SMPTE standards now freely accessible to all media tech

June 25, 2026

1 minute read

SMPTE, the home of media professionals, technologists and engineers, has announced that its entire standards catalogue is now freely available to the global media technology community.

This includes all published SMPTE standards, recommended practices, engineering guidelines and registered disclosure documents (RDDs), as well as all future releases.

For more than a century, SMPTE standards have helped enable the interoperability that underpins the entertainment technology industry. By removing barriers to access, this milestone is expected to accelerate adoption and implementation, strengthen interoperability, and help drive the next generation of innovation.

“This was a decision we did not make lightly,” said SMPTE President Rich Welsh. “For 110 years, SMPTE has evolved alongside the media technology industry, helping to drive change and innovation — and we’re not stopping now.

“Our industry is confronting transformative shifts, from IP-based workflows to AI authenticity and content provenance, and we find ourselves at another inflection point.

“We listened to our members, partners and the global standards community, and the answer was clear: Interoperability is essential to the future of media. Now is the time to open the gates and ensure the next generation of media technology is built on a stronger, more accessible foundation.”

SMPTE’s move to an open-access standards library is part of a broader effort to modernise the organisation’s standards development and publication processes. Recent initiatives include adopting GitHub-based workflows for version control, issue tracking and automation; transitioning to structured HTML-based authoring; and implementing an integrated publishing pipeline that streamlines document creation, review, validation and release.

“We are thrilled to make SMPTE standards accessible to everyone,” said Raymond Yeung, SMPTE Standards Vice-President. “Opening access removes barriers to adoption and implementation while supporting greater transparency throughout the standards-development process.

“Combined with our modernisation efforts, this milestone enables SMPTE to respond more quickly to industry needs while maintaining the quality and rigour that our standards are known for.”