Internet Draft                                                 T. Hager
January 2003                                         Dolby Laboratories
Expires: June 2003                                             J. Flaks
                                                  Microsoft Corporation

                  RTP Payload Format for AC-3 Streams
                   <draft-flaks-avt-rtp-ac3-03.txt>


Status of this Memo

This document is an Internet-Draft and is in full conformance with all
provisions of Section 10 of RFC2026.

Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
Task Force (IETF), its areas, and its working groups.  Note that
other groups may also distribute working documents as
Internet-Drafts.

Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six
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"work in progress."

The list of current Internet-Drafts can be accessed at
http://www.ietf.org/ietf/1id-abstracts.txt

The list of Internet-Draft Shadow Directories can be accessed at
http://www.ietf.org/shadow.html.

The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
"SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMEDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
document are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119 [1].



Abstract

This document describes an RTP payload format for transporting AC-3
encoded audio data.  AC-3 is a high quality multichannel audio coding
system used in ATSC HDTV, DVD, film, and other media.  The RTP payload
format presented in this document provides mechanisms for interleaving
redundant data, which can increase packet loss resilience.  An
intelligent method for fragmenting AC-3 frames that exceed the maximum
transfer unit (MTU) is also described.




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0. Change Log for <draft-flaks-avt-rtp-ac3-03.txt>

This is the first draft submission with Todd Hager replacing Jason Flaks
as author. Most changes are editorial and are not detailed in this log.

The single technical change in this revision was made to the NDU field
described in 2.1.1. Previously, the NDU was designated as the high 4
bits of a byte with the low 4 bits marked as reserved.  Now the NDU is an
8-bit number so that no bit shifting is required to process it.









































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1. Introduction

AC-3 is a high quality audio codec designed to encode multiple channels
of audio into a low bit-rate format.  AC-3 achieves its large
compression ratios via encoding a multiplicity of channels as a single
entity.  Dolby Digital, which is a branded version of AC-3, encodes up
to 5.1 channels of audio.

AC-3 has been adopted as an audio compression scheme for many consumer
and professional applications.  It is the mandatory codec for DVD-video,
ATSC digital terrestrial television, laser disc, and DVD-audio (as an
optional multichannel audio format). AC-3 is also a common audio format
for film.

It is highly likely that people may wish to stream AC-3 data over IP
networks.  Applications for streaming AC-3 range from video on demand to
multichannel Internet radio.  RTP provides a mechanism for stream
synchronization and hence serves as the best transport solution for
AC-3, which is a codec primarily used in audio for video applications.
The RTP payload described in this document also provides a method of
ensuring a continuous high quality AC-3 stream.

1.1 Overview of AC-3

AC-3 can deliver up to 5.1 channels of audio at data rates approximately
equal to half of one PCM channel [2], [6], [7]. The ".1" refers to a
band limited optional low-frequency enhancement channel. AC-3 was
designed for signals sampled at rates of 32, 44.1, or 48 kHz. Data rates
can vary between 64 kbps and 640 kpbs depending the number of channels
and desired quality.

AC-3 exploits psychoacoustic phenomena that reveal large amounts of
inaudible information contained in a typical audio signal.  Substantial
data reduction occurs via the removal of all inaudible information
contained in an audio stream.  Source coding techniques are further used
to reduce the data used to code an audio signal.

Like most perceptual coders, AC-3 operates in the frequency domain.  A
512-point TDAC transform is taken with 50% overlap, providing 256 new
frequency samples.  Frequency samples are then converted to exponents
and mantissas.  Exponents are differentially encoded.  Mantissas are
allocated a varying number of bits depending on the audibility of the
spectral component associated with it. Audibility is determined via a
masking curve.  Bits for mantissas are allocated from a global bit pool.

1.2 AC-3 Bitstream

AC-3 bitstreams are organized into synchronization frames.  Each AC-3
sync frame contains a Sync Information (SI) field, a Bit Stream
Information (BSI) field, and 6 audio blocks (AB) representing 256 PCM

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samples for each channel.  The entire frame represents a time duration
of 1536 PCM samples across all coded channels (32 msec @ 48kHz sample
rate) [2]. Figure 1 shows the AC-3 frame format.


