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AES Standards Store

The following standards and information documents are published by the Audio Engineering Society. The latest printing will include all amendments and corrections and will be available within a week of its date.

PLEASE NOTE: These are copyrighted documents and are for the use of the original purchaser only. They must not be printed or circulated without the written permission of the AES Standards Committee. Any other use of AES standards information obtained from this website, including republishing or selling, is expressly forbidden.

PREVIEW extracts are provided without charge as a guide to the content of each standard.

For links to other standards organizations relevant to audio engineering, click here. For questions, please contact the AES Standards Secretary.

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AES55-2012-r2022: AES standard for digital audio engineering - Carriage of MPEG Surround in an AES3 bitstream
Printing Date:
2017-12-31
Publication History:
Pub: 2007, Addenda 2010-02-19; Revised 2012; Reaffirmed 2017; Reaffirmed 2022
Abstract:
MPEG Surround is an ISO/IEC standard to extend mono or stereo audio towards multiple channels. The mono or stereo audio channels represent a downmix of the original multi-channel audio that is generated by the MPEG Surround encoder. In addition the MPEG Surround encoder generates spatial side information (MPEG Surround data). An MPEG Surround decoder is able to combine this information with the downmix to result in a multichannel audio signal. In this way backward compatibility to mono and stereo systems is achieved.
File type and size:
Downloadable PDF (560.73 KB)
Cost:
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Preview (552.38 KB)

AES-R9-2008: AES standards project report - Considerations for standardising AES metadata sets
Printing Date:
2008-03-12
Publication History:
Pub. 2008
Abstract:
Digital management of audio assets - in projects, inventories, collections, libraries, and archives - will increasingly be controlled by metadata; that is, data that describes the audio in some way. Some audio-related metadata already exists in metadata sets developed by other communities, however there is a need within the audio community for more specific and detailed audio metadata.
The question was raised concerning how the upcoming AES metadata standards might be handled in a way that would be consistent across a number of AES documents, and also capable of being harmonised with relevant external metadata sets such as the SMPTE metadata dictionary standards (RP210 metadata elements, RP2009 metadata groups etc.) and the IEC work in the same field.
This report discusses primary issues and outlines some elementary considerations.
File type and size:
Downloadable PDF (321.55 KB)
Cost:
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Preview (76.75 KB)

AES-R8-2015: AES standards project report - Synchronisation of digital audio over wide areas
Printing Date:
2015-09-21
Publication History:
Pub. 2007; Revised 2015
Abstract:
When several digital signals are combined in a mixing desk or other equipment, they must share the same sample timing clock. If all the signals originate within the same studio, it is sufficient to synchronise all the equipment within that studio. With the introduction of transmission of signals in digital form between studios, the problem takes on a new dimension.
File type and size:
Downloadable PDF (408.28 KB)
Cost:
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Preview (131.65 KB)

AES-12id-2020: AES Information Document for digital audio measurements - Jitter performance specifications
Printing Date:
2020-12-12
Publication History:
Pub: 2007-03-19; reaffirmed 2011; reaffirmed 2017; revised 2020
Abstract:
The question of sample-clock quality is a perennial one for digital audio equipment designers, yet most chip makers provide very little information about the jitter performance of their products. Consequently, equipment designers are sometimes caught out by jitter issues. The increasing use of packet-based communications and class-D amplification is throwing these matters into sharper relief. This information document reviews various ways of characterizing and quantifying jitter, and refines several of them for audio purposes. It also attempts to present a common, unambiguous terminology. Its focus includes wideband jitter, baseband jitter, jitter spectra, period jitter, long-term jitter and jitter signatures. Comments are made on jitter transfer through phase-locked loops and on the jitter susceptibility of audio converters. (25 pages)
File type and size:
Downloadable PDF (511.82 KB)
Cost:
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Preview (347.28 KB)

