INTERNATIONAL 
STANDARD 
ISO/IEC
13818-1
Third edition
2007-10-15
Information technology — Generic coding 
of moving pictures and associated audio 
information: Systems 
Technologies de l'information — Codage générique des images 
animées et des informations sonores associées: Systèmes 
 
 
 
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Reference number
ISO/IEC 13818-1:2007(E)
 
© ISO/IEC 2007
ISO/IEC 13818-1:2007(E) 
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ISO/IEC 13818-1:2007(E) 
CONTENTS 
 
 
SECTION 1 – GENERAL ................................................................................................................... 
1.1 
Scope............................................................................................................................ 
1.2  Normative references....................................................................................................... 
SECTION 2 – TECHNICAL ELEMENTS.............................................................................................. 
2.1  Definitions..................................................................................................................... 
2.2 
Symbols and abbreviations................................................................................................ 
2.3  Method of describing bit stream syntax ............................................................................... 
Transport Stream bitstream requirements............................................................................. 
2.4 
Program Stream bitstream requirements .............................................................................. 
2.5 
2.6 
Program and program element descriptors............................................................................ 
2.7  Restrictions on the multiplexed stream semantics .................................................................. 
2.8  Compatibility with ISO/IEC 11172..................................................................................... 
2.9  Registration of copyright identifiers.................................................................................... 
2.10  Registration of private data format...................................................................................... 
2.11  Carriage of ISO/IEC 14496 data......................................................................................... 
2.12  Carriage of metadata........................................................................................................ 
2.13  Carriage of ISO 15938 data............................................................................................... 
2.14  Carriage of ITU-T Rec. H.264 | ISO/IEC 14496-10 video ....................................................... 
Annex A – CRC decoder model  ........................................................................................................... 
A.0  CRC decoder model ........................................................................................................ 
Annex B – Digital Storage Medium Command and Control (DSM-CC)........................................................ 
B.0 
Introduction ................................................................................................................... 
B.1  General elements ............................................................................................................ 
B.2  Technical elements.......................................................................................................... 
Annex C – Program Specific Information ............................................................................................... 
C.0  Explanation of Program Specific Information in Transport Streams .......................................... 
Introduction ................................................................................................................... 
C.1 
C.2 
Functional mechanism ..................................................................................................... 
C.3  The Mapping of Sections into Transport Stream Packets......................................................... 
C.4  Repetition rates and random access..................................................................................... 
C.5  What is a program?.......................................................................................................... 
C.6  Allocation of program_number .......................................................................................... 
C.7  Usage of PSI in a typical system ........................................................................................ 
C.8  The relationships of PSI structures...................................................................................... 
C.9  Bandwidth utilization and signal acquisition time .................................................................. 
D.0 
F.0 
Annex  D  –  Systems  timing  model  and  application  implications  of  this  Recommendation  |  International 
Standard............................................................................................................................. 
Introduction ................................................................................................................... 
Annex E – Data transmission applications............................................................................................... 
E.0  General considerations..................................................................................................... 
Suggestion..................................................................................................................... 
E.1 
Annex F – Graphics of syntax for this Recommendation | International Standard............................................ 
Introduction ................................................................................................................... 
Annex G – General information............................................................................................................ 
G.0  General information......................................................................................................... 
Annex H – Private data ....................................................................................................................... 
H.0  Private data.................................................................................................................... 
Annex I – Systems conformance and real-time interface  ........................................................................... 
Systems conformance and real-time interface ....................................................................... 
I.0 
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ISO/IEC 13818-1:2007(E) 
 
