Timed metadata with Azure Media Services

  • Article

Media Services logo v3

Warning

Azure Media Services will be retired June 30th, 2024. For more information, see the AMS Retirement Guide.

Timed metadata is custom data that is inserted into a live stream. Both the data and its insertion timestamp are preserved in the media stream itself. This is so that clients playing the video stream can get the same custom metadata at the exact same time in relation to the video stream. With timed metadata you can:

  • Add interactivity elements to the live stream such as a poll.
  • Add information related to the video content such as speakers, product links, sports player stats, etc.
  • Add metadata about the video such as GPS location, time, etc.

Delivery, post URL and request

Azure Media Services delivers the timed metadata as part of the video stream. Timed metadata is sent to a live event via a POST to the endpoint for timed metadata.

Note

Timed metadata works only for live events created with RTMP and RTMPS ingestion.

POST URL

The format of the timed metadata endpoint is based on the RTMP ingest URL for the live event. For example:

https://<<LIVEEVENTNAME>.channel.media.azure.net/<LIVE_INGEST_ID>/ingest.isml/eventdata

For example:

rtmps://mylivestream.channel.media.azure-test.net:2935/live/0251458ba5df44b2b807ea02f40fed76

becomes

https://mylivestream.channel.media.azure-test.net/0251458ba5df44b2b807ea02f40fed76/ingest.isml/eventdata

Headers and request body

The HTTP Content-type header MUST be set to application/json, so make sure this is set correctly.

POST https://mylivestream.channel.media.azure-test.net/0251458ba5df44b2b807ea02f40fed76/ingest.isml/eventdata
Content-Type: application/json

{

“message”: “Hello world!”

}

Timed metadata limits

Resource Default Limit Per
Total message body payload size 256 kb max Request
Requests 2 per second

Player demo and how to

To try out signalling timed metadata, see How to signal timed metadata.

Additional information

For more information about the payload and format of timed metadata signals, see Alliance for Open Media Carriage of ID3 Timed Metadata in the Common Media Application Format (CMAF) specification.

Get help and support

You can contact Media Services with questions or follow our updates by one of the following methods: