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IETF RFC 3625
The QCP File Format and Media Types for Speech Data
Last modified on Monday, September 29th, 2003
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Network Working Group R. Gellens
Request for Comments: 3625 H. Garudadri
Updates: 3555 Qualcomm
Category: Informational September 2003
The QCP File Format and Media Types for Speech Data
 Status of this Memo
This memo provides information for the Internet community. It does
not specify an Internet standard of any kind. Distribution of this
memo is unlimited.
Copyright Notice
Copyright © The Internet Society (2003). All Rights Reserved.
Abstract
RFC 2658 specifies the streaming format for 3GPP2 13K vocoder (High
Rate Speech Service Option 17 for Wideband Spread Spectrum
Communications Systems, also known as QCELP 13K vocoder) data, but
does not specify a storage format. Many implementations have been
using the "QCP" file format (named for its file extension) for
exchanging QCELP 13K data as well as Enhanced Variable Rate Coder
(EVRC) and Selectable Mode Vocoders (SMV) data. (For example,
Eudora(r), QuickTime(r), and cmda2000(r) handsets).
This document specifies the QCP file format and updates the
audio/qcelp media registration to specify this format for storage,
and registers the audio/evrc-qcp and audio/smv-qcp media types for
EVRC and SMV (respectively) data stored in this format.
Gellens & Garudadri Informational PAGE 1 
RFC 3625 QCP File Format and Media Types September 2003
Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2. Conventions Used in this Document. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
3. QCP File Format. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
4. IANA Considerations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
4.1. Update of Media Type Audio/qcelp . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
4.2. Update of Media Type Audio/vnd.qcelp . . . . . . . . . . 10
4.3. Registration of Audio/EVRC-QCP . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
4.4. Registration of Audio/SMV-QCP. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
5. Security Considerations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
6. Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
7. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
7.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
7.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
8. Intellectual Property Statement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
9. Editors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
10. Full Copyright Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
1. Introduction
This document specifies the QCP format for storage of [QCELP] 13K,
[EVRC], and [SMV] vocoder frames in files which may reside on network
elements (e.g., media servers, Multimedia Messaging System (MMS)
centers, etc.) and third-generation cellular (3G) handsets, or be
transmitted via email or other mechanisms.
Vocoder frames read from a QCP file may be streamed using protocols
and formats outside the scope of this document, delivered to an
[EVRC], [SMV], or [QCELP] 13K decoder, or otherwise processed.
The QCP format supports [QCELP] 13K as well as [EVRC] and [SMV] data.
Note that this format is different from the EVRC and SMV storage
format specified in [EVRC-SMV].
2. Conventions Used in this Document
The key words "REQUIRED", "MUST", "MUST NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT",
and "MAY" in this document are to be interpreted as described in BCP
14, RFC 2119 [KEYWORDS].
3. QCP File Format
The following describes the QCP file format using [ABNF].
A qcp file contains data frames generated by the [QCELP], [EVRC], or
[SMV] vocoders.
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RFC 3625 QCP File Format and Media Types September 2003
qcp-file = riff-qlcm fmt vrat [labl] [offs] data [cnfg]
[text]
riff-qlcm = RIFF riff-size QLCM
fmt = FMT chunk-size major minor codec-info
; major and minor are set to the version of
; the QCP file format used to generate the
; file - currently, the following versions
; are defined:
;
; major = 2, minor = 0
; used for SMV.
; major = 1, minor = 0
; used for QCELP-13K and EVRC
vrat = VRAT chunk-size var-rate-flag size-in-packets
labl = LABL chunk-size label
offs = OFFS chunk-size step-size num-offsets *offset
; number of repetitions of offset must equal
; num-offsets
data = DATA chunk-size *packet [pad]
; repetitions of packet contain the actual
; packet data -- there should be as many
; packets as indicated by the size-in-packets
; element found elsewhere in this file format
cnfg = CNFG chunk-size config
text = TEXT chunk-size string [pad]
; string contains any information defined
; by the application
riff-size = UINT32
; riff-size should equal total size of file
; in bytes, excluding the size of RIFF and
; riff-size
chunk-size = UINT32
; chunk-size should equal the total size of
; the chunk described by the rule containing
; chunk-size, excluding the size of
; chunk-size itself and any elements that
; come before it in the rule, as well as
; the pad element, if present
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RFC 3625 QCP File Format and Media Types September 2003
major = OCTET
; major version number of QCP format --
; currently set as "2" -- however, "1" should
; be used instead for QCELP-13K and EVRC, to
; maintain compatibility with older software
; platforms
minor = OCTET
; minor version number: currently set to "0"
codec-info = codec-guid codec-version codec-name
average-bps packet-size
block-size sampling-rate
sample-size