INTERNATIONAL IEC

STANDARD 61937-8
First edition
2006-10

Digital Audio –
Interface for non-linear PCM encoded
audio bitstreams applying IEC 60958 –
Part 8:
Non-linear PCM bitstreams according to the
Windows Media Audio (WMA) Professional format

Reference number
IEC 61937-8:2006(E)
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INTERNATIONAL IEC
STANDARD 61937-8
First edition
2006-10

Digital Audio –
Interface for non-linear PCM encoded
audio bitstreams applying IEC 60958 –
Part 8:
Non-linear PCM bitstreams according to the
Windows Media Audio (WMA) Professional format

© IEC 2006 ⎯ Copyright - all rights reserved

No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including photocopying and microfilm, without permission in writing from the publisher.

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Telephone: +41 22 919 02 11 Telefax: +41 22 919 03 00 E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.iec.ch

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For price, see current catalogue
 –2– 61937-8 © IEC:2006(E)

CONTENTS
FOREWORD...........................................................................................................................3

1 Scope ...............................................................................................................................5
2 Normative references .......................................................................................................5
3 Terms, definitions and abbreviations ................................................................................5
3.1 Terms and definitions ..............................................................................................5
3.2 Abbreviations ..........................................................................................................5
3.3 Presentation convention ..........................................................................................5
4 Mapping of the audio bitstream on to IEC 61937 ..............................................................6
4.1 General ...................................................................................................................6
4.2 Windows Media Audio Professional burst-info .........................................................6
5 Format of WMA Professional data-burst ...........................................................................6
5.1 General ...................................................................................................................6
5.2 Pause data-burst .....................................................................................................7
5.3 Audio data-bursts ....................................................................................................7

Bibliography.......................................................................................................................... 13

Figure 1 – Windows Media Audio Professional type I data-burst .............................................7

Figure 2 – Latency of WMA Professional type I decoding ........................................................8
Figure 3 – Windows Media Audio Professional type II data-burst ............................................8
Figure 4 – Latency of WMA Professional type II decoding .......................................................9
Figure 5 – Windows Media Audio Professional type III data-burst ......................................... 10
Figure 6 – Latency of WMA Professional type III decoding .................................................... 10
Figure 7 – Windows Media Audio Professional type IV data-burst ......................................... 11
Figure 8 – Latency of WMA Professional type IV decoding.................................................... 11

Table 1 – Fields of burst-info ..................................................................................................6

Table 2 – Repetition period of Pause data-bursts ....................................................................7
Table 3 – Data-type-dependent when data-type = 18 and sub-type = 0 ...................................7
Table 4 – Data-type-dependent when data-type = 18 and sub-type = 1 ...................................9
Table 5 – Data-type-dependent when data-type = 18 and sub-type = 2 ................................. 10
Table 6 – Data-type-dependent when data-type = 18 and sub-type = 3 ................................. 11
61937-8 © IEC:2006(E) –3–

INTERNATIONAL ELECTROTECHNICAL COMMISSION

____________

DIGITAL AUDIO –
INTERFACE FOR NON-LINEAR PCM ENCODED
AUDIO BITSTREAMS APPLYING IEC 60958

Part-8: Non-linear PCM bitstreams according to

the Windows Media Audio (WMA) Professional format

FOREWORD
1) The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is a worldwide organization for standardization comprising
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8) Attention is drawn to the Normative references cited in this publication. Use of the referenced publications is
indispensable for the correct application of this publication.
9) Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this IEC Publication may be the subject of
patent rights. IEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.

International Standard IEC 61937-8 has been prepared by Technical Area 4: Digital system
interfaces, of IEC technical committee 100: Audio, video and multimedia systems and
equipment.

The text of this standard is based on the following documents:

CDV Report on voting

100/1018A/CDV 100/1095/RVC

Full information on the voting for the approval of this standard can be found in the report on
voting indicated in the above table.

This publication has been drafted in accordance with the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2.
 –4– 61937-8 © IEC:2006(E)

The list of all the parts of the IEC 61937 series, under the general title Digital audio –
Interface for non-linear PCM encoded audio bitstreams applying IEC 60958, can be found on
the IEC website.