+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
|SI |BSI|  AB0  |  AB1  |  AB2  |  AB3  |  AB4  |  AB5  |AUX|CRC|
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

                    Figure 1. AC-3 Frame Format


The Synchronization Information field contains information needed to
acquire and maintain synchronization.  The Bit Stream Information field
contains parameters that describe the coded audio service [2].  Each
audio block also contains fields that determine the usage of block
switching, dither, dynamic range control, coupling, and exponent
strategy.  Figure 2 shows the format of an AC-3 audio block.


+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
|  Block  |Dither |Dynamic    |Coupling |Coupling     |Exponent |
|  switch |Flags  |Range Ctrl |Strategy |Coordinates  |Strategy |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
|     Exponents       | Bit Allocation  |        Mantissas      |
|                     | Parameters      |                       |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+


                  Figure 2. AC-3 Audio Block Format


2. RTP AC-3 Payload Format

According to [5] RTP payload formats should contain an integral number
of application data units (ADUs). In the context of audio compression
algorithms an ADU typically refers to a codec frame. In this case an ADU
shall be equivalent to an AC-3 sync frame.  Hence each RTP packet will
contain an integral number of AC-3 frames unless the AC-3 frame size
exceeds the maximum transfer unit (MTU) of the underlying network.

If a large AC-3 frame requires fragmentation before transmission
within an RTP packet, section 2.2 provides guidelines for creating
partial frames.

To compensate for the possibility of lost packets, each RTP packet
may contain redundant audio information in addition to, or instead of,
the primary AC-3 data payload. These redundant data may exactly
replace lost audio data in response to a request for retransmission.
Alternatively they may represent a constant delayed secondary stream

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of lower-quality, lower-bandwidth audio that a receiver may use as a
substitute for lost primary data. Section 2.3 describes the possible
types of redundant data in detail.


2.1 RTP Header Extension

2.1.1 Main Header Extension

The following header extension shall be at the front of every AC-3 RTP
payload.  The primary purpose of this main header is to indicate the
number of frames or fragments present in the packet.  The term "Data
Unit" is used to reference AC-3 data be they a full frame or a
fragment. Figure 3 shows the format of this header extension.

                        0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
                        +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
                        |      NDU      |
                        +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

              Figure 3. AC-3 RTP Payload Header Extension


Number of data units (NDU): An 8-bit field used to indicate the number
of AC-3 frames or fragments present in the RTP payload.


2.1.2 Data Unit Header Extension

The following header should be in front of each audio data unit (i.e.
AC-3 frame or fragment) present in the RTP packet.  The fields should
aid in handling redundant data and fragmented AC-3 frames.

                               0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
                               +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
                               |TYP|F|B| RDT |T|
                               +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

                       Figure 4. Audio Data Unit Header



Type field (TYP): This field is used to specify the type of data
associated with this header, which can be AC-3 data, AC-3 data plus
redundant data, or redundant data alone.  Table 1 shows the various
settings for each type of data.





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                                00 - AC-3 data
                                01 - AC-3 data + redundant data
                                10 - redundant data
                                11 - reserved

                            Table 1. TYP field values

Fragment bit (F): This bit is set to 1 if the corresponding data unit is
an AC-3 fragment. SHOULD THIS BIT BE SET IF TYP IS 01 or 10?

Block 0 Bit (B): This bit is set to 1 if the packet contains an AC-3
fragment consisting of the first 5/8ths of the frame, which is
guaranteed to contain blocks 0 and 1. If an AC-3 fragment is received
and the B bit is not set, and the previous fragment is lost, then the
frame is useless and can be discarded.  However if the first fragment is
received, and the later fragment is lost, block 1 can be repeated to
complete the frame.

Redundant Data field (RDT): This 3-bit field indicates the type of
redundant data associated with the frames.  The following table shows
the various settings for each type of redundant data.

            000 - Full frame/Lower bit rate
            001 - Full frame/Lower bit rate/Fewer channel
            010 - 5/8ths fragment
            011 - 3/8ths fragment
            100 - 5/8ths fragment/Lower bit rate
            101 - 3/8ths fragment/Lower bit rate
            110 - 5/8ths fragment/Lower bit rate/fewer channels
            111 - 3/8ths fragment/Lower bit rate/fewer channels

                       Table 2. RDT field values

Time Code Bit (T): This bit is set to 1 if the AC-3 data contains time
code.