AES-11id-2006 (s2013): AES Information document for preservation of audio recordings - Extended term storage environment for multiple media archives
Printing Date:
2015-09-22
Publication History:
Pub. 2006; Reaffirmed 2012; Stabilized 2013-06-21
Abstract:
This information document provides guidelines for archivists faced with storing a variety of audio, still image and moving image media in a single storage environment. This circumstance is faced by many archivists in small and medium size archives that must preserve and make available the wide variety of media from nitrate film to optical discs. These guidelines provide recommendations to harmonize storage recommendations contained in standards and recommended practices published by the AES and the International Standards Organization (ISO). (13 pages)
File type and size:
Downloadable PDF (417.73 KB)
Cost:
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Preview (111.79 KB)

AES53-2018: AES standard for digital audio - Digital input-output interfacing - Sample-accurate timing in AES47
Printing Date:
2018-08-02
Publication History:
Published 2006; Reaffirmed 2011; Revised 2018
Abstract:
This document specifies how the timing markers specified in AES47 may be used to associate an absolute timestamp with individual audio samples. AES47 specifies a format for the transmission of digital audio over asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) networks. A recommendation is made to refer these timestamps to the SMPTE epoch which in turn provides a reference to UTC and GPS time.
File type and size:
Downloadable PDF (381.93 KB)
Cost:
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Preview (356.9 KB)

AES-R7-2018: AES standards project report - Considerations for accurate peak metering of digital audio signals
Printing Date:
2018-03-08
Publication History:
Pub. 2006; Rev. 2018
Abstract:
Peak meters in digital audio systems often register peak sample values rather than true peak levels. Such meters are simple to implement, but they do not always register the true peak value of the audio signal.
File type and size:
Downloadable PDF (420.26 KB)
Cost:
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Preview (378.49 KB)

AES31-2-2019: AES standard on network and file transfer of audio - Audio-file transfer and exchange - File format for transferring digital audio data between systems of different type and manufacture
Printing Date:
2019-07-08
Publication History:
Pub. 2006, Rev. 2012, Rev. 2019
Abstract:
The Broadcast Wave Format is a file format for audio data. It can be used for the seamless exchange of audio material between (i) different broadcast environments and (ii) equipment based on different computer platforms.
File type and size:
Downloadable PDF (418.79 KB)
Cost:
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Preview (310.22 KB)

AES51-2006 (s2017): AES standard for digital audio - Digital input-output interfacing - Transmission of ATM cells over Ethernet physical layer
Printing Date:
2011-10-17
Publication History:
Pub. 2006; Reaffirmed 2011; Stabilized 2017
Abstract:
This standard specifies a method, also known as ATM-E, of carrying asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) cells over hardware specified for IEEE 802.3 (Ethernet). It is intended as a companion standard to AES47 (Transmission of digital audio over ATM networks), to provide a standard method of carrying ATM cells and real-time clock over hardware specified for Ethernet.
File type and size:
Downloadable PDF (412.54 KB)
Cost:
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Preview (117.51 KB)

AES52-2006 (r2022): AES standard for digital audio engineeringAES standard for digital audio engineering - Insertion of unique identifiers into the AES3 transport stream
Printing Date:
2017-04-29
Publication History:
Pub. 2006; Addenda 2010-02-19; Reaffirmed 2011; Reaffirmed 2017; Reaffirmed 2022
Abstract:
The AES3 transport stream continues to be used extensively in both discrete and network based audio systems alongside audio stored as files. Audio content is moving towards being handled by asset management systems and descriptive metadata associated with that content is also being stored within systems. In order to provide a mechanism for AES3 transport streams to have similar abilities to work with content management systems, some form of unique label is required which can provide the link with these systems. One of the unique labels currently standardised in the media industry is the SMPTE UMID while another commonly used in the Information Technology area is the IEC UUID.

This standard specifies the method for inserting unique identifiers into the user data area of an AES3 stream. This specifically covers the use of UUID as well as a basic or extended SMPTE UMID.
File type and size:
Downloadable PDF (564.09 KB)
Cost:
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Preview (519.66 KB)

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