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Gregory Maxwell0c906072012-06-19 09:11:40 -04001<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
2<!DOCTYPE rfc SYSTEM "rfc2629.dtd" [
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Gregory Maxwell0c906072012-06-19 09:11:40 -040015<!ENTITY rfc6562 PUBLIC '' 'http://xml.resource.org/public/rfc/bibxml/reference.RFC.6562.xml'>
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Gregory Maxwell0c906072012-06-19 09:11:40 -040017
18 ]>
19
Jean-Marc Valinb880e9b2012-11-22 17:25:22 -050020 <rfc category="info" ipr="trust200902" docName="draft-spittka-payload-rtp-opus-02">
Gregory Maxwell0c906072012-06-19 09:11:40 -040021<?xml-stylesheet type='text/xsl' href='rfc2629.xslt' ?>
22
23<?rfc strict="yes" ?>
24<?rfc toc="yes" ?>
25<?rfc tocdepth="3" ?>
26<?rfc tocappendix='no' ?>
27<?rfc tocindent='yes' ?>
28<?rfc symrefs="yes" ?>
29<?rfc sortrefs="yes" ?>
30<?rfc compact="no" ?>
31<?rfc subcompact="yes" ?>
32<?rfc iprnotified="yes" ?>
33
34 <front>
35 <title abbrev="RTP Payload Format for Opus Codec">
36 RTP Payload Format for Opus Speech and Audio Codec
37 </title>
38
39 <author fullname="Julian Spittka" initials="J." surname="Spittka">
Gregory Maxwell0c906072012-06-19 09:11:40 -040040 <address>
Jean-Marc Valinacf06752012-11-22 17:10:50 -050041 <email>jspittka@gmail.com</email>
Gregory Maxwell0c906072012-06-19 09:11:40 -040042 </address>
43 </author>
44
45 <author initials='K.' surname='Vos' fullname='Koen Vos'>
46 <organization>Skype Technologies S.A.</organization>
47 <address>
48 <postal>
49 <street>3210 Porter Drive</street>
50 <code>94304</code>
51 <city>Palo Alto</city>
52 <region>CA</region>
53 <country>USA</country>
54 </postal>
Jean-Marc Valinacf06752012-11-22 17:10:50 -050055 <email>koenvos74@gmail.com</email>
Gregory Maxwell0c906072012-06-19 09:11:40 -040056 </address>
57 </author>
58
59 <author initials="JM" surname="Valin" fullname="Jean-Marc Valin">
60 <organization>Mozilla</organization>
61 <address>
62 <postal>
63 <street>650 Castro Street</street>
64 <city>Mountain View</city>
65 <region>CA</region>
66 <code>94041</code>
67 <country>USA</country>
68 </postal>
69 <email>jmvalin@jmvalin.ca</email>
70 </address>
71 </author>
72
Jean-Marc Valinb880e9b2012-11-22 17:25:22 -050073 <date day='22' month='November' year='2012' />
Gregory Maxwell0c906072012-06-19 09:11:40 -040074
75 <abstract>
76 <t>
77 This document defines the Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) payload
78 format for packetization of Opus encoded
79 speech and audio data that is essential to integrate the codec in the
80 most compatible way. Further, media type registrations
81 are described for the RTP payload format.
82 </t>
83 </abstract>
84 </front>
85
86 <middle>
87 <section title='Introduction'>
88 <t>
89 The Opus codec is a speech and audio codec developed within the
Jean-Marc Valinacf06752012-11-22 17:10:50 -050090 IETF Internet Wideband Audio Codec working group (codec). The codec
Jean-Marc Valin15f0f1f2012-11-29 09:24:54 -050091 has a very low algorithmic delay and it
Gregory Maxwell0c906072012-06-19 09:11:40 -040092 is highly scalable in terms of audio bandwidth, bitrate, and
93 complexity. Further, it provides different modes to efficiently encode speech signals
94 as well as music signals, thus, making it the codec of choice for
95 various applications using the Internet or similar networks.
96 </t>
97 <t>
98 This document defines the Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP)
99 <xref target="RFC3550"/> payload format for packetization
100 of Opus encoded speech and audio data that is essential to
101 integrate the Opus codec in the
102 most compatible way. Further, media type registrations are described for
103 the RTP payload format. More information on the Opus
Jean-Marc Valinacf06752012-11-22 17:10:50 -0500104 codec can be obtained from <xref target="RFC6716"/>.
