Multimedia format used by digital audio and video programs; contains captured audio and video data as well as metadata that describes the media stored in the file; designed by Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) as a standard container for audio and video data; can be converted into other formats, such as .AVI or .MOV.

MXF files were designed to streamline workflows between different platforms, such as cameras, digital editing equipment, and servers. The file format adopts a subset of the Advanced Authoring Format (AAF), which was designed to help standardize the interchange of video between multiple vendors and platforms. NOTE: Like any other media container format, the appropriate codec must be available in order to play the media stored within an MXF file.