Figure 5 shows how a full AC-3 RTP payload format should appear.













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0                   1
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
|       NDU     |TYP|F|B| RDT |T|  AC-3 Frame(1)                    |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+                 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
|                                                 | Redundant data  |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
|TYP|F|B| RDT |T|                  AC-3 Frame(2)                    |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+                                 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
|                                                 | Redundant data  |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
|TYP|F|B| RDT |T|                  AC-3 Frame(N)                    |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+                                 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
|                                                 | Redundant data  |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

                    Figure 5. Full AC-3 RTP payload



2.2 Fragmentation of AC-3 Frames

The size of AC-3 frames remain constant throughout an encode procedure
of a particular piece of audio, but the frame size can vary depending
upon the sample rate of the uncompressed audio, and the compression
rate applied by the encoder. According to table 5.13 in [2], AC-3
frame sizes range from a minimum of 128 bytes to a maximum of 3840
bytes.

AC-3 frame sizes may be large enough to require fragmentation before
transmission within an RTP packet. For example, an audio file sampled at
32 kHz and compressed with a desired bit rate of 640 kbps would produce
AC-3 frames of 3840 bytes each. This exceeds the standard 1500 byte MTU
of an Ethernet network and the 1492 byte MTU of the PPPoE protocol.  In
[3] it is specified that fragmentation should not be left to the IP
layer, but instead should be handled by the application itself.

AC-3 frames were designed to accommodate memory buffers smaller than an
entire AC-3 frame.  For this reason, each AC-3 frame contains two 16-bit
CRC words.  CRC1 is contained in the synchronization information (SI)
header located at the beginning of each AC-3 frame. CRC1 is the second
16-bit word of the frame.  Figure 6 shows the structure of the SI
header.








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0                   1                   2                   3
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
|          SYNC WORD            |             CRC1            |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
|FSC|FRMSIZECD  |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

            Figure 6. Synchronization Information header



CRC2 is the last 16-bit word of an AC-3 frame as shown in Figure 1.
CRC1 applies to the first 5/8ths of the frame excluding the sync word.
CRC2 covers the remaining 3/8ths of the frame as well as the entire
frame (excluding the sync word).

All AC-3 encoders enforce specific block size restrictions that
guarantee blocks 0 and 1 are completely covered by CRC1 [2]. Ensuring
that blocks 0 and 1 are in the first 5/8ths of the frame is necessary
because block 0 contains information that is shared with the remaining 5
blocks.  The dual CRC allows decoders to immediately begin processing
block 0 when the 5/8ths point is reached.

This 5/8ths split in all AC-3 frames, which was intended for the
possibility of smaller input buffers (assuming a guaranteed transport
stream such as S/PDIF), provides a very logical fragmentation unit.
Using the 5/8ths point provides two possible gains over arbitrary
fragmentation:

        1) Using 5/8ths fragmentation, if the second fragment is
           dropped, the first fragment can still be decoded by an AC-3
           decoder.  Block 1 will be repeated in place of any missing
           blocks lost in the second fragment.

        2) In closed networks with no QoS problems, it may be possible
           to use smaller buffers, as was intended in the original
           design of the 5/8ths split.

In [2] the 5/8ths point is defined as:

        5/8-framesize = truncate(framesize/2) + truncate(framesize/8)

According to table 7.34 in [2], 5/8ths frame sizes can range from 80
bytes to 2400 bytes.  Hence there are still instances where the 5/8ths
boundary may exceed the MTU of the underlying network.  In an Ethernet
network this would be rare because the majority of AC-3 data publicly
available is sampled at 48kHz and is encoded at a data rate of 384kbps
or 448kbps.  This provides a 5/8thspoint of 960 bytes and 1120 bytes
respectively, which would be less then the MTU of a typical Ethernet

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network.  In the rare instances where even the 5/8ths point exceeds the
MTU, AC-3 frames should be arbitrarily fragmented to a length that is
less the MTU.

It should be noted that using 5/8ths fragmentation in terms of smaller
buffer sizes is only useful in networks where the inter-arrival jitter
is less than the time needed to decode Blocks 0 and 1 of the AC-3 stream
and play the uncompressed audio.