The committee has decided that the contents of this publication will remain unchanged until
the maintenance result date indicated on the IEC web site under "http://webstore.iec.ch" in
the data related to the specific publication. At this date, the publication will be

• reconfirmed,
• withdrawn,
• replaced by a revised edition, or
• amended.

A bilingual version of this publication may be issued at a later date.

61937-8 © IEC:2006(E) –5–

DIGITAL AUDIO –
INTERFACE FOR NON-LINEAR PCM ENCODED
AUDIO BITSTREAMS APPLYING IEC 60958

Part-8: Non-linear PCM bitstreams according to

the Windows Media Audio (WMA) Professional format

1 Scope

This part of IEC 61937 specifies the method for the digital audio interface specified in
IEC 60958 to convey non-linear PCM bitstreams encoded in accordance with the WMA
Professional format.

2 Normative references

The following referenced documents are indispensable for the application of this document.
For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references, the latest edition
of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.

IEC 60958 (all parts), Digital audio interface

IEC 61937-1, Digital audio – Interface for non-linear PCM encoded audio bitstreams applying
IEC 60958 – Part 1: General

IEC 61937-2, Digital audio – Interface for non-linear PCM encoded audio bitstreams applying
IEC 60958 – Part 2: Burst-info

3 Terms, definitions and abbreviations

For the purposes of this document, the following terms, definitions, abbreviations and
presentation convention apply.

3.1 Terms and definitions

3.1.1
latency
delay time of an external audio decoder to decode a WMA Professional data burst, defined as
the sum of two values of the receiving delay time and the decoding delay time

3.2 Abbreviations

ATSC Advanced Television Systems Committee

MPEG The Moving Pictures Expert Group, a joint committee of ISO and IEC
ITU-R International Telecommunication Union, Radio communication Bureau

WMA Windows Media Audio

3.3 Presentation convention

F872h
Value ‘F872’ in hexadecimal format
 –6– 61937-8 © IEC:2006(E)

4 Mapping of the audio bitstream on to IEC 61937

4.1 General

The coding of the bitstream and data-burst shall be in accordance with IEC 61937-1.

4.2 Windows Media Audio Professional burst-info

The 16-bit burst-info contains information about the data that will be found in the data-burst in
accordance with Table 1.

Table 1 – Fields of burst-info

Reference Repetition period of

Bits of Pc Value Contents point R data-burst in
IEC 60958 frames

0–4 Data-type

0-17 According to IEC 61937-2

18 WMA Professional Subtype dependent Subtype dependent

19-31 According to IEC 61937-2

5–6 Data subtype

0 WMA Professional – Type I Bit 0 of Pa a 2 048

1 WMA Professional – Type II Bit 0 of Pa 2 048

2 WMA Professional – Type III Bit 0 of Pa 1 024

3 WMA Professional – Type IV Bit 0 of Pa 512

7 – 15 According to IEC 61937-2

a
The reference point for a WMA Professional Type I stream is bit 0 of Pa of the first of a payload pair.

5 Format of WMA Professional data-burst

5.1 General

This clause specifies the audio data-burst for WMA Professional. Specific properties such as
reference points, repetition period, the method of filling stream gaps, and decoding latency
are specified for each data-type.

The decoding latency (or delay), indicated for the data-types, should be used by the
transmitter to schedule data-bursts as necessary to establish synchronization between picture
and decoded audio.
61937-8 © IEC:2006(E) –7–

5.2 Pause data-burst

Pause data-burst for WMA Professional Types I, II, III, and IV are given in Table 2.

Table 2 – Repetition period of Pause data-bursts

Repetition period of Pause data-burst
Data-type of Audio data-burst
Mandatory Recommended
Windows Media Audio Professional – Type I - 3 IEC 60958 frames

Windows Media Audio Professional – Type II - 3 IEC 60958 frames

Windows Media Audio Professional – Type III - 3 IEC 60958 frames

Windows Media Audio Professional – Type IV - 3 IEC 60958 frames

5.3 Audio data-bursts

5.3.1 The data-burst for WMA Professional Type I

WMA Professional Type I is primarily intended for use at sample rates above 48 kHz (for
example, 88,2 kHz or 96 kHz). The IEC 60958 link should be operated at the sample rate of
the decoded audio.

