SMPTE opens its entire standards catalogue to the public

SMPTE, the society of media professionals, technologists and engineers, announced on June 17, 2026 that its entire Standards catalog is now freely available to the global media technology community. The open library covers all published SMPTE Standards, Recommended Practices, Engineering Guidelines and Registered Disclosure Documents (RDDs), as well as every future release.

What the change means

For more than a century, SMPTE Standards have helped enable the interoperability that the entertainment technology industry relies on. By removing barriers to access, the organization expects the decision to accelerate adoption and implementation, strengthen interoperability and support the next generation of innovation. Newly published documents stay listed on the Recently Published Documents page of the SMPTE website, while the full catalogue is reachable through the SMPTE Standards Library.

“Now is the time to open the gates”

“This was a decision we did not make lightly,” said SMPTE President Rich Welsh. “For 110 years, SMPTE has evolved alongside the media technology industry, helping to drive change and innovation — and we’re not stopping now.” Welsh pointed to shifts such as IP-based workflows, AI authenticity and content provenance, adding that members, partners and the global standards community had made the answer clear: interoperability is essential to the future of media.

Standards Vice President Raymond Yeung said opening access removes barriers to adoption and implementation while supporting greater transparency throughout standards development. Standards Director Steve LLamb argued that standards reach their greatest value when everyone who needs to implement them can read them, so that developers, integrators, educators, manufacturers and emerging markets can build from accurate specifications rather than secondhand sources.

Modernization and funding

The move is part of a broader effort to modernize how SMPTE develops and publishes standards. Recent initiatives include GitHub-based workflows for version control, issue tracking and automation, a transition to structured HTML-based authoring, and an integrated publishing pipeline that streamlines document creation, review, validation and release.

The open-access library is supported in part by SMPTE’s Diamond-level Corporate Members, among them Amazon AWS, Apple, Blackmagic Design, CBS/Paramount Global, Disney, Dolby, Fox, Google, Ross Video, Sony and Telstra. Companies and individuals pledging donations of $10,000 or more by Dec. 31, 2026 will be recognized as Inaugural Supporters of the Standards catalogue.