        JitterLimit = DecodeTime(Block 0 & 1) + 2 * (256/Fs),
        where Fs is the sample rate of the uncompressed audio


2.3 Data Resiliency

This section provides information on how to encapsulate redundant data
into an RTP payload to ensure the reception of all the AC-3 data being
sent.  There are several types of redundant data that can be sent, which
are defined in section 2.1.2 and specified for each data unit in the
data unit header.  The various types of redundant data are further
discussed in the following sections.

As a general rule redundant data of any type should never repeat primary
audio information from the same RTP payload.


2.3.1 Lower Bit Rate Data

Transmitting redundant AC-3 frames encoded at a lower data rate (and
thus quality) than the primary AC-3 audio is an obvious means of
enhancing data resiliency. This approach allows the AC-3 decoder to
decode the lower quality frame if the packet containing the high-quality
audio is dropped, lost, or arrives with errors. However, the lower
quality data may still require an undesirably large amount of bandwidth.
Also, the redundant data can be extremely low quality, especially in
cases where large numbers of channels are being transmitted. Retaining
the original number of channels at a low data rate may result in sound
quality that is subjectively unpleasant to listen to. Rather than simply
lower the quality of all channels to achieve resuced bandwidth, a more
desirable approach may be to mix the multiple channels down into stereo
and encode the resulting two-channel audio into lower bit-rate, but
subjectively more listenable, AC-3 data.

2.3.2 Lower Bit Rate Data with Fewer Channels

When encoding multichannel audio, a secondary two-channel version of the
audio can also be encoded at a lower bit rate.  Since the audio is
reduced to two channels, it is still possible to maintain high quality
even at a lower bit rate.  The lower bit-rate two-channel version can be
interleaved with the multichannel audio, and when a packet is lost or

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corrupted the two-channel version can be used in its place.


2.3.3 5/8ths and 3/8ths Fragment

Another method of sending redundant data might include fragmentation of
packets at the 5/8ths split and interleaving fragments from previous
frames.  This ensures that all data is sent twice, which decreases the
likelihood of lost data.

         +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
RTP(X):  |    AC-3 5/8ths Fragment(n)|     AC-3 3/8ths Fragment(n-1) |
         +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

         +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
RTP(X+1) |    AC-3 3/8ths Fragment(n)|     AC-3 5/8ths Fragment(n)   |
         +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+


                 Figure 7. 5/8ths รป 3/8ths Interleaving



In addition it is possible that one may wish to only send the 5/8ths
fragment as redundant data.  Since the 5/8ths fragment can be decoded on
its own, it would allow for redundant data at a lower overall bit rate.
However because block repeats are used when only the first 5/8ths is
present, the quality would be significantly reduced if the redundant
data was to be used.

         +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
RTP(X):  |    AC-3 Frame(n)          |     AC-3 5/8ths Fragment(n-1) |
         +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

         +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
RTP(X+1) |    AC-3 Frame(n+1)        |     AC-3 5/8ths Fragment(n)   |
         +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

                     Figure 8. Redundant 5/8ths Data



2.3.4 5/8ths Fragment Lower Bit Rate

Following the methods listed in the previous section, it may also be
beneficial to send the redundant fragments at a lower bit rate. Ideally
a lower bit rate version of the previous frames 5/8ths fragment could be
sent along, which would provide for a very low bit rate redundant data
channel.


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2.3.5 5/8ths and 3/8ths Fragment Lower Bit Rate and Fewer Channels

Combining the methods from 2.3.2 and 2.3.3 a version of the 5/8ths
fragment that is lower in bit rate and is composed of fewer channels may
be sent as redundant data.  This provides and opportunity for low bit
rate redundant data that has fewer channels but less quality
degradation.


3 RTP header fields

Payload Type (PT): It is expected that the RTP profile for a particular
class of applications will assign a payload type for this encoding, or
alternatively a payload type in the dynamic range [96,127] shall be
chosen.

Marker (M) bit:  The M bit is set for last fragment of an AC-3 frame.

In instances where one or more full AC-3 frames is encapsulated in an
RTP packet the M bit will be set and the full frame itself will be
considered the last fragment.

Extension (X) bit: Defined by the RTP profile used.

Timestamp: A 32-bit word that corresponds to the sampling instant for
the first AC-3 frame in an RTP packet.  AC-3 encodes data sampled at 32
kHz, 44.1 kHz, and 48 kHz.  Fragmented frames shall maintain the same
time stamp until the last fragment is sent.  The starting timestamp is
selected at random.