 
Annex J – Interfacing jitter-inducing networks to MPEG-2 decoders............................................................ 
J.0 
Introduction ................................................................................................................... 
J.1  Network compliance models ............................................................................................. 
J.2  Network specification for jitter smoothing ........................................................................... 
Example decoder implementations ..................................................................................... 
J.3 
Annex K – Splicing Transport Streams................................................................................................... 
Introduction ................................................................................................................... 
K.0 
K.1  The different types of splicing point.................................................................................... 
K.2  Decoder behaviour on splices ............................................................................................ 
Annex L – Registration procedure (see 2.9)............................................................................................. 
L.1 
Procedure for the request of a Registered Identifier (RID) ....................................................... 
L.2  Responsibilities of the Registration Authority....................................................................... 
L.3  Responsibilities of parties requesting an RID........................................................................ 
L.4  Appeal procedure for denied applications............................................................................. 
Annex M – Registration application form (see 2.9)................................................................................... 
M.1  Contact information of organization requesting a Registered Identifier (RID).............................. 
M.2  Statement of an intention to apply the assigned RID............................................................... 
M.3  Date of intended implementation of the RID......................................................................... 
M.4  Authorized representative ................................................................................................. 
M.5  For official use only of the Registration Authority ................................................................. 
........................................................................................................................................ 
Annex N 
Annex O – Registration procedure (see 2.10)........................................................................................... 
O.1  Procedure for the request of an RID.................................................................................... 
O.2  Responsibilities of the Registration Authority....................................................................... 
O.3  Contact information for the Registration Authority ................................................................ 
O.4  Responsibilities of parties requesting an RID........................................................................ 
O.5  Appeal procedure for denied applications............................................................................. 
Annex P – Registration application form ................................................................................................ 
P.1  Contact information of organization requesting an RID .......................................................... 
P.2  Request for a specific RID ................................................................................................ 
Short description of RID that is in use and date system that was implemented............................. 
P.3 
P.4 
Statement of an intention to apply the assigned RID............................................................... 
P.5  Date of intended implementation of the RID......................................................................... 
P.6  Authorized representative ................................................................................................. 
P.7 
For official use of the Registration Authority........................................................................ 
Annex Q – T-STD and P-STD buffer models for ISO/IEC 13818-7 ADTS.................................................... 
Q.1 
Introduction ................................................................................................................... 
Q.2  Leak rate from Transport Buffer......................................................................................... 
Q.3  Buffer size..................................................................................................................... 
Q.4  Conclusion..................................................................................................................... 
Annex R – Carriage of ISO/IEC 14496 scenes in ITU-T Rec. H.222.0 | ISO/IEC 13818- ................................. 
R.1  Content access procedure for ISO/IEC 14496 program components within a Program Stream........ 
R.2  Content  access  procedure  for  ISO/IEC  14496  program  components  within  a  Transport 
Stream .......................................................................................................................... 
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ISO/IEC 13818-1:2007(E) 
Foreword 
ISO  (the  International  Organization  for  Standardization)  and  IEC  (the  International  Electrotechnical 
Commission) form the specialized system for worldwide standardization. National bodies that are members of 
ISO  or  IEC  participate  in  the  development  of  International  Standards  through  technical  committees 
established  by  the  respective  organization  to  deal  with  particular  fields  of  technical  activity.  ISO  and  IEC 
technical committees collaborate in fields of mutual interest. Other international organizations, governmental 
and  non-governmental,  in  liaison  with  ISO  and  IEC,  also  take  part  in  the  work.  In  the  field  of  information 
technology, ISO and IEC have established a joint technical committee, ISO/IEC JTC 1. 
International Standards are drafted in accordance with the rules given in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2. 
The  main  task  of  the  joint  technical  committee  is  to  prepare  International  Standards.  Draft  International 
Standards adopted by the joint technical committee are circulated to national bodies for voting. Publication as 
an International Standard requires approval by at least 75 % of the national bodies casting a vote. 
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of patent 
rights. ISO and IEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights. 
ISO/IEC 13818-1  was  prepared  by  Joint  Technical  Committee  ISO/IEC JTC 1,  Information  technology, 
Subcommittee SC 29, Coding of audio, picture, multimedia and hypermedia information, in collaboration with  
ITU-T. The identical text is published as ITU-T Rec. H.222.0 (05/2006). 
revised. 
It  also 
This  third  edition  cancels  and  replaces  the  second  edition  (ISO/IEC 13818-1:2000),  which  has  been 
technically 
ISO/IEC 13818-1:2000/Amd.1:2003, 
ISO/IEC 13818-1:2000/Amd.2:2004,  ISO/IEC 13818-1:2000/Amd.3:2004,  ISO/IEC 13818-1:2000/Amd.4:2005 
and  ISO/IEC 13818-1:2000/Amd.5:2005,  and  the  Technical  Corrigenda  ISO/IEC 13818-1:2000/Cor.1:2002, 
ISO/IEC 13818-1:2000/Cor.2:2002, ISO/IEC 13818-1:2000/Cor.3:2005, ISO/IEC 13818-1:2000/Cor.4:2007. 
the  Amendments 
incorporates 
ISO/IEC 13818  consists  of  the  following  parts,  under  the  general  title  Information  technology —  Generic 
coding of moving pictures and associated audio information: 
⎯  Part 1: Systems 
⎯  Part 2: Video 
⎯  Part 3: Audio 
⎯  Part 4: Conformance testing 
⎯  Part 5: Software simulation [Technical Report] 
⎯  Part 6: Extensions for DSM-CC 
⎯  Part 7: Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) 
⎯  Part 9: Extension for real time interface for systems decoders 
⎯  Part 10: Conformance extensions for Digital Storage Media Command and Control (DSM-CC) 
⎯  Part 11: IPMP on MPEG-2 systems 
 
