed on- screen
Operational Pattern An MXF construct to define file structures

P
Packing List A list describing the files and providing a means for authentication of the files as delivered in a package
PAL Acronym for Phase Alternation by Line, a television broadcasting standard.
Perceptual Coding Exploiting limitations in the HVS for data compression
Playlist Conceptually, the format and structure of the various lists used to define the playback of content in Digital Cinema
PNG Acronym for Portable Network Graphics, an extensible file format for the lossless, portable, well-compressed storage of raster images defined by the PNG Development Group.
POC Acronym for Progression Order Change – see JPEG 2000 specification [ISO/IEC 15444-1]
PPM Acronym for Packed Packet headers, Main header – see JPEG 2000 specification [ISO/IEC 15444-1]
PPT Acronym for Packed Packet headers, Title-part header – see JPEG 2000 specification [ISO/IEC 15444-1]

Q
QCC Acronym for Quantization Component – see JPEG 2000 specification [ISO/IEC 15444-1]
QCD Acronym for Quantization Default – see JPEG 2000 specification [ISO/IEC 15444-1]

R
RAID Acronym for Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks
RAND Acronym for reasonable and nondiscriminatory
Reel A conceptual period of time having a specific duration. A Reel is associated with track files. From a temporal view, the files making up a Reel are in parallel and are to be synchronized in their playback.
Renewable A software component is renewable if it can be remotely, smoothly and possibly automatically upgraded or replaced without significantly disturbing system operations. A system shutdown and normal restart is acceptable, provided that after the restart, the system can be operated as before.
Replaceable A component is said to be replaceable if it can be upgraded or replaced without significantly disturbing system operations. A system shutdown and restart is acceptable, provided that after the replacement, the system can be operated as before.
RFC Acronym for Request For Comments
RGN Acronym for Region of Interest – see JPEG 2000 specification [ISO/IEC 15444-1]
RO Acronym for Rights Owner
ROM Acronym for Read Only Memory
RRP Acronym for Request Response Pairs

S
SE Acronym for Security Entity, not to be confused with secure entity
SECAM Acronym for System Electronique Couleur Avec Memoire, a television broadcasting standard
Security Manager The controlling device of the security system in either the encoding, distribution or the theater playback process
SHA1 Acronym for Secure Hashing Algorithm 1
Show The presentation that the audience sees and hears in the theater auditorium
Show Playlist A Playlist of Composition Playlists and Event Playlists, describing a sequence that occurs at a particular screen. A Show Playlist is typically created by exhibition and transferred to the equipment controlling a particular screen.
SM Acronym for Security Manager
SMD Acronym for Subtitle Media Block
SMPTE Acronym for Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers
SMS Acronym for Screen Management System
SNMP/UDP/IP Acronym for Simple Network Management Protocol Over User Datagram Protocol Over Internet Protocol
SPB Acronym for Secure Processing Block
SPL Acronym for Show Playlist
SPL Acronym for Sound Pressure Level
Subpicture A multiple-image file format for the transport of visual data supplemental to a motion picture that is intended only for graphic overlay with the main image output of a digital projector
Subtitle Text that is a representation, in a different language, of dialog occurring during scenes of a motion picture. Generally associated with dialog translation for localization of a motion picture in a particular territory.

T
TCP/IP Acronym for Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol
TDES or 3DES Acronym for Triple Data Encryption Standard. TDES or 3DES was adopted as a federal standard in 1998 [FIPS (46-3)] and [ANSI standard X9.32]
TDL Acronym for Trusted Device List. TDL correctly refers to the list within a KDM that enumerates those devices under the control of an auditorium's Security Manager (SM) that are trusted by the issuer of the KDM. TDL is sometimes incorrectly used to refer to those items within a database that enumerate the various subsystems of a given auditorium's installation.
Timed Text Render text data onto a graphics overlay with the main image output of a digital projector
TLM Tile-part Length, Main Header– see JPEG 2000 Specification [ISO/IEC 15444-1]
TLS Acronym for Transport Layer Security
TMS Acronym for Theater Management System
Track File The smallest element of a package that can be managed or replaced as a distinct asset. A track file may contain essence and/or metadata, and its duration matches an associated Reel.

U
UDP Acronym for User Datagram Protocol
UL Acronym for Universal Label used in MXF
Unicode The Universal Multiple-Octet Coded Character set, the [ISO/IEC 10646:2003] standard that defines a single code for representation, interchange, processing, storage, entry and presentation of the written form of the world’s major languages
urn Acronym for uniform resource name
USB Acronym for Universal Serial Bus, standardized serial communications connection found on computers
UTC Acronym for Universal Coordinated Time
UUID Acronym for Universal Unique IDentifier

V
Visually Lossless An image compression method is considered visually lossless when the processed image is indistinguishable from the unprocessed image under normal theatrical viewing conditions.
VPN Acronym for Virtual Private Network.
VBR Acronym for Variable Bit Rate

W
W3C Acronym for The World Wide Web Consortium, the organization responsible for the development of Internet protocols
WWV
Callsign of NIST’s shortwave radio station in Fort Collins, Colorado. WWV’s main function is the continuous dissemination of official United States government time signals

X
XML Acronym for eXtensible Markup Language
X’Y’Z’ Tristimulus values defined by CIE in 1931 to represent colors. Prime indicates gamma corrected coordinates.

Source: Digital Cinema System Specification, Digital Cinema Initiatives, JAN 2021