Book excerpt: As the professional film and television industries move away from conventional media and toward computer-based technology, file formats have become a key enabling technology. Users are aware that they need to move to networked teleproduction, and they are aware that various file formats are available, but they don't have a clear understanding of their advantages and disadvantages (Should I use Windows Media 9 or QuickTime?). For example, as many versions of one movie are needed (subtitle, TV or Airplane)a master file is now created with metadata controling which features (subtitles, editing) are needed. This book is the authoritative work on all professional file formats for film and television, globally. Covers all major professional file formats, including the Digital Picture Exchange (DPX), General eXchange Format (GXF), Material eXchange Format (MXF), Advanced Authoring Format (AAF), QuickTime and Windows Media-in most cases by the lead author of the format.