Gregory Maxwell0c906072012-06-19 09:11:40 -0400105 </t>
106 </section>
107
108 <section title='Conventions, Definitions and Acronyms used in this document'>
109 <t>The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
110 "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
111 document are to be interpreted as described in <xref target="RFC2119"/>.</t>
112 <t>
113 <list style='hanging'>
Jean-Marc Valin15f0f1f2012-11-29 09:24:54 -0500114 <t hangText="CBR:"> Constant bitrate</t>
115 <t hangText="CPU:"> Central Processing Unit</t>
116 <t hangText="DTX:"> Discontinuous transmission</t>
117 <t hangText="FEC:"> Forward error correction</t>
Gregory Maxwell0c906072012-06-19 09:11:40 -0400118 <t hangText="IP:"> Internet Protocol</t>
Jean-Marc Valin15f0f1f2012-11-29 09:24:54 -0500119 <t hangText="samples:"> Speech or audio samples (usually per channel)</t>
Gregory Maxwell0c906072012-06-19 09:11:40 -0400120 <t hangText="SDP:"> Session Description Protocol</t>
Jean-Marc Valin15f0f1f2012-11-29 09:24:54 -0500121 <t hangText="VBR:"> Variable bitrate</t>
Gregory Maxwell0c906072012-06-19 09:11:40 -0400122 </list>
123 </t>
124 <section title='Audio Bandwidth'>
125 <t>
126 Throughout this document, we refer to the following definitions:
127 </t>
128 <texttable anchor='bandwidth_definitions'>
129 <ttcol align='center'>Abbreviation</ttcol>
130 <ttcol align='center'>Name</ttcol>
131 <ttcol align='center'>Bandwidth</ttcol>
132 <ttcol align='center'>Sampling</ttcol>
133 <c>nb</c>
134 <c>Narrowband</c>
135 <c>0 - 4000</c>
136 <c>8000</c>
137
138 <c>mb</c>
139 <c>Mediumband</c>
140 <c>0 - 6000</c>
141 <c>12000</c>
142
143 <c>wb</c>
144 <c>Wideband</c>
145 <c>0 - 8000</c>
146 <c>16000</c>
147
148 <c>swb</c>
149 <c>Super-wideband</c>
150 <c>0 - 12000</c>
151 <c>24000</c>
152
153 <c>fb</c>
154 <c>Fullband</c>
155 <c>0 - 20000</c>
156 <c>48000</c>
157
158 <postamble>
159 Audio bandwidth naming
160 </postamble>
161 </texttable>
162 </section>
163 </section>
164
165 <section title='Opus Codec'>
166 <t>
Jean-Marc Valinacf06752012-11-22 17:10:50 -0500167 The Opus <xref target="RFC6716"/> speech and audio codec has been developed to encode speech
Gregory Maxwell0c906072012-06-19 09:11:40 -0400168 signals as well as audio signals. Two different modes, a voice mode
169 or an audio mode, may be chosen to allow the most efficient coding
170 dependent on the type of input signal, the sampling frequency of the
171 input signal, and the specific application.
172 </t>
173
174 <t>
Jean-Marc Valin57fa0562012-11-09 14:30:25 -0500175 The voice mode allows efficient encoding of voice signals at lower bit
Gregory Maxwell0c906072012-06-19 09:11:40 -0400176 rates while the audio mode is optimized for audio signals at medium and
177 higher bitrates.
178 </t>
179
180 <t>
181 The Opus speech and audio codec is highly scalable in terms of audio
Jean-Marc Valin57fa0562012-11-09 14:30:25 -0500182 bandwidth, bitrate, and complexity. Further, Opus allows
183 transmitting stereo signals.
Gregory Maxwell0c906072012-06-19 09:11:40 -0400184 </t>
185
186 <section title='Network Bandwidth'>
187 <t>
188 Opus supports all bitrates from 6&nbsp;kb/s to 510&nbsp;kb/s.
189 The bitrate can be changed dynamically within that range.
190 All
191 other parameters being
192 equal, higher bitrate results in higher quality.
193 </t>
194 <section title='Recommended Bitrate' anchor='bitrate_by_bandwidth'>
195 <t>
196 For a frame size of
197 20&nbsp;ms, these
198 are the bitrate "sweet spots" for Opus in various configurations:
199
200 <list style="symbols">
201 <t>8-12 kb/s for NB speech,</t>
202 <t>16-20 kb/s for WB speech,</t>
203 <t>28-40 kb/s for FB speech,</t>
204 <t>48-64 kb/s for FB mono music, and</t>
205 <t>64-128 kb/s for FB stereo music.</t>
206 </list>
207 </t>
208 </section>
209 <section title='Variable versus Constant Bit Rate' anchor='variable-vs-constant-bitrate'>
210 <t>
211 For the same average bitrate, variable bitrate (VBR) can achieve higher quality
212 than constant bitrate (CBR). For the majority of voice transmission application, VBR
213 is the best choice. One potential reason for choosing CBR is the potential
214 information leak that <spanx style='emph'>may</spanx> occur when encrypting the
215 compressed stream. See <xref target="RFC6562"/> for guidelines on when VBR is
216 appropriate for encrypted audio communications. In the case where an existing
217 VBR stream needs to be converted to CBR for security reasons, then the Opus padding
Jean-Marc Valinacf06752012-11-22 17:10:50 -0500218 mechanism described in <xref target="RFC6716"/> is the RECOMMENDED way to achieve padding
Gregory Maxwell0c906072012-06-19 09:11:40 -0400219 because the RTP padding bit is unencrypted.</t>
220
221 <t>
222 The bitrate can be adjusted at any point in time. To avoid congestion,
223 the average bitrate SHOULD be adjusted to the available
Jean-Marc Valinacf06752012-11-22 17:10:50 -0500224 network capacity. If no target bitrate is specified, the bitrates specified in
225 <xref target='bitrate_by_bandwidth'/> are RECOMMENDED.
Gregory Maxwell0c906072012-06-19 09:11:40 -0400226 </t>
227
228 </section>
229
230 <section title='Discontinuous Transmission (DTX)'>
231
232 <t>
233 The Opus codec may, as described in <xref target='variable-vs-constant-bitrate'/>,
234 be operated with an adaptive bitrate. In that case, the bitrate
235 will automatically be reduced for certain input signals like periods
236 of silence. During continuous transmission the bitrate will be
237 reduced, when the input signal allows to do so, but the transmission
238 to the receiver itself will never be interrupted. Therefore, the
239 received signal will maintain the same high level of quality over the
240 full duration of a transmission while minimizing the average bit
241 rate over time.
242 </t>
243
244 <t>
245 In cases where the bitrate of Opus needs to be reduced even
246 further or in cases where only constant bitrate is available,
247 the Opus encoder may be set to use discontinuous
248 transmission (DTX), where parts of the encoded signal that
249 correspond to periods of silence in the input speech or audio signal
250 are not transmitted to the receiver.
251 </t>
252
253 <t>
254 On the receiving side, the non-transmitted parts will be handled by a
255 frame loss concealment unit in the Opus decoder which generates a
256 comfort noise signal to replace the non transmitted parts of the
257 speech or audio signal.
