This Recommendation | International Standard specifies the system layer of the coding. It was developed principally to
support the combination of the video and audio coding methods defined in Parts 2 and 3 of ISO/IEC 13818. The system
layer supports six basic functions:
1) the synchronization of multiple compressed streams on decoding;
2) the interleaving of multiple compressed streams into a single stream;
3) the initialization of buffering for decoding start up;
4) continuous buffer management;
5) time identification;
6) multiplexing and signalling of various components in a system stream.
An ITU-T Rec. H.222.0 | ISO/IEC 13818-1 multiplexed bit stream is either a Transport Stream or a Program
Stream. Both streams are constructed from PES packets and packets containing other necessary information. Both
stream types support multiplexing of video and audio compressed streams from one program with a common time base.
The Transport Stream additionally supports the multiplexing of video and audio compressed streams from multiple
programs with independent time bases. For almost error-free environments the Program Stream is generally more
appropriate, supporting software processing of program information. The Transport Stream is more suitable for use in
environments where errors are likely.
An ITU-T Rec. H.222.0 | ISO/IEC 13818-1 multiplexed bit stream, whether a Transport Stream or a Program Stream, is
constructed in two layers: the outermost layer is the system layer, and the innermost is the compression layer. The
system layer provides the functions necessary for using one or more compressed data streams in a system. The video
and audio parts of this Specification define the compression coding layer for audio and video data. Coding of other
types of data is not defined by this Specification, but is supported by the system layer provided that the other types of
data adhere to the constraints defined in 2.7.
ISO/IEC 13818-1:2007 history
2023ISO/IEC 13818-1:2022/Cor 1:2023 Information technology — Generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information — Part 1: Systems — Technical Corrigendum 1: Adding missing field compatibleProfileSetsPresent
2023ISO/IEC 13818-1:2023 Information technology — Generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information — Part 1: Systems
2022ISO/IEC 13818-1:2022 Information technology - Generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information - Part 1: Systems
2020ISO/IEC 13818-1:2019/Cor 1:2020 Information technology — Generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information — Part 1: Systems — Technical Corrigendum 1
2019ISO/IEC 13818-1:2019 Information technology — Generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information — Part 1: Systems
2018ISO/IEC 13818-1:2018/Amd 1:2018 Amendment 1 - Information technology - Generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information - Part 1: Systems - Ultra-low latency and 4k and higher resolution support for transport of JP
2018ISO/IEC 13818-1:2018 Information technology — Generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information — Part 1: Systems
2017ISO/IEC 13818-1:2015/Cor 2:2017 Information technology - Generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information - Part 1: Systems; Technical Corrigendum 2
2017ISO/IEC 13818-1:2015/Amd 3:2016/Cor 1:2017 Information technology - Generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information - Part 1: Systems Amendment 3: Carriage of green metadata in MPEG-2 systems - Technical Corrigendum 1: Syntax correction for the green extension descriptor; Techni
2016ISO/IEC 13818-1:2015/Amd 6:2016 Amendment 6 - Information technology - Generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information - Part 1: Systems - Carriage of Quality Metadata in MPEG-2 Systems
2016ISO/IEC 13818-1:2015/Amd 5:2016 Amendment 5 - Information technology - Generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information - Part 1: Systems - Carriage of MPEGH 3D audio over MPEG2 systems
2016ISO/IEC 13818-1:2015/Amd 4:2016 Amendment 4 - Information technology - Generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information - Part 1: Systems - New profiles and levels for MPEG4 audio descriptor
2016ISO/IEC 13818-1:2015/Amd 3:2016 Information technology — Generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information — Part 1: Systems — Amendment 3: Carriage of green metadata in MPEG2 systems
2016ISO/IEC 13818-1:2015/Amd 2:2016 Information technology — Generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information — Part 1: Systems — Amendment 2: Carriage of layered HEVC
2016ISO/IEC 13818-1:2015/Cor 1:2016 Information technology - Generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information - Part 1: Systems; Technical Corrigendum 1
2015ISO/IEC 13818-1:2015 Information technology - Generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information - Part 1: Systems
2014ISO/IEC 13818-1:2013/Amd 4:2014 Information technology - Generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information - Part 1: Systems - Amendment 4: Support for event signalling in Transport Stream in MPEG-2 systems
2014ISO/IEC 13818-1:2013/Amd 2:2014 Amendment 2 - Information technology -- Generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information -- Part 1: Systems - Signalling of transport files, signalling MVC view association to eye an
2014ISO/IEC 13818-1:2013/Amd 1:2014 Information technology - Generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information - Part 1: Systems - Amendment 1: Extensions for simplified carriage of MPEG-4 over MPEG-2