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v
ISO/IEC 13818-1:2007(E) 
Introduction 
The systems part of this Recommendation | International Standard addresses the combining of one or more elementary 
streams  of  video  and  audio,  as  well  as  other  data,  into  single  or  multiple  streams  which  are  suitable  for  storage  or 
transmission. Systems  coding  follows  the  syntactical  and  semantic  rules  imposed by  this  Specification  and provides 
information to enable synchronized decoding of decoder buffers over a wide range of retrieval or receipt conditions. 
 
System coding shall be specified in two forms: the Transport Stream and the Program Stream. Each is optimized for 
a  different  set  of  applications.  Both  the  Transport  Stream  and  Program  Stream  defined  in  this  Recommendation  | 
International  Standard  provide  coding  syntax  which  is  necessary  and  sufficient  to  synchronize  the  decoding  and 
presentation of the video and audio information, while ensuring that data buffers in the decoders do not overflow or 
underflow. Information is coded in the syntax using time stamps concerning the decoding and presentation of coded 
audio and visual data and time stamps concerning the delivery of the data stream itself. Both stream definitions are 
packet-oriented multiplexes. 
The basic multiplexing approach for single video and audio elementary streams is illustrated in Figure Intro. 1. The 
video  and  audio  data  is  encoded  as  described  in  ITU-T Rec.  H.262  |  ISO/IEC  13818-2  and  ISO/IEC  13818-3.  The 
resulting  compressed  elementary  streams  are  packetized  to  produce  PES  packets.  Information  needed  to  use  PES 
packets independently of either Transport Streams or Program Streams may be added when PES packets are formed. 
This  information  is  not  needed  and  need  not  be  added  when  PES  packets  are  further  combined  with  system  level 
information to form Transport Streams or Program Streams. This systems standard covers those processes to the 
right of the vertical dashed line. 
Video
data
Audio
data
Video
encoder
Audio
encoder
Packetizer
Video PES
Packetizer
Audio PES
PS
mux
TS
mux
Program
Stream
Transport
Stream
Extent of systems specification
TISO5760-95/d01
Figure Intro. 1 – Simplified overview of the scope of this Recommendation | International Standard
 