258 </t>
259
260 <t>
261 The DTX mode of Opus will have a slightly lower speech or audio
262 quality than the continuous mode. Therefore, it is RECOMMENDED to
263 use Opus in the continuous mode unless restraints on network
264 capacity are severe. The DTX mode can be engaged for operation
265 in both adaptive or constant bitrate.
266 </t>
267
268 </section>
269
270 </section>
271
272 <section title='Complexity'>
273
274 <t>
275 Complexity can be scaled to optimize for CPU resources in real-time, mostly as
276 a trade-off between audio quality and bitrate. Also, different modes of Opus have different complexity.
277 </t>
278
279 </section>
280
281 <section title="Forward Error Correction (FEC)">
282
283 <t>
284 The voice mode of Opus allows for "in-band" forward error correction (FEC)
285 data to be embedded into the bit stream of Opus. This FEC scheme adds
286 redundant information about the previous packet (n-1) to the current
287 output packet n. For
288 each frame, the encoder decides whether to use FEC based on (1) an
289 externally-provided estimate of the channel's packet loss rate; (2) an
290 externally-provided estimate of the channel's capacity; (3) the
291 sensitivity of the audio or speech signal to packet loss; (4) whether
292 the receiving decoder has indicated it can take advantage of "in-band"
293 FEC information. The decision to send "in-band" FEC information is
294 entirely controlled by the encoder and therefore no special precautions
295 for the payload have to be taken.
296 </t>
297
298 <t>
299 On the receiving side, the decoder can take advantage of this
300 additional information when, in case of a packet loss, the next packet
301 is available. In order to use the FEC data, the jitter buffer needs
302 to provide access to payloads with the FEC data. The decoder API function
303 has a flag to indicate that a FEC frame rather than a regular frame should
304 be decoded. If no FEC data is available for the current frame, the decoder
305 will consider the frame lost and invokes the frame loss concealment.
306 </t>
307
308 <t>
309 If the FEC scheme is not implemented on the receiving side, FEC
310 SHOULD NOT be used, as it leads to an inefficient usage of network
311 resources. Decoder support for FEC SHOULD be indicated at the time a
312 session is set up.
313 </t>
314
315 </section>
316
317 <section title='Stereo Operation'>
318
319 <t>
320 Opus allows for transmission of stereo audio signals. This operation
321 is signaled in-band in the Opus payload and no special arrangement
322 is required in the payload format. Any implementation of the Opus
Jean-Marc Valin57fa0562012-11-09 14:30:25 -0500323 decoder MUST be capable of receiving stereo signals, although it MAY
324 decode those signals as mono.
Gregory Maxwell0c906072012-06-19 09:11:40 -0400325 </t>
326 <t>
327 If a decoder can not take advantage of the benefits of a stereo signal
328 this SHOULD be indicated at the time a session is set up. In that case
329 the sending side SHOULD NOT send stereo signals as it leads to an
330 inefficient usage of the network.
331 </t>
332
333 </section>
334
335 </section>
336
337 <section title='Opus RTP Payload Format' anchor='opus-rtp-payload-format'>
338 <t>The payload format for Opus consists of the RTP header and Opus payload
339 data.</t>
340 <section title='RTP Header Usage'>
341 <t>The format of the RTP header is specified in <xref target="RFC3550"/>. The Opus
342 payload format uses the fields of the RTP header consistent with this
343 specification.</t>
344
345 <t>The payload length of Opus is a multiple number of octets and
346 therefore no padding is required. The payload MAY be padded by an
347 integer number of octets according to <xref target="RFC3550"/>.</t>
348
Jean-Marc Valin57fa0562012-11-09 14:30:25 -0500349 <t>The marker bit (M) of the RTP header is used in accordance with
350 Section 4.1 of <xref target="RFC3551"/>.</t>
Gregory Maxwell0c906072012-06-19 09:11:40 -0400351
352 <t>The RTP payload type for Opus has not been assigned statically and is
353 expected to be assigned dynamically.</t>
354
355 <t>The receiving side MUST be prepared to receive duplicates of RTP
356 packets. Only one of those payloads MUST be provided to the Opus decoder
357 for decoding and others MUST be discarded.</t>
358
359 <t>Opus supports 5 different audio bandwidths which may be adjusted during
360 the duration of a call. The RTP timestamp clock frequency is defined as
361 the highest supported sampling frequency of Opus, i.e. 48000 Hz, for all
362 modes and sampling rates of Opus. The unit
363 for the timestamp is samples per single (mono) channel. The RTP timestamp corresponds to the
364 sample time of the first encoded sample in the encoded frame. For sampling
365 rates lower than 48000 Hz the number of samples has to be multiplied with
366 a multiplier according to <xref target="fs-upsample-factors"/> to determine
367 the RTP timestamp.</t>
368
Jean-Marc Valin15f0f1f2012-11-29 09:24:54 -0500369 <texttable anchor='fs-upsample-factors' title="Timestamp multiplier">
Gregory Maxwell0c906072012-06-19 09:11:40 -0400370 <ttcol align='center'>fs (Hz)</ttcol>
371 <ttcol align='center'>Multiplier</ttcol>
372 <c>8000</c>
373 <c>6</c>
374 <c>12000</c>
375 <c>4</c>
376 <c>16000</c>
377 <c>3</c>
378 <c>24000</c>
379 <c>2</c>
380 <c>48000</c>
381 <c>1</c>
Gregory Maxwell0c906072012-06-19 09:11:40 -0400382 </texttable>
383 </section>
384
385 <section title='Payload Structure'>
386 <t>
387 The Opus encoder can be set to output encoded frames representing 2.5, 5, 10, 20,
388 40, or 60 ms of speech or audio data. Further, an arbitrary number of frames can be
389 combined into a packet. The maximum packet length is limited to the amount of encoded
390 data representing 120 ms of speech or audio data. The packetization of encoded data
391 is purely done by the Opus encoder and therefore only one packet output from the Opus
392 encoder MUST be used as a payload.
