D4.1: Requirements for Representation, Archiving and Provision of Object-based Audio

This deliverable describes the requirements for representation, archiving and provision of object-based audio. Representation includes file and streaming formats for object-based audio. Provision is the distribution to end-user, including IP delivery, unicast streams and file downloads. For both file and streaming formats interoperable metadata have to be used. Among the requirements for the different formats are metadata support, existing standards, file size, compression, and support of advanced audio. The most important requirements for streaming formats are related to synchronization, existing standards, unicast and multicast transmission, latency, bitrate reduction, synchronization of audio signals, quality of service and specific requirements for streaming object-based audio metadata. Constrains and requirements of interoperability between different formats and backward compatibility are explained.