The Program Stream is analogous and similar to ISO/IEC 11172 Systems layer. It results from combining one or more 
streams of PES packets, which have a common time base, into a single stream. 
For applications that require the elementary streams which comprise a single program to be in separate streams which 
are  not  multiplexed,  the  elementary  streams  can  also  be  encoded  as  separate  Program  Streams,  one  per  elementary 
stream, with a common time base. In this case the values encoded in the SCR fields of the various streams shall be 
consistent. 
Like the single Program Stream, all elementary streams can be decoded with synchronization. 
The Program Stream is designed for use in relatively error-free environments and is suitable for applications which may 
involve  software  processing  of  system  information  such  as  interactive  multi-media  applications.  Program  Stream 
packets may be of variable and relatively great length. 
The Transport Stream combines one or more programs with one or more independent time bases into a single stream. 
PES packets made up of elementary streams that form a program share a common timebase. The Transport Stream is 
designed  for  use  in  environments  where  errors  are  likely,  such  as  storage  or  transmission  in  lossy  or  noisy  media. 
Transport Stream packets are 188 bytes in length. 
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ISO/IEC 13818-1:2007(E) 
Program  and  Transport  Streams  are  designed  for  different  applications  and  their  definitions  do  not  strictly  follow  a 
layered model. It is possible and reasonable to convert from one to the other; however, one is not a subset or superset of 
the  other.  In particular, extracting  the  contents of  a  program  from  a  Transport  Stream  and  creating  a valid Program 
Stream is possible and is accomplished through the common interchange format of PES packets, but not all of the fields 
needed in a Program Stream are contained within the Transport Stream; some must be derived. The Transport Stream 
may be used to span a range of layers in a layered model, and is designed for efficiency and ease of implementation in 
high bandwidth applications. 
The scope of syntactical and semantic rules set forth in the systems specification differ: the syntactical rules apply to 
systems layer coding only, and do not extend to the compression layer coding of the video and audio specifications; by 
contrast, the semantic rules apply to the combined stream in its entirety. 
The systems specification does not specify the architecture or implementation of encoders or decoders, nor those of 
multiplexors or demultiplexors. However, bit stream properties do impose functional and performance requirements on 
encoders,  decoders,  multiplexors  and  demultiplexors.  For  instance,  encoders  must  meet  minimum  clock  tolerance 
requirements. Notwithstanding this and other requirements, a considerable degree of freedom exists in the design and 
implementation of encoders, decoders, multiplexors, and demultiplexors. 
Intro. 1    Transport Stream 
The Transport Stream is a stream definition which is tailored for communicating or storing one or more programs of 
coded data according to ITU-T Rec. H.262 | ISO/IEC 13818-2 and ISO/IEC 13818-3 and other data in environments in 
which significant errors may occur. Such errors may be manifested as bit value errors or loss of packets. 
Transport Streams may be either fixed or variable rate. In either case the constituent elementary streams may either be 
fixed  or  variable  rate.  The  syntax  and  semantic  constraints  on  the  stream  are  identical  in  each  of  these  cases.  The 
Transport Stream rate is defined by the values and locations of Program Clock Reference (PCR) fields, which in general 
are separate PCR fields for each program. 
There  are  some  difficulties  with  constructing  and  delivering  a  Transport  Stream  containing  multiple  programs  with 
independent time bases such that the overall bit rate is variable. Refer to 2.4.2.2. 
The  Transport  Stream  may  be  constructed  by  any  method  that  results  in  a  valid  stream.  It  is  possible  to  construct 
Transport Streams containing one or more programs from elementary coded data streams, from Program Streams, or 
from other Transport Streams which may themselves contain one or more programs. 
The  Transport  Stream  is  designed  in  such  a  way  that  several  operations  on  a  Transport  Stream  are  possible  with 
minimum effort. Among these are: 
1)  Retrieve  the  coded  data  from  one  program  within  the  Transport  Stream,  decode  it  and  present  the 
decoded results as shown in Figure Intro. 2. 
2)  Extract  the  Transport  Stream  packets  from  one  program  within  the  Transport  Stream  and  produce  as 
output a different Transport Stream with only that one program as shown in Figure Intro. 3. 
3)  Extract the Transport Stream packets of one or more programs from one or more Transport Streams and 
produce as output a different Transport Stream (not illustrated). 
4)  Extract the contents of one program from the Transport Stream and produce as output a Program Stream 
containing that one program as shown in Figure Intro. 4. 
5)  Take a Program Stream, convert it into a Transport Stream to carry it over a lossy environment, and then 
recover a valid, and in certain cases, identical Program Stream. 
Figure Intro. 2 and Figure Intro. 3 illustrate prototypical demultiplexing and decoding systems which take as input a 
Transport  Stream.  Figure  Intro.  2  illustrates  the  first  case,  where  a  Transport  Stream  is  directly  demultiplexed  and 
decoded. Transport Streams are constructed in two layers: 
– 
– 
a system layer; and 
a compression layer. 
The input stream to the Transport Stream decoder has a system layer wrapped about a compression layer. Input streams 
to the Video and Audio decoders have only the compression layer. 
Operations performed by the prototypical decoder which accepts Transport Streams either apply to the entire Transport 
Stream  ("multiplex-wide  operations"),  or  to  individual  elementary  streams  ("stream-specific  operations").  The 
Transport Stream system layer is divided into two sub-layers, one for multiplex-wide operations (the Transport Stream 
packet layer), and one for stream-specific operations (the PES packet layer). 
A prototypical decoder for Transport Streams, including audio and video, is also depicted in Figure Intro. 2 to illustrate 
the  function  of  a  decoder.  The  architecture  is  not  unique  –  some  system  decoder  functions,  such  as  decoder  timing 
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ISO/IEC 13818-1:2007(E) 
 