393 </t>
394
395 <t><xref target='payload-structure'/> shows the structure combined with the RTP header.</t>
396
397 <figure anchor="payload-structure"
398 title="Payload Structure with RTP header">
399 <artwork>
400 <![CDATA[
401+----------+--------------+
402|RTP Header| Opus Payload |
403+----------+--------------+
404 ]]>
405 </artwork>
406 </figure>
407
408 <t>
409 <xref target='opus-packetization'/> shows supported frame sizes for different modes
410 and sampling rates of Opus and how the timestamp needs to be incremented for
411 packetization.
412 </t>
413
414 <texttable anchor='opus-packetization'>
415 <ttcol align='center'>Mode</ttcol>
416 <ttcol align='center'>fs</ttcol>
417 <ttcol align='center'>2.5</ttcol>
418 <ttcol align='center'>5</ttcol>
419 <ttcol align='center'>10</ttcol>
420 <ttcol align='center'>20</ttcol>
421 <ttcol align='center'>40</ttcol>
422 <ttcol align='center'>60</ttcol>
423 <c>ts incr</c>
424 <c>all</c>
425 <c>120</c>
426 <c>240</c>
427 <c>480</c>
428 <c>960</c>
429 <c>1920</c>
430 <c>2880</c>
431 <c>voice</c>
432 <c>nb/mb/wb/swb/fb</c>
433 <c></c>
434 <c></c>
435 <c>x</c>
436 <c>x</c>
437 <c>x</c>
438 <c>x</c>
439 <c>audio</c>
440 <c>nb/wb/swb/fb</c>
441 <c>x</c>
442 <c>x</c>
443 <c>x</c>
444 <c>x</c>
445 <c></c>
446 <c></c>
447 <postamble>
448 Mode specifies the Opus mode of operation; fs specifies the audio sampling
449 frequency in Hertz (Hz); 2.5, 5, 10, 20, 40, and 60 represent the duration of
450 encoded speech or audio data in a packet; ts incr specifies the
451 value the timestamp needs to be incremented for the representing packet size.
452 For multiple frames in a packet these values have to be multiplied with the
453 respective number of frames.
454 </postamble>
455 </texttable>
456
457 </section>
458
459 </section>
460
461 <section title='Congestion Control'>
462
463 <t>The adaptive nature of the Opus codec allows for an efficient
464 congestion control.</t>
465
466 <t>The target bitrate of Opus can be adjusted at any point in time and
467 thus allowing for an efficient congestion control. Furthermore, the amount
468 of encoded speech or audio data encoded in a
469 single packet can be used for congestion control since the transmission
470 rate is inversely proportional to these frame sizes. A lower packet
471 transmission rate reduces the amount of header overhead but at the same
472 time increases latency and error sensitivity and should be done with care.</t>
473
474 <t>It is RECOMMENDED that congestion control is applied during the
475 transmission of Opus encoded data.</t>
476 </section>
477
478 <section title='IANA Considerations'>
479 <t>One media subtype (audio/opus) has been defined and registered as
480 described in the following section.</t>
481
482 <section title='Opus Media Type Registration'>
483 <t>Media type registration is done according to <xref
484 target="RFC4288"/> and <xref target="RFC4855"/>.<vspace
485 blankLines='1'/></t>
486
487 <t>Type name: audio<vspace blankLines='1'/></t>
488 <t>Subtype name: opus<vspace blankLines='1'/></t>
489
490 <t>Required parameters:</t>
491 <t><list style="hanging">
492 <t hangText="rate:"> RTP timestamp clock rate is incremented with
493 48000 Hz clock rate for all modes of Opus and all sampling
494 frequencies. For audio sampling rates other than 48000 Hz the rate
495 has to be adjusted to 48000 Hz according to <xref target="fs-upsample-factors"/>.
496 </t>
497 </list></t>
498
499 <t>Optional parameters:</t>
500
501 <t><list style="hanging">
Jean-Marc Valinf22af9c2012-11-12 15:44:52 -0500502 <t hangText="maxplaybackrate:">
503 a hint about the maximum output sampling rate that the receiver is
Jean-Marc Valinacf06752012-11-22 17:10:50 -0500504 capable of rendering in Hz.
Jean-Marc Valinf22af9c2012-11-12 15:44:52 -0500505 The decoder MUST be capable of decoding
Gregory Maxwell0c906072012-06-19 09:11:40 -0400506 any audio bandwidth but due to hardware limitations only signals
Jean-Marc Valinf22af9c2012-11-12 15:44:52 -0500507 up to the specified sampling rate can be played back. Sending signals
Gregory Maxwell0c906072012-06-19 09:11:40 -0400508 with higher audio bandwidth results in higher than necessary network
509 usage and encoding complexity, so an encoder SHOULD NOT encode
Jean-Marc Valinf22af9c2012-11-12 15:44:52 -0500510 frequencies above the audio bandwidth specified by maxplaybackrate.
511 This parameter can take any value between 8000 and 48000, although
512 commonly the value will match one of the Opus bandwidths
513 (<xref target="bandwidth_definitions"/>).
514 By default, the receiver is assumed to have no limitations, i.e. 48000.
Gregory Maxwell0c906072012-06-19 09:11:40 -0400515 <vspace blankLines='1'/>
516 </t>
517
Jean-Marc Valinf22af9c2012-11-12 15:44:52 -0500518 <t hangText="sprop-maxcapturerate:">
519 a hint about the maximum input sampling rate that the sender is likely to produce.