The WMA Professional bitstream consists of a sequence of WMA Professional frames. The
data-type of a WMA Professional Type I data-burst is 12 h and the subtype is 0 h. A WMA
Professional Type I frame represents 4 096 samples of each encoded audio channel (left,
centre, etc.) transmitted in two sequential data-bursts. The data-burst is headed with a burst-
preamble, followed by the burst-payload. The burst-payload of each pair of data-bursts of
WMA Professional Type I data shall contain one complete WMA Professional frame. The
length of the WMA Professional data-burst will depend on the encoded bit rate (which
determines the WMA Professional frame length).

IEC 1986/06

Figure 1 – Windows Media Audio Professional Type I data-burst

The data-type-dependent info for WMA Professional is given in Table 3.

Table 3 – Data-type-dependent when data-type = 18 and subtype = 0

Bits of Pc Data type dependent, Contents

bit number
LSB..MSB LSB..MSB

8-12 0-4 Reserved, shall be set to ‘00’

The data-bursts containing WMA Professional Type I frames shall occur at a regular rate, with
the reference point of each WMA Professional frame (bit 0 of Pa of the first of the pair of data-
bursts) beginning (except in the case of a gap) 4 096 sampling periods of the audio after the
reference point of the preceding WMA Professional frame (of the same bit-stream-number).
 –8– 61937-8 © IEC:2006(E)

5.3.2 Latency of WMA Professional Type I decoding

The latency of an audio decoder to decode a Windows Media Audio Professional data-burst is
defined as two Windows Media Audio Professional frames, plus a decoding delay of two-thirds
of a Windows Media Audio Professional frame. This corresponds to a latency of 123,84 ms at
88,2 kHz and 113,77 ms at 96 kHz sampling frequency, where the maximum frame size is
4 096 samples per frame.

IEC 1987/06

Figure 2 – Latency of WMA Professional Type I decoding

It is recommended that Pause data-bursts are used to fill stream gaps in the WMA
Professional bit-stream as described in IEC 61937-1, and that Pause data-bursts be
transmitted with a repetition period of three sampling periods of the audio, except when other
repetition periods are necessary to fill the precise stream gap length (which may not be a
multiple of three sampling periods of the audio), or to meet the requirement on burst spacing
(see IEC 61937-1, 6.3.3).

When a stream gap in a WMA Professional Type I stream is filled by a sequence of Pause
data-bursts, the Pa of the first Pause data-burst shall be located 2 048 sampling periods
following the Pa of the previous WMA Professional frame. It is recommended that the
sequence(s) of Pause data-bursts which fill the stream gap should continue from this point up
to (as close as possible considering the three IEC 60958 frame length of the Pause data-
burst) the Pa of the first WMA Professional data-burst which follows the stream gap. The gap-
length parameter contained in the Pause data-burst is intended to be interpreted by the WMA
Professional decoder as an indication of the number of decoded PCM samples which are
missing (due to the resulting audio gap).

5.3.3 The data-burst for WMA Professional Type II

The WMA Professional bitstream consists of a sequence of WMA Professional frames. The
data-type of a WMA Professional Type II data-burst is 12 h and the subtype is 1 h. A WMA
Professional Type II frame represents 2 048 samples of each encoded audio channel (left,
centre, etc.). The data-burst is headed with a burst-preamble, followed by the burst-payload.
The burst-payload of each data-burst of WMA Professional Type II data shall contain one
complete WMA Professional frame. The length of the WMA Professional data-burst will
depend on the encoded bit rate (which determines the WMA Professional frame length).

IEC 1988/06

Figure 3 – Windows Media Audio Professional Type II data-burst

The data-type-dependent info for WMA Professional is given in Table 4.

61937-8 © IEC:2006(E) –9–

Table 4 – Data-type-dependent when data-type = 18 and subtype = 1

Bits of Pc Data type dependent, Contents

bit number
LSB..MSB LSB..MSB

8-12 0-4 reserved, shall be set to ‘00’

The data-bursts containing WMA Professional Type II frames shall occur at a regular rate,
with the reference point of each WMA Professional data-burst (bit 0 of Pa) beginning (except
in the case of a gap) 2 048 sampling periods of the audio after the reference point of the
preceding WMA Professional data-burst (of the same bit-stream-number).