control, might equally well be distributed among elementary stream decoders and the channel-specific decoder – but 
this  figure  is  useful  for  discussion.  Likewise,  indication  of  errors  detected  by  the  channel-specific  decoder  to  the 
individual audio and video decoders may be performed in various ways and such communication paths are not shown in 
the diagram. The prototypical decoder design does not imply any normative requirement for the design of a Transport 
Stream decoder. Indeed non-audio/video data is also allowed, but not shown. 
Video
decoder
Decoded
video
Channel
Channel specific
decoder
Transport Stream
demultiplex
and decoder
Clock
control
Transport Stream
containing one or multiple programs
Audio
decoder
Decoded
audio
Figure Intro. 2 – Prototypical transport demultiplexing and decoding example
TISO5770-95/d02
 
Figure Intro. 3 illustrates the second case, where a Transport Stream containing multiple programs is converted into a 
Transport Stream containing a single program. In this case the re-multiplexing operation may necessitate the correction 
of Program Clock Reference (PCR) values to account for changes in the PCR locations in the bit stream. 
Channel
Channel specific
decoder
Transport Stream
demultiplex
and decoder
Transport Stream
containing multiple programs
TISO5780-95/d03
Transport Stream
with single program
Figure Intro. 3 – Prototypical transport multiplexing example
 
Figure Intro. 4 illustrates a case in which a multi-program Transport Stream is first demultiplexed and then converted 
into a Program Stream. 
Figures  Intro.  3  and  Intro.  4  indicate  that  it  is  possible  and  reasonable  to  convert  between  different  types  and 
configurations of Transport Streams. There are specific fields defined in the Transport Stream and Program Stream 
syntax  which  facilitate  the  conversions  illustrated.  There  is  no  requirement  that  specific  implementations  of 
demultiplexors or decoders include all of these functions. 
Channel
Channel specific
decoder
Transport Stream
demultiplex and
Program Stream
multiplexor
Transport Stream
containing multiple programs
TISO5790-95/d04
Program Stream
Figure Intro. 4 – Prototypical Transport Stream to Program Stream conversion
 
Intro. 2    Program Stream 
The Program Stream is a stream definition which is tailored for communicating or storing one program of coded data 
and  other  data  in  environments  where  errors  are  very  unlikely,  and  where  processing  of  system  coding,  e.g.,  by 
software, is a major consideration. 
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