DCP File Format

DCP stands for Digital Cinema Package and is a collection of digital files used to store and convey digital cinema audio, image and data streams. 

The file structure is organised into a number of normally multi-gigabyte size Material eXchange Format (MXF) files, which are then separately used to store audio and videos streams, and also auxiliary index files in extensible markup language (XML) format.

The MXF files contain the streams that are then compressed, encoded and also encrypted in order to try and reduce the huge amount of storage that is required and also to protect the files from unauthorised use. 

The image part of the file is JPEG 2000 compressed, and the audio part of the file is linear PCM. The adopted encryption standard is AES 128 bit in CBC mode.

The newer SMPTE (Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers) standards are used to conform the recommendations among different toll vendors and producers.