SMPTE Numbers Get New View

Renumbering of SMPTE Standards

(What happened to the “M”?)

Please be aware of the following changes to document numbering:

  • All SMPTE Engineering Documents will be numbered as a two-letter prefix and a number; e.g. ST xxxx:year, RP xxxx:year, EG xxxx:year; multipart document numbers will include a part number; e.g. ST xxxx-pp:year.
  • All online listings and filenames will use leading zeroes as necessary to ensure appropriate ordering, and no spaces—e.g. ST0125:1995 (listing) and st0125-1995 (filename).
  • The “M” designator was originally introduced to signify metric dimensions.  It will not be used for new publications, or in listings or filenames. Units of the International System of Units (SI) are the preferred units of measurement in all SMPTE Engineering Documents.
  • Document titles and text will not use leading zeros, and will use a space after the designator—e.g. ST 125-1995.
  • Document titles and text will be updated only when a document is revised.
  • Documents and references with the same root number and year are functionally identical; e.g. st0125-1995, ST0125-1995, ST 125:1995, and SMPTE 125M-1995 all refer to the same document.
  • References in newly-published documents will use the new style (e.g.  ST 125:1995) even though the referenced document may carry the old-style number (e.g. SMPTE 125M-1995).

Leave a Reply