MPEG-2 Transport Stream Packaging for Media Over QUIC Transport

Internet-Draft MOQT MPEG-2 TS Packaging May 2026

Gregoire & Simon Expires 7 November 2026 [Page]

Abstract This document extends the MOQT Streaming Format (MSF) by registering the "m2ts" packaging value for carrying MPEG-2 Transport Stream and M2TS source packets over Media Over QUIC Transport. It defines catalog fields for transport-stream track description and specifies receiver and relay behavior for joining, switching, and validating packetized streams.¶

About This Document This note is to be removed before publishing as an RFC.¶

The latest revision of this draft can be found at https://mondain.github.io/msfts/draft-gregoire-moq-msfts.html. Status information for this document may be found at https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-gregoire-moq-msfts/.¶

Discussion of this document takes place on the Media Over QUIC Working Group mailing list (mailto:moq@ietf.org), which is archived at https://mailarchive.ietf.org/arch/browse/moq/. Subscribe at https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/moq/.¶ Source for this draft and an issue tracker can be found at https://github.com/mondain/msfts.¶

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▲ Table of Contents

1.  Introduction

2.  MSF Extension

3.  Conventions and Definitions

4.  Scope

5.  Media Packaging

5.1.  Object Payload Format

5.2.  Object Boundaries

5.3.  Group Numbering

5.4.  Packetization

5.5.  Multi-Program Source Handling

5.6.  PCR and Timing

5.7.  Splice Signaling

6.  Catalog

6.1.  Track Object Fields

6.2.  M2TS Packet Size

6.3.  M2TS Packets per Object

6.4.  M2TS Program Number

6.5.  M2TS PMT PID

6.6.  M2TS PCR PID

6.7.  M2TS PSI Interval

6.8.

M2TS Random Access

6.9.  M2TS Timestamp Mode

6.10. M2TS SCTE-35 PID

6.11. Initialization Data

7.  Catalog Examples

7.1.  Live 188-octet Transport Stream

7.2.  Live 192-octet M2TS Source Packets

7.3.  VOD Transport Stream

7.4.  Multi-Program Source - Two Programs from One MPTS

7.5.  ABR Alternate Renditions - Two Bitrate Tracks

8.  Subscriber Processing

9.  Relay Processing

10. Switching and Alternate Renditions

11. Content Protection

12. Authorization

13. Security Considerations

14. IANA Considerations

15. References

15.1.  Normative References

15.2.  Informative References

Appendix A.  Acknowledgments

Authors' Addresses

1. Introduction Media Over QUIC Transport (MOQT) [MoQTransport] delivers named tracks as ordered groups of objects. The MOQT Streaming Format (MSF) [MSF] defines a catalog model and common streaming conventions for describing tracks delivered over MOQT. This document extends MSF by registering the "m2ts" packaging value for carrying MPEG-2 Transport Stream packets as defined by [ISO138181] and M2TS source packets that prefix each transport-stream packet with a four-octet source-packet timestamp.¶ The format is intended for publishers that already produce packetized MPEG-2 Transport Stream output, including contribution feeds, broadcast workflows, and systems that currently segment transport streams for HTTP-based delivery.

It does not define a new elementary stream container. Instead, it preserves the packet stream and maps consecutive source packets into MOQT Objects.¶ This document describes version 1 of the packaging format.¶

2. MSF Extension All specifications, requirements, and terminology defined in [MSF] apply to implementations of this extension unless explicitly noted otherwise in this document.¶ This document does not use the LOC packaging defined in [MSF]. MSF requirements that are conditioned on packaging: loc do not apply to m2ts-packaged tracks; equivalent behavior for m2ts tracks is defined in this document.¶

3. Conventions and Definitions The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in BCP 14 [RFC2119] [RFC8174] when, and only when, they appear in all capitals, as shown here.¶ This document uses the conventions detailed in Section 1.3 of [RFC9000] when describing the binary encoding.¶ The following terms are used throughout this document:¶

TS packet: A 188-octet MPEG-2 Transport Stream packet as defined by [ISO138181].¶

M2TS source packet: A 192-octet packet consisting of a four-octet source-packet timestamp followed by a 188-octet TS packet.¶

Source packet: Either a TS packet or an M2TS source packet.

The source-packet size is signaled by the catalog.¶

Access unit: A coded audio, video, or metadata unit carried by the MPEG-2 Transport Stream.¶

Random access point: A point in the packet stream at which a receiver can begin decoding after receiving the applicable transport-stream tables and decoder initialization.¶

Single-program transport stream: A transport stream whose Program Association Table lists exactly one program.¶

Multi-program transport stream: A transport stream whose Program Association Table lists two or more programs.¶

4. Scope This specification defines:¶

The "m2ts" packaging value for use in an MSF catalog.¶

The mapping of consecutive TS or M2TS source packets into MOQT Objects.¶

Catalog fields that describe packet size, program selection, packetization, timing, and joining behavior.¶

Receiver processing rules for validating object payloads and reconstructing the packet stream.¶

This specification does not define:¶

New MPEG-2 Transport Stream syntax.¶

New audio, video, metadata, or subtitle codec signaling inside the transport stream.¶

A replacement for Program Association Table, Program Map Table, PCR, PTS, DTS, continuity counter, or scrambling semantics defined by [ISO138181].¶

A mandatory Adaptive Bitrate (ABR) switching model across separately encoded transport streams.¶

A key management protocol.¶

6. Catalog An m2ts track is described by the MSF catalog [MSF]. The catalog track name, delta update rules, variable substitution rules, authorization signaling, and common track fields are inherited from MSF.¶ This document defines additional fields for track objects whose packaging value is "m2ts". A parser MUST ignore fields it does not understand.¶

6.1.

Track Object Fields Table 1 lists the m2ts-specific fields defined within a track object.¶

Table 1

Field Name Definition M2TS packet size m2tsPacketSize Section 6.2

M2TS packets per Object m2tsPacketsPerObject Section 6.3

M2TS program number m2tsProgramNumber Section 6.4

M2TS PMT PID m2tsPmtPid Section 6.5

M2TS PCR PID m2tsPcrPid Section 6.6

M2TS PSI interval m2tsPsiInterval Section 6.7

M2TS random access m2tsRandomAccess Section 6.8

M2TS timestamp mode m2tsTimestampMode Section 6.9

M2TS SCTE-35 PID m2tsScte35Pid Section 6.10

Initialization data initData Section 6.11

6.2. M2TS Packet Size Required: Yes JSON Type: Number Location: Track Object¶ The source-packet size in octets. The value MUST be either 188 or 192. A value of 188 identifies ordinary MPEG-2 TS packets. A value of 192 identifies M2TS source packets with a four-octet timestamp prefix followed by a 188-octet TS packet.¶

6.3. M2TS Packets per Object Required: Optional JSON Type: Number Location: Track Object¶ The usual number of source packets carried by each media Object.