The format of time/duration in MPEG-DASH .MPD file?

The following is a snap of a .mpd file:

<MPD type="static" xmlns="urn:mpeg:DASH:schema:MPD:2011" profiles="urn:mpeg:dash:profile:full:2011" minBufferTime="PT1.5S" mediaPresentationDuration="PT0H1M59.89S"> <ProgramInformation moreInformationURL=""> <Title>Media Presentation Description for file hdworld_0696kbps_ffmpeg_track1.mp4 generated with GPAC </Title> </ProgramInformation> <Period start="PT0S" duration="PT0H1M59.89S"> 

For attributes of time-range type, like minBufferTime, mediaPresentationDuration, start or duration, they seems to share the same format. Does anyone know what format it is and where I can get a spec for that?

2 Answers

The format is ISO8601 duration.

Don't know a spec for that, also didn't find it in the standard, but from what i gathered so far, the format is pretty simple:

You always have 'PT' as a prefix, then you give a time-range in units of seconds (S), minutes (M), hours (H) and days (D). For seconds, fractional values are possible.

Back to the manifest snap you posted:

mediaPresentationDuration="PT0H1M59.89S" refers to a mediaPresentationDuration of 0 hours, 1 minute and 59.89 seconds.

minBufferTime="PT1.5S" refers to a minBufferTime 1.5 seconds.

start="PT0S" means start is "at" 0 seconds.