520 This is not a guarantee that the sender will never send any higher bandwidth
521 (e.g. it could send a pre-recorded prompt that uses a higher bandwidth), but it
522 indicates to the receiver that frequencies above this maximum can safely be discarded.
523 This parameter is useful to avoid wasting receiver resources by operating the audio
524 processing pipeline (e.g. echo cancellation) at a higher rate than necessary.
525 This parameter can take any value between 8000 and 48000, although
526 commonly the value will match one of the Opus bandwidths
527 (<xref target="bandwidth_definitions"/>).
528 By default, the sender is assumed to have no limitations, i.e. 48000.
Jean-Marc Valin57fa0562012-11-09 14:30:25 -0500529 <vspace blankLines='1'/>
530 </t>
531
Gregory Maxwell0c906072012-06-19 09:11:40 -0400532 <t hangText="maxptime:"> the decoder's maximum length of time in
533 milliseconds rounded up to the next full integer value represented
534 by the media in a packet that can be
535 encapsulated in a received packet according to Section 6 of
536 <xref target="RFC4566"/>. Possible values are 3, 5, 10, 20, 40,
537 and 60 or an arbitrary multiple of Opus frame sizes rounded up to
538 the next full integer value up to a maximum value of 120 as
539 defined in <xref target='opus-rtp-payload-format'/>. If no value is
540 specified, 120 is assumed as default. This value is a recommendation
541 by the decoding side to ensure the best
542 performance for the decoder. The decoder MUST be
543 capable of accepting any allowed packet sizes to
544 ensure maximum compatibility.
545 <vspace blankLines='1'/></t>
546
547 <t hangText="ptime:"> the decoder's recommended length of time in
548 milliseconds rounded up to the next full integer value represented
549 by the media in a packet according to
550 Section 6 of <xref target="RFC4566"/>. Possible values are
551 3, 5, 10, 20, 40, or 60 or an arbitrary multiple of Opus frame sizes
552 rounded up to the next full integer value up to a maximum
553 value of 120 as defined in <xref
554 target='opus-rtp-payload-format'/>. If no value is
555 specified, 20 is assumed as default. If ptime is greater than
556 maxptime, ptime MUST be ignored. This parameter MAY be changed
557 during a session. This value is a recommendation by the decoding
558 side to ensure the best
559 performance for the decoder. The decoder MUST be
560 capable of accepting any allowed packet sizes to
561 ensure maximum compatibility.
562 <vspace blankLines='1'/></t>
563
564 <t hangText="minptime:"> the decoder's minimum length of time in
565 milliseconds rounded up to the next full integer value represented
566 by the media in a packet that SHOULD
567 be encapsulated in a received packet according to Section 6 of <xref
568 target="RFC4566"/>. Possible values are 3, 5, 10, 20, 40, and 60
569 or an arbitrary multiple of Opus frame sizes rounded up to the next
570 full integer value up to a maximum value of 120
571 as defined in <xref target='opus-rtp-payload-format'/>. If no value is
572 specified, 3 is assumed as default. This value is a recommendation
573 by the decoding side to ensure the best
574 performance for the decoder. The decoder MUST be
575 capable to accept any allowed packet sizes to
576 ensure maximum compatibility.
577 <vspace blankLines='1'/></t>
578
579 <t hangText="maxaveragebitrate:"> specifies the maximum average
580 receive bitrate of a session in bits per second (b/s). The actual
581 value of the bitrate may vary as it is dependent on the
582 characteristics of the media in a packet. Note that the maximum
583 average bitrate MAY be modified dynamically during a session. Any
584 positive integer is allowed but values outside the range between
585 6000 and 510000 SHOULD be ignored. If no value is specified, the
586 maximum value specified in <xref target='bitrate_by_bandwidth'/>
Jean-Marc Valinf22af9c2012-11-12 15:44:52 -0500587 for the corresponding mode of Opus and corresponding maxplaybackrate:
Gregory Maxwell0c906072012-06-19 09:11:40 -0400588 will be the default.<vspace blankLines='1'/></t>
589
590 <t hangText="stereo:">
591 specifies whether the decoder prefers receiving stereo or mono signals.
592 Possible values are 1 and 0 where 1 specifies that stereo signals are preferred
593 and 0 specifies that only mono signals are preferred.
594 Independent of the stereo parameter every receiver MUST be able to receive and
595 decode stereo signals but sending stereo signals to a receiver that signaled a
596 preference for mono signals may result in higher than necessary network
597 utilisation and encoding complexity. If no value is specified, mono
598 is assumed (stereo=0).<vspace blankLines='1'/>
599 </t>
600
Jean-Marc Valin57fa0562012-11-09 14:30:25 -0500601 <t hangText="sprop-stereo:">
602 specifies whether the sender is likely to produce stereo audio.
603 Possible values are 1 and 0 where 1 specifies that stereo signals are likely to
604 be sent, and 0 speficies that the sender will likely only send mono.
605 This is not a guarantee that the sender will never send stereo audio
606 (e.g. it could send a pre-recorded prompt that uses stereo), but it
607 indicates to the receiver that the received signal can be safely downmixed to mono.
608 This parameter is useful to avoid wasting receiver resources by operating the audio
Jean-Marc Valinf22af9c2012-11-12 15:44:52 -0500609 processing pipeline (e.g. echo cancellation) in stereo when not necessary.
