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The NHNT format has been developed during the MPEG-4 Systems implementation phase, as a way to easily mux unknown media formats to an MP4 file or an MPEG-4 multiplex. The goal was to have the media encoder produce a description of the media time fragmentation (access units and timestamps) that could be reused by a media-unaware MPEG-4 multiplexer.

A NHNT source is composed of 2 or 3 parts:

• the media file: This file contains all the media data as written by the encoder. The file extension must be .media.
• the NHNT (meta) file: This file contains all the information needed by the MPEG-4 multiplexer to use the media data. The file extension must be .nhnt.
• the decoder initialization file: If the media format requires decoder configuration data (MPEG-4 Visual, AAC, AVC/H264, ...), the binary data is put in this third file in order for the MPEG-4 multiplexer to correctly signal decoder configuration. This is required by the fact that in MPEG-4 Systems, configuration data is never sent in-band of the media stream, but through the object descriptor stream. The file extension must be .info.

A NHNT file is made of a header, and a set of access units descriptors. All integers are written in network-byte order.

char Signature[4];
bit(8) version;
bit(8) streamType;
bit(8) objectTypeIndication;
bit(16) reserved = 0;
bit(24) bufferSizeDB;
bit(32) avgBitRate;
bit(32) maxBitRate;
bit(32) timeStampResolution;

• Signature : identifies the file as an NHNT file. The signature must be 'NHnt' or 'NHnl' for large files (using 64 bits offsets and timestamps).
• version : identifies the NHNT version used to produce the file. Default version is 0.
• streamType : identifies the media streamType as specified in MPEG-4 (0x04: Visual, 0x05: audio, ...). Officially supported stream types are listed here.
• objectTypeIndication : identifies the media type as specified in MPEG-4. For example, 0x40 for MPEG-4 AAC. Officially supported object types are listed here.
• bufferSizeDB : indicates the size of the decoding buffer for this stream in byte.
• avgBitRate : indicates the average bitrate in bits per second of this elementary stream. For streams with variable bitrate this value shall be set to zero.
• maxBitRate : indicates the maximum bitrate in bits per second of this elementary stream in any time window of one second duration.
• timeStampResolution : indicates the unit in which the media timestamps are expressed in the file (timeStampResolution ticks = 1 second).

After the header, the file is just a succession of access unit (sample) info until the end of the file.

bit(24) data_size;
bit(1) random_access_point;
bit(1) au_start_flag;
bit(1) au_end_flag;
bit(3) reserved = 0;
bit(2) frame_type;
bit(32) file_offset;
bit(32) compositionTimeStamp;
bit(32) decodingTimeStamp;

bit(24) data_size;
bit(1) random_access_point;
bit(1) au_start_flag;
bit(1) au_end_flag;
bit(3) reserved = 0;
bit(2) frame_type;
bit(64) file_offset;
bit(64) compositionTimeStamp;
bit(64) decodingTimeStamp;

• data_size : indicates the amount of data to fetch from the source file for this access unit.
• random_access_point : indicates if the access unit is a random access point.
• au_start_flag : indicates if this is the start of an access unit or not.
• au_end_flag : indicates if this is the end of an access unit or not.
• frame_type : Used for bidirectional video coding sources only, 0 otherwise.
  • frame_type=2: access unit is a B-frame
  • frame_type=1: access unit is a P-frame
  • frame_type=0: access unit is an I-frame
• file_offset : indicates the position in the source file of the first byte to fetch for this data chunk.
• compositionTimeStamp : indicates the composition (presentation) time stamp of this access unit.
• decodingTimeStamp : indicates the decoding time stamp of this access unit.

Note : Samples must be described in decoding order in the nhnt file when using sample fragmentation. Otherwise, sample may be described out of order.