SMPTE’s Content Provenance And Authenticity in Media Study Group Opens First Public Survey

SMPTE, the association of media professionals, technologists, and engineers, today announced that the Content Provenance and Authenticity (CPA) in Media Study Group has opened its first public survey. The survey is part of a broader initiative by the Study Group to gather industry insights from individuals and organizations on how authenticity and provenance metadata are used, needed, and challenged in real-world media environments.

“Trust in media will play an important role in content distribution and supporting it through SMPTE infrastructure standards is a top priority,” said Thomas Bause Mason SMPTE standards director and chair of the CPA study group. “The survey is a crucial step in gathering valuable industry input to inform the ongoing work within SMPTE’s Study Group on Content Provenance and Authenticity.”

While the Material Exchange Format (MXF) is a key focus — given its widespread use in professional media and urgent need for a solution — the survey’s scope is not limited to MXF. “The Study Group is equally interested in understanding use cases, user stories, requirements, and challenges across other formats and workflows, including professional streaming infrastructure, post-production and archiving.

For this reason, the survey consists of two parts: a more general section and an MXF-specific one. Individuals may submit multiple surveys, sharing both personal and organizational perspectives. We will also ask for user stories during the survey. Please prepare yourself prior to taking the survey if you want to contribute user stories.”

The survey’s goal is to identify gaps in current standards, explore interoperability with emerging technologies such as C2PA, and inform future SMPTE work that supports secure, verifiable, and trustworthy media production. Survey participation will help shape the next generation of CPA standards and best practices across the media ecosystem. The Study Group will publish a report summarizing the survey responses. All responses will be treated anonymously in the report.

Participants can access the survey here.