International Standard Audiovisual Number (ISAN) is a

unique identifier A unique identifier (UID) is an identifier that is guaranteed to be unique among all identifiers used for those objects and for a specific purpose. The concept was formalized early in the development of computer science and information systems ...

for audiovisual works and related versions, similar to

ISBN The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a numeric commercial book identifier that is intended to be unique. Publishers purchase ISBNs from an affiliate of the International ISBN Agency. An ISBN is assigned to each separate edition a ...

for books. It was developed within an ISO (International Organization for Standardization) TC46/SC9 working group. ISAN is managed and run by ISAN-IA.

Overview

The ISAN standard (ISO standard 15706:2002 & ISO 15706-2) is recommended or required as the audiovisual identifier of choice for producers, studios, broadcasters, Internet media providers and video games publishers who need to encode, track, and distribute video in a variety of formats. It provides a unique, internationally recognized and permanent reference number for each audiovisual work and related versions registered in the ISAN system. The ISO 15706-2 is the ISO standard, an extension to the existing 2002 published standard ISO 15706:2002. The ISO 15706-2 is the Information and documentation ISAN Part 2: Version identifier. ISO 15706-2:2007 specifies the basic systems and procedures to support the issuance and administration of V-ISANs. ISAN identifies works throughout their entire life cycle from conception, to production, to distribution and consumption. ISANs can be incorporated in both digital and physical media, such as theatrical release prints, DVDs, publications, advertising, marketing materials and packaging, as well as licensing contracts to uniquely identify works. The ISAN identifier is incorporated in many draft and final standards such as AACS, DCI,

MPEG The Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) is an alliance of working groups established jointly by ISO and IEC that sets standards for media coding, including compression coding of audio, video, graphics, and genomic data; and transmission and f ...

, DVB, and ATSC. The identifier can be provided under descriptor 13 (0x0D) for ''Copyright identification system and reference'' within an ITU-T Rec. H.222 or ISO/IEC 13818 program.

Number format

The ISAN is a 12 byte block comprising three segments: a 6 byte root, a 2 byte episode or part, and a 4 byte version. uimsbf: unsigned integer, most significant bit first A root is assigned to a core work by the ISAN-IA. If a root has subsequent film parts (i.e., sequels) or television episodes then the root_part is incremented and started at a point defined by the producing studio. (i.e., relates to the production number) If a root_part has been modified in some way—for example, dubbing, 24/30/25 frame conversions and subtitling the work into other languages—can have different versions. Common uses are when the native North American 30/1001 frame version is set to one, the 25 frame conversion for PAL compatible markets is set to two. When the 12 byte ISAN is represented in

hexadecimal In mathematics and computing, the hexadecimal (also base-16 or simply hex) numeral system is a positional numeral system that represents numbers using a radix (base) of 16. Unlike the decimal system representing numbers using 10 symbols, he ...

form it has 24 digits, for example: 000000018947000000000000. However, a printed ISAN designed for human reading always begins with the ISAN label, appears with hyphens to separate the number into more manageable groups of digits, and adds two check characters (alphanumeric) to help identify transcription errors. The resulting number appears as: ISAN 0000-0001-8947-0000-8-0000-0000-D ISAN-IA has also developed a recommended practice for encoding the ISAN in a

two-dimensional barcode A barcode or bar code is a method of representing data in a visual, Machine-readable data, machine-readable form. Initially, barcodes represented data by varying the widths, spacings and sizes of parallel lines. These barcodes, now commonly refe ...

pixel In digital imaging, a pixel (abbreviated px), pel, or picture element is the smallest addressable element in a raster image, or the smallest point in an all points addressable display device. In most digital display devices, pixels are the ...

s square. An ISAN is a centrally registered and permanently assigned reference number. The work or content it references is identified by a

metadata Metadata is "data that provides information about other data", but not the content of the data, such as the text of a message or the image itself. There are many distinct types of metadata, including: * Descriptive metadata – the descriptive ...

set registered with ISAN-IA. Appointed Registration Agencies and ISAN-IA work together to prevent duplicate assignments of ISANs with the same metadata set. The ISAN metadata set includes the title (original and alternative), cast (director, actors, producer, screenwriter, etc...), type of works (movie, documentary, TV series or entertainment show, sport events, video games, etc...), duration, year of production and dozens of other fields related to the work. This metadata applies to all type of audiovisual works, including their related versions of trailers, excerpts, videos and broadcasts. The Microsoft

High Capacity Color Barcode High Capacity Color Barcode (HCCB) is a technology developed by Microsoft for encoding data in a 2D "barcode" using clusters of colored triangles instead of the square pixels conventionally associated with 2D barcodes or QR codes. Data density is ...

will be used too.

ISAN-IA

ISAN-IA (ISAN International Agency) is a

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Situa ...

-based non-profit association, founded in 2003, by

AGICOA The Association of International Collective Management of Audiovisual Works (AGICOA) is a non-profit organization that negotiates, collects, and distributes royalties from the use of audiovisual works, whether via cable, satellite, mobile or any o ...

, CISAC, and

FIAPF The FIAPF (Fédération Internationale des Associations de Producteurs de Films; en, International Federation of Film Producers Associations), created in 1933, is an organization composed with 36 member associations from 30 of the leading audio ...

to run the ISAN standard. ISAN-IA is in charge of: *maintaining the ISAN central repository *implementing, running and managing the ISAN system *accrediting and appointing the ISAN registration agencies worldwide *promoting with the help of the registration agencies, the ISAN standard to the audiovisual industry.

Overview

Number format

ISAN-IA

References

External links