5.3.4 Latency of WMA Professional Type II decoding

The latency of an audio decoder to decode a Windows Media Audio Professional data-burst is
defined as two repetition periods (85,33 ms for fs = 48 kHz), plus the decoding delay, which is
the time to output the first linear PCM sample (Figure 4, 28,44 ms for fs = 48 kHz). The
latency is defined as a delay of 113,77 ms for fs = 48 kHz, 123,83 ms for fs = 44,1 kHz, and
56,88 ms for fs = 96 kHz.

IEC 1989/06

Figure 4 – Latency of WMA Professional Type II decoding

It is recommended that pause data-bursts are used to fill stream gaps in the WMA
Professional bit-stream as described in IEC 61937-1, and that pause data-bursts be
transmitted with a repetition period of three sampling periods of the audio, except when other
repetition periods are necessary to fill the precise stream gap length (which may not be a
multiple of three sampling periods of the audio), or to meet the requirement on burst spacing
(see IEC 61937-1, 6.3.3).

When a stream gap in a WMA Professional Type II stream is filled by a sequence of pause
data-bursts, the Pa of the first pause data-burst shall be located 2 048 sampling periods
following the Pa of the previous WMA Professional frame. It is recommended that the
sequence(s) of pause data-bursts which fill the stream gap should continue from this point up
to (as close as possible considering the three IEC 60958 frame length of the pause data-
burst) the Pa of the first WMA Professional data-burst which follows the stream gap. The gap-
length parameter contained in the pause data-burst is intended to be interpreted by the WMA
Professional decoder as an indication of the number of decoded PCM samples which are
missing (due to the resulting audio gap).

5.3.5 The data-burst for WMA Professional Type III

The WMA Professional bitstream consists of a sequence of WMA Professional frames. The
data-type of a WMA Professional Type III data-burst is 12 h and the subtype is 2 h. A WMA
Professional type III frame represents 1 024 samples of each encoded audio channel (left,
centre, etc.). The data-burst is headed with a burst-preamble, followed by the burst-payload.
The burst-payload of each data-burst of WMA Professional Type III data shall contain one
 – 10 – 61937-8 © IEC:2006(E)

complete WMA Professional frame. The length of the WMA Professional data-burst will
depend on the encoded bit rate (which determines the WMA Professional frame length).

IEC 1990/06

Figure 5 – Windows Media Audio Professional Type III data-burst

The data-type-dependent info for WMA Professional is given in Table 5.

Table 5 – Data-type-dependent when data-type = 18 and subtype = 2

Bits of Pc Data type dependent, Contents

bit number
LSB..MSB LSB..MSB

8-12 0-4 Reserved, shall be set to ‘00’

The data-bursts containing WMA Professional Type III frames shall occur at a regular rate,
with the reference point of each WMA Professional data-burst (bit 0 of Pa) beginning (except
in the case of a gap) 1 024 sampling periods of the audio after the reference point of the
preceding WMA Professional data-burst (of the same bit-stream-number).

5.3.6 Latency of WMA Professional Type III decoding

The latency of an audio decoder to decode a Windows Media Audio Professional data-burst is
defined as two repetition periods (42,67 ms for fs = 48 kHz), plus the decoding delay, which is
the time to output the first linear PCM sample (Figure 6, 14,22 ms for fs = 48 kHz). The
latency is defined as a delay of 56,89 ms for fs = 48 kHz, 61,92 ms for fs = 44,1 kHz, and
28,44 ms for fs = 96 kHz.

IEC 1991/06

Figure 6 – Latency of WMA Professional Type III decoding

It is recommended that pause data-bursts are used to fill stream gaps in the WMA
Professional bit-stream as described in IEC 61937-1, and that pause data-bursts be
transmitted with a repetition period of three sampling periods of the audio, except when other
repetition periods are necessary to fill the precise stream gap length (which may not be a
multiple of three sampling periods of the audio), or to meet the requirement on burst spacing
(see IEC 61937-1, 6.3.3).