Jean-Marc Valin57fa0562012-11-09 14:30:25 -0500610 If no value is specified, mono
Jean-Marc Valinacf06752012-11-22 17:10:50 -0500611 is assumed (sprop-stereo=0).<vspace blankLines='1'/>
Jean-Marc Valin57fa0562012-11-09 14:30:25 -0500612 </t>
613
Gregory Maxwell0c906072012-06-19 09:11:40 -0400614 <t hangText="cbr:">
615 specifies if the decoder prefers the use of a constant bitrate versus
616 variable bitrate. Possible values are 1 and 0 where 1 specifies constant
617 bitrate and 0 specifies variable bitrate. If no value is specified, cbr
618 is assumed to be 0. Note that the maximum average bitrate may still be
619 changed, e.g. to adapt to changing network conditions.<vspace blankLines='1'/>
620 </t>
621
Jean-Marc Valin15f0f1f2012-11-29 09:24:54 -0500622 <t hangText="useinbandfec:"> specifies that the decoder has the capability to
623 use the Opus in-band FEC. Possible values are 1 and 0. It is RECOMMENDED to provide
624 0 in case FEC cannot be used on the receiving side. If no
625 value is specified, useinbandfec is assumed to be 1.
626 This parameter is only a preference and the receiver MUST be able to process
627 packets that have FEC information, even if it means the FEC part is discarded.
628 <vspace blankLines='1'/></t>
Gregory Maxwell0c906072012-06-19 09:11:40 -0400629
630 <t hangText="usedtx:"> specifies if the decoder prefers the use of
631 DTX. Possible values are 1 and 0. If no value is specified, usedtx
632 is assumed to be 0.<vspace blankLines='1'/></t>
633 </list></t>
634
635 <t>Encoding considerations:<vspace blankLines='1'/></t>
636 <t><list style="hanging">
637 <t>Opus media type is framed and consists of binary data according
638 to Section 4.8 in <xref target="RFC4288"/>.</t>
639 </list></t>
640
641 <t>Security considerations: </t>
642 <t><list style="hanging">
643 <t>See <xref target='security-considerations'/> of this document.</t>
644 </list></t>
645
646 <t>Interoperability considerations: none<vspace blankLines='1'/></t>
647 <t>Published specification: none<vspace blankLines='1'/></t>
648
649 <t>Applications that use this media type: </t>
650 <t><list style="hanging">
651 <t>Any application that requires the transport of
652 speech or audio data may use this media type. Some examples are,
653 but not limited to, audio and video conferencing, Voice over IP,
654 media streaming.</t>
655 </list></t>
656
657 <t>Person & email address to contact for further information:</t>
658 <t><list style="hanging">
659 <t>SILK Support silksupport@skype.net</t>
660 <t>Jean-Marc Valin jmvalin@jmvalin.ca</t>
661 </list></t>
662
663 <t>Intended usage: COMMON<vspace blankLines='1'/></t>
664
665 <t>Restrictions on usage:<vspace blankLines='1'/></t>
666
667 <t><list style="hanging">
668 <t>For transfer over RTP, the RTP payload format (<xref
669 target='opus-rtp-payload-format'/> of this document) SHALL be
670 used.</t>
671 </list></t>
672
673 <t>Author:</t>
674 <t><list style="hanging">
675 <t>Julian Spittka julian.spittka@skype.net<vspace blankLines='1'/></t>
676 <t>Koen Vos koen.vos@skype.net<vspace blankLines='1'/></t>
677 <t>Jean-Marc Valin jmvalin@jmvalin.ca<vspace blankLines='1'/></t>
678 </list></t>
679
680 <t> Change controller: TBD</t>
681 </section>
682
683 <section title='Mapping to SDP Parameters'>
684 <t>The information described in the media type specification has a
685 specific mapping to fields in the Session Description Protocol (SDP)
686 <xref target="RFC4566"/>, which is commonly used to describe RTP
687 sessions. When SDP is used to specify sessions employing the Opus codec,
688 the mapping is as follows:</t>
689
690 <t>
691 <list style="symbols">
692 <t>The media type ("audio") goes in SDP "m=" as the media name.</t>
693
694 <t>The media subtype ("opus") goes in SDP "a=rtpmap" as the encoding
Jean-Marc Valin57fa0562012-11-09 14:30:25 -0500695 name. The RTP clock rate in "a=rtpmap" MUST be 48000 and the number of
696 channels MUST be 2.</t>
Gregory Maxwell0c906072012-06-19 09:11:40 -0400697
Timothy B. Terriberry239e9a32012-11-21 18:48:09 -0800698 <t>The OPTIONAL media type parameters "ptime" and "maxptime" are
Gregory Maxwell0c906072012-06-19 09:11:40 -0400699 mapped to "a=ptime" and "a=maxptime" attributes, respectively, in the
700 SDP.</t>
701
Timothy B. Terriberry239e9a32012-11-21 18:48:09 -0800702 <t>The OPTIONAL media type parameters "maxaveragebitrate",
703 "minptime", "stereo", "cbr", "useinbandfec", and "usedtx", when
704 present, MUST be included in the "a=fmtp" attribute in the SDP,
705 expressed as a media type string in the form of a
706 semicolon-separated list of parameter=value pairs (e.g.,
Timothy B. Terriberryf92c87a2012-11-22 04:38:35 -0800707 maxaveragebitrate=20000). They MUST NOT be specified in an
708 SSRC-specific "fmtp" source-level attribute (as defined in
709 Section&nbsp;6.3 of&nbsp;<xref target="RFC5576"/>).</t>
Timothy B. Terriberry239e9a32012-11-21 18:48:09 -0800710
711 <t>The OPTIONAL media type parameters "sprop-maxcapturerate",
712 and "sprop-stereo" MAY be mapped to the "a=fmtp" SDP attribute by
713 copying them directly from the media type parameter string as part
714 of the semicolon-separated list of parameter=value pairs (e.g.,
715 sprop-stereo=1). These same OPTIONAL media type parameters MAY also
Timothy B. Terriberryf92c87a2012-11-22 04:38:35 -0800716 be specified using an SSRC-specific "fmtp" source-level attribute
717 as described in Section&nbsp;6.3 of&nbsp;<xref target="RFC5576"/>.