2013ISO/IEC 13818-1:2013 Information technology - Generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information: Systems
2011ISO/IEC 13818-1:2007/Amd 6:2011 Information technology — Generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information: Systems — Part 1: — Amendment 6: Extension to AVC video descriptor and signalling of operation points for M
2011ISO/IEC 13818-1:2007/Amd 5:2011 Information technology - Generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information - Part 1: Systems - Amendment 5: Transport of JPEG 2000 Part 1 (ITU-T Rec T.800/ISO/IEC 15444-1) video over ITU-T Rec H.222.0/ISO/IEC 13818-1
2011ISO/IEC 13818-1:2007/Cor 3:2011 Information technology - Generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information - Part 1: Systems - Technical Corrigendum 3: Corrections concerning VBV buffer size, semantics of splice type and removal rate from transport buffer for ITU-T H.26
2009ISO/IEC 13818-1:2007/Amd 3:2009/Cor 1:2011 Information technology - Generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information: Systems - Amendment 3: Transport of Scalable Video
2009ISO/IEC 13818-1:2007/Amd 4:2009 Information technology - Generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information: Systems - Amendment 4: Transport of Multiview Video
2009ISO/IEC 13818-1:2007/Amd 3:2009 Information technology — Generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information: Systems — Part 1: — Amendment 3: Transport of scalable video over Rec. ITU-T H.222.0 | ISO/IEC 13818-1
2009ISO/IEC 13818-1:2007/Cor 2:2009 Information technology - Generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information: Systems; Technical Corrigendum 2
2008ISO/IEC 13818-1:2007/Amd 2:2008 Information technology - Generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information: Systems; Amendment 2: Carriage of auxiliary video streams
2008ISO/IEC 13818-1:2007/Cor 1:2008 Information technology - Generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information: Systems; Technical Corrigendum 1
2007ISO/IEC 13818-1:2000/Cor 4:2007 Information technology - Generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information: Systems; Technical Corrigendum 4
2007ISO/IEC 13818-1:2007/Amd 1:2007 Information technology - Generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information: Systems - Amendment 1: Transport of MPEG-4 streaming text and MPEG-4 lossless audio over MPEG-2 systems
2007ISO/IEC 13818-1:2007 Information technology - Generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information - Part 1: Systems
2005ISO/IEC 13818-1:2000/Amd 5:2005 Information technology - Generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information: Systems; Amendment 5: New audio profile and level signalling and change to audio type table entry
2005ISO/IEC 13818-1:2000/Amd 4:2005 Information technology - Generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information: Systems; Amendment 4: ISAN and V-ISAN use in the content labeling descriptor
2005ISO/IEC 13818-1:2000/Cor 3:2005 Information technology - Generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information: Systems; Technical Corrigendum 3
2004ISO/IEC 13818-1:2000/Amd 3:2004 Information technology — Generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information: Systems — Part 1: — Amendment 3: Transport of AVC video data over ITU-T Rec H.222.0 | ISO/IEC 13818-1 strea
2004ISO/IEC 13818-1:2000/Amd 2:2004 Information technology - Generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information: Systems; Amendment 2: Support of IPMP on MPEG-2 systems
2003ISO/IEC 13818-1:2000/Amd 1:2003 Information technology - Generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information: Systems; Amendment 1: Carriage of metadata over ITU-T Rec. H.222.0 / ISO/IEC 13818-1 streams
2002ISO/IEC 13818-1:2000/Cor 2:2002 Information technology - Generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information: Systems; Technical Corrigendum 2
2002ISO/IEC 13818-1:2000/Cor 1:2002 Information technology - Generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information: Systems; Technical Corrigendum 1
2000ISO/IEC 13818-1:1996/Amd 6:2000 Information technology — Generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information: Systems — Amendment 6
2000ISO/IEC 13818-1:1996/Amd 5:2000 Information technology — Generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information: Systems — Amendment 5
2000ISO/IEC 13818-1:2000 Information technology - Generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information: Systems
1999ISO/IEC 13818-1:1996/Cor 1:1999 Information technology — Generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information: Systems — Technical Corrigendum 1
1998ISO/IEC 13818-1:1996/Amd 4:1998 Information technology — Generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information: Systems — Amendment 4
1998ISO/IEC 13818-1:1996/Amd 3:1998 Information technology — Generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information: Systems — Amendment 3: Private data identification
1997ISO/IEC 13818-1:1996/Amd 2:1997 Information technology — Generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information: Systems — Amendment 2: Registration procedure for "format identifier"
1997ISO/IEC 13818-1:1996/Amd 1:1997 Information technology — Generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information: Systems — Amendment 1: Procedure for "copyright identifier"
1996ISO/IEC 13818-1:1996 Information technology — Generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information: Systems