4 Types and Names

4.1 MIME type registration

MIME media type name:                   audio

MIME subtype name:                      ac3

Required parameters:
        Rate: Equal to the RTP timestamp clock rate for the particular
        AC-3 stream of a given RTP session.  In the case on a single
        frame per a packet, and the AC-3 stream was encoded at 48Khz at
        a bit rate of 384 kbps the rate parameter would equal 32
        milliseconds.

        In the case of interleaving the 5/8ths and 3/8ths fragments
        assuming the AC-3 file was encoded again at 48Khz with a bit
        rate of 384 kbps the clock rate would need to be one half of 32
        milliseconds or 16 milliseconds.

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Optional parameters:
        Channels: How many channels are present in the AC3 stream.
        This will be a number between 1 and 6.

        Ptime: The length of time in milliseconds represented by the
        AC-3 frame(s) in the packet.

        Maxptime: The maximum amount of media which can be encapsulated
        in each RTP packet, expressed as time in milliseconds

Encoding considerations:
The AC-3 bitstream shall be generated according to the AC-3
specification [2].  This bitstream is binary data and MUST be encoded
for non-binary transport (for Email or any transport that cannot
accommodate binary directly, the Base64 encoding is sufficient). This
type is also defined for transfer via RTP.  All RTP packets MUST be
packetized using the RTP payload format described in this document.

Security considerations:                        see section 5 of this
                                                document

Interoperability considerations:                none

Published specification:                        see [2]

Applications:
Multichannel audio compression for audio and audio for video

Additional Information:                 none

Magic number(s):                        none
File extension(s):                      .ac3
Macintosh File Type Code(s):            none
Object Identifier(s) or OID(s):         none

Person & email address to contact for further information:
   Todd Hager <thh@dolby.com>
   IETF AVT working group.

Intended Usage:                         COMMON

Author/Change controller:            Author: Todd Hager <thh@dolby.com>
                                             Jason Flaks
                                     Change Controller: IETF AVT WG







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4.2 SDP usage

The encoding name when using SDP [3] SHALL be "ac3" (MIME subtype). An
example of the media representation in SDP is given below.

m = audio 49000 RTP/AVP 100
a = rtpmap:100 ac3/48000
a = fmtp:100 number-channels=[1-6]


5. Security considerations

In order to protect copyrighted material, certain security precautions
may be necessary.  The payload format described in this document is
subject to the security considerations defined in [4]. The security
considerations discussed in [4] imply the usage of encryption to protect
the confidentiality of content.  Such an encryption scheme is harmless
to the encoded audio data presuming the data is decrypted before being
sent to the decoder.


6. Normative References

[1] Bradner, S., "Key Words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement
Levels", RFC 2119, Internet Engineering Task Force, March 1997.

[2] U.S. Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC), "Digital Audio
Compression (AC-3) Standard," Doc A/52, December 1995.

[3] Handley, M. and Jacobson, V., "SDP: Session Description Protocol,"
RFC 2327, Internet Engineering Task Force, April 1998

[4] Schulzrinne, Casner, Frederick, and Jacobson, "RTP: A Transport
Protocol for Real-Time Applications," RFC 1889, Internet Engineering
Task Force, February 1996.

[5] Handley, M. and Perkins, C., "Guidelines for Writers of RTP Payload
Format Specifications," RFC 2736, Internet Engineering Task Force,
December 1999.


7. Informative References

[6] Todd, C. et. al, "AC-3: Flexible Perceptual Coding for Audio
Transmission and Storage," Preprint 3796, Presented at the 96th
Convention of the Audio Engineering Society, May 1994.

[7] Fielder, L. et. al, "AC-2 and AC-3: Low-Complexity Transform-Based
Audio Coding," Collected Papers on Digital Audio Bit-Rate Reduction,
pp. 54-72, Audio Engineering Society, September 1996.

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8. Authors' Addresses

Todd Hager
Dolby Laboratories
100 Potrero Ave
San Francisco, CA 94103

Phone: +1 415 558 0136
Email: thh@dolby.com

Jason Flaks
Microsoft Corporation
1 Microsoft Way
Redmond, WA 98052

Phone: +1 425 722 2543
Email: jasonfl@microsoft.com