718 They MAY be specified in both places, in which case the parameter
719 in the source-level attribute overrides the one found on the
720 "a=fmtp" line. The value of any parameter which is not specified in
721 a source-level source attribute MUST be taken from the "a=fmtp"
722 line, if it is present there.</t>
Timothy B. Terriberry239e9a32012-11-21 18:48:09 -0800723
Gregory Maxwell0c906072012-06-19 09:11:40 -0400724 </list>
725 </t>
726
727 <t>Below are some examples of SDP session descriptions for Opus:</t>
728
Jean-Marc Valinacf06752012-11-22 17:10:50 -0500729 <t>Example 1: Standard mono session with 48000 Hz clock rate</t>
Gregory Maxwell0c906072012-06-19 09:11:40 -0400730 <figure>
731 <artwork>
732 <![CDATA[
733 m=audio 54312 RTP/AVP 101
Jean-Marc Valin57fa0562012-11-09 14:30:25 -0500734 a=rtpmap:101 opus/48000/2
Gregory Maxwell0c906072012-06-19 09:11:40 -0400735 ]]>
736 </artwork>
737 </figure>
738
739
740 <t>Example 2: 16000 Hz clock rate, maximum packet size of 40 ms,
741 recommended packet size of 40 ms, maximum average bitrate of 20000 bps,
Jean-Marc Valinb880e9b2012-11-22 17:25:22 -0500742 prefers to receive stereo but only plans to send mono, FEC is allowed,
Jean-Marc Valinacf06752012-11-22 17:10:50 -0500743 DTX is not allowed</t>
Gregory Maxwell0c906072012-06-19 09:11:40 -0400744
745 <figure>
746 <artwork>
747 <![CDATA[
748 m=audio 54312 RTP/AVP 101
Jean-Marc Valin57fa0562012-11-09 14:30:25 -0500749 a=rtpmap:101 opus/48000/2
Jean-Marc Valinacf06752012-11-22 17:10:50 -0500750 a=fmtp:101 maxplaybackrate=16000; sprop-maxcapturerate=16000;
751 maxaveragebitrate=20000; stereo=1; useinbandfec=1; usedtx=0
Gregory Maxwell0c906072012-06-19 09:11:40 -0400752 a=ptime:40
753 a=maxptime:40
754 ]]>
755 </artwork>
756 </figure>
757
Jean-Marc Valinacf06752012-11-22 17:10:50 -0500758 <t>Example 3: Two-way full-band stereo preferred</t>
759
760 <figure>
761 <artwork>
762 <![CDATA[
763 m=audio 54312 RTP/AVP 101
764 a=rtpmap:101 opus/48000/2
765 a=fmtp:101 stereo=1; sprop-stereo=1
766 ]]>
767 </artwork>
768 </figure>
769
770
Gregory Maxwell0c906072012-06-19 09:11:40 -0400771 <section title='Offer-Answer Model Considerations for Opus'>
772
773 <t>When using the offer-answer procedure described in <xref
774 target="RFC3264"/> to negotiate the use of Opus, the following
775 considerations apply:</t>
776
777 <t><list style="symbols">
778
779 <t>Opus supports several clock rates. For signaling purposes only
780 the highest, i.e. 48000, is used. The actual clock rate of the
781 corresponding media is signaled inside the payload and is not
782 subject to this payload format description. The decoder MUST be
783 capable to decode every received clock rate. An example
784 is shown below:
785
786 <figure>
787 <artwork>
788 <![CDATA[
Jean-Marc Valin57fa0562012-11-09 14:30:25 -0500789 m=audio 54312 RTP/AVP 100
790 a=rtpmap:100 opus/48000/2
Gregory Maxwell0c906072012-06-19 09:11:40 -0400791 ]]>
792 </artwork>
793 </figure>
794 </t>
795
Jean-Marc Valinacf06752012-11-22 17:10:50 -0500796 <t>The "ptime" and "maxptime" parameters are unidirectional
Gregory Maxwell0c906072012-06-19 09:11:40 -0400797 receive-only parameters and typically will not compromise
798 interoperability; however, dependent on the set values of the
799 parameters the performance of the application may suffer. <xref
800 target="RFC3264"/> defines the SDP offer-answer handling of the
801 "ptime" parameter. The "maxptime" parameter MUST be handled in the
802 same way.</t>
803
804 <t>
Jean-Marc Valinacf06752012-11-22 17:10:50 -0500805 The "minptime" parameter is a unidirectional
Gregory Maxwell0c906072012-06-19 09:11:40 -0400806 receive-only parameters and typically will not compromise
807 interoperability; however, dependent on the set values of the
808 parameter the performance of the application may suffer and should be
809 set with care.
810 </t>
811
812 <t>
Jean-Marc Valinacf06752012-11-22 17:10:50 -0500813 The "maxplaybackrate" parameter is a unidirectional receive-only
Gregory Maxwell0c906072012-06-19 09:11:40 -0400814 parameter that reflects limitations of the local receiver. The sender
815 of the other side SHOULD NOT send with an audio bandwidth higher than
Jean-Marc Valinf22af9c2012-11-12 15:44:52 -0500816 "maxplaybackrate" as this would lead to inefficient use of network resources.
817 The "maxplaybackrate" parameter does not
Gregory Maxwell0c906072012-06-19 09:11:40 -0400818 affect interoperability. Also, this parameter SHOULD NOT be used
819 to adjust the audio bandwidth as a function of the bitrates, as this
Philip Jägenstedt6d9c16d2012-09-27 13:28:32 +0200820 is the responsibility of the Opus encoder implementation.