When a stream gap in a WMA Professional Type III stream is filled by a sequence of pause
data-bursts, the Pa of the first pause data-burst shall be located 1 024 sampling periods
following the Pa of the previous WMA Professional frame. It is recommended that the
sequence(s) of pause data-bursts which fill the stream gap should continue from this point up
to (as close as possible considering the three IEC 60958 frame length of the pause data-
61937-8 © IEC:2006(E) – 11 –

burst) the Pa of the first WMA Professional data-burst which follows the stream gap. The gap-
length parameter contained in the pause data-burst is intended to be interpreted by the WMA
Professional decoder as an indication of the number of decoded PCM samples which are
missing (due to the resulting audio gap).

5.3.7 The data-burst for WMA Professional Type IV

The WMA Professional bitstream consists of a sequence of WMA Professional frames. The
data-type of a WMA Professional Type IV data-burst is 12 h and the subtype is 3 h. A WMA
Professional Type IV frame represents 512 samples of each encoded audio channel (left,
centre, etc.). The data-burst is headed with a burst-preamble, followed by the burst-payload.
The burst-payload of each data-burst of WMA Professional Type IV data shall contain one
complete WMA Professional frame. The length of the WMA Professional data-burst will
depend on the encoded bit rate (which determines the WMA Professional frame length).

IEC 1992/06

Figure 7 – Windows Media Audio Professional Type IV data-burst

The data-type-dependent info for WMA Professional is given in Table 6.

Table 6 – Data-type-dependent when data-type = 18 and subtype = 3

Bits of Pc Data type dependent, Contents

bit number
LSB..MSB LSB..MSB
8-12 0-4 Reserved, shall be set to ‘00’

The data-bursts containing WMA Professional Type IV frames shall occur at a regular rate,
with the reference point of each WMA Professional data-burst (bit 0 of Pa) beginning (except
in the case of a gap) 512 sampling periods of the audio after the reference point of the
preceding WMA Professional data-burst (of the same bit-stream-number).

5.3.8 Latency of WMA Professional Type IV decoding

The latency of an audio decoder to decode a Windows Media Audio Professional data-burst is
defined as two repetition periods (21,33 ms for fs = 48 kHz), plus the decoding delay, which is
the time to output the first linear PCM sample (Figure 8, 7,11 ms for fs = 48 kHz). The latency
is defined as a delay of 28,44 ms for fs = 48 kHz and 33,30 ms for fs = 44,1 kHz.

IEC 1993/06

Figure 8 – Latency of WMA Professional Type IV decoding

 – 12 – 61937-8 © IEC:2006(E)

It is recommended that pause data-bursts are used to fill stream gaps in the WMA
Professional bit-stream as described in IEC 61937-1, and that pause data-bursts be
transmitted with a repetition period of three sampling periods of the audio, except when other
repetition periods are necessary to fill the precise stream gap length (which may not be a
multiple of three sampling periods of the audio), or to meet the requirement on burst spacing
(see IEC 61937-1, 6.3.3).

When a stream gap in a WMA Professional Type III stream is filled by a sequence of pause
data-bursts, the Pa of the first pause data-burst shall be located 512 sampling periods
following the Pa of the previous WMA Professional frame. It is recommended that the
sequence(s) of pause data-bursts which fill the stream gap should continue from this point up
to (as close as possible considering the three IEC 60958 frame length of the pause data-
burst) the Pa of the first WMA Professional data-burst which follows the stream gap. The gap-
length parameter contained in the pause data-burst is intended to be interpreted by the WMA
Professional decoder as an indication of the number of decoded PCM samples which are
missing (due to the resulting audio gap).
61937-8 © IEC:2006(E) – 13 –

Bibliography

The following document has served as a reference for the specification of the related data-
type and other parts of IEC 61937.

Reference

WMA WMA Professional 9.0: An Overview of Windows Media Audio Professional

Professional Codec
9.0
This can be obtained on completion of a licence agreement available at
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/licensing/default.aspx

___________
 ISBN 2-8318-8884-0

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