Gregory Maxwell0c906072012-06-19 09:11:40 -0400821 </t>
822
Jean-Marc Valinacf06752012-11-22 17:10:50 -0500823 <t>The "maxaveragebitrate" parameter is a unidirectional receive-only
Gregory Maxwell0c906072012-06-19 09:11:40 -0400824 parameter that reflects limitations of the local receiver. The sender
825 of the other side MUST NOT send with an average bitrate higher than
826 "maxaveragebitrate" as it might overload the network and/or
Jean-Marc Valinacf06752012-11-22 17:10:50 -0500827 receiver. The "maxaveragebitrate" parameter typically will not
Gregory Maxwell0c906072012-06-19 09:11:40 -0400828 compromise interoperability; however, dependent on the set value of
829 the parameter the performance of the application may suffer and should
830 be set with care.</t>
831
Jean-Marc Valinb880e9b2012-11-22 17:25:22 -0500832 <t>The "sprop-maxcaptureerate" and "sprop-stereo" parameters are
Jean-Marc Valinacf06752012-11-22 17:10:50 -0500833 unidirectional sender-only parameters that reflect limitations of
834 the sender side.
Jean-Marc Valinb880e9b2012-11-22 17:25:22 -0500835 They allow the receiver to set up a reduced-complexity audio
836 processing pipeline if the sender is not planning to use the full
837 range of Opus's capabilities.
838 Neither "sprop-maxcaptureerate" nor "sprop-stereo" affect
Jean-Marc Valinacf06752012-11-22 17:10:50 -0500839 interoperability and the receiver MUST be capable of receiving any signal.
840 </t>
Gregory Maxwell0c906072012-06-19 09:11:40 -0400841
842 <t>
Jean-Marc Valin57fa0562012-11-09 14:30:25 -0500843 The "stereo" parameter is a unidirectional receive-only
Gregory Maxwell0c906072012-06-19 09:11:40 -0400844 parameter.
845 </t>
846
847 <t>
Jean-Marc Valin57fa0562012-11-09 14:30:25 -0500848 The "cbr" parameter is a unidirectional receive-only
Gregory Maxwell0c906072012-06-19 09:11:40 -0400849 parameter.
850 </t>
851
Jean-Marc Valin57fa0562012-11-09 14:30:25 -0500852 <t>The "useinbandfec" parameter is a unidirectional receive-only
Gregory Maxwell0c906072012-06-19 09:11:40 -0400853 parameter.</t>
854
Jean-Marc Valin57fa0562012-11-09 14:30:25 -0500855 <t>The "usedtx" parameter is a unidirectional receive-only
Gregory Maxwell0c906072012-06-19 09:11:40 -0400856 parameter.</t>
857
858 <t>Any unknown parameter in an offer MUST be ignored by the receiver
859 and MUST be removed from the answer.</t>
860
861 </list></t>
862 </section>
863
864 <section title='Declarative SDP Considerations for Opus'>
865
866 <t>For declarative use of SDP such as in Session Announcement Protocol
867 (SAP), <xref target="RFC2974"/>, and RTSP, <xref target="RFC2326"/>, for
868 Opus, the following needs to be considered:</t>
869
870 <t><list style="symbols">
871
Jean-Marc Valinf22af9c2012-11-12 15:44:52 -0500872 <t>The values for "maxptime", "ptime", "minptime", "maxplaybackrate", and
Gregory Maxwell0c906072012-06-19 09:11:40 -0400873 "maxaveragebitrate" should be selected carefully to ensure that a
874 reasonable performance can be achieved for the participants of a session.</t>
875
876 <t>
877 The values for "maxptime", "ptime", and "minptime" of the payload
878 format configuration are recommendations by the decoding side to ensure
879 the best performance for the decoder. The decoder MUST be
880 capable to accept any allowed packet sizes to
881 ensure maximum compatibility.
882 </t>
883
884 <t>All other parameters of the payload format configuration are declarative
885 and a participant MUST use the configurations that are provided for
886 the session. More than one configuration may be provided if necessary
887 by declaring multiple RTP payload types; however, the number of types
888 should be kept small.</t>
889 </list></t>
890 </section>
891 </section>
892 </section>
893
894 <section title='Security Considerations' anchor='security-considerations'>
895
896 <t>All RTP packets using the payload format defined in this specification
897 are subject to the general security considerations discussed in the RTP
898 specification <xref target="RFC3550"/> and any profile from
899 e.g. <xref target="RFC3711"/> or <xref target="RFC3551"/>.</t>
900
901 <t>This payload format transports Opus encoded speech or audio data,
902 hence, security issues include confidentiality, integrity protection, and
903 authentication of the speech or audio itself. The Opus payload format does
904 not have any built-in security mechanisms. Any suitable external
905 mechanisms, such as SRTP <xref target="RFC3711"/>, MAY be used.</t>
906
907 <t>This payload format and the Opus encoding do not exhibit any
908 significant non-uniformity in the receiver-end computational load and thus
909 are unlikely to pose a denial-of-service threat due to the receipt of
910 pathological datagrams.</t>
911 </section>
912
913 <section title='Acknowledgements'>
914 <t>TBD</t>
915 </section>
916 </middle>
917
918 <back>
919 <references title="Normative References">
920 &rfc2119;
921 &rfc3550;
922 &rfc3711;
923 &rfc3551;
924 &rfc4288;
925 &rfc4855;
926 &rfc4566;
927 &rfc3264;
928 &rfc2974;
929 &rfc2326;
Timothy B. Terriberry239e9a32012-11-21 18:48:09 -0800930 &rfc5576;
Jean-Marc Valinbdf87402012-07-11 15:54:55 -0400931 &rfc6562;
Jean-Marc Valinacf06752012-11-22 17:10:50 -0500932 &rfc6716;
Gregory Maxwell0c906072012-06-19 09:11:40 -0400933 </references>
934
Gregory Maxwell0c906072012-06-19 09:11:40 -0400935 </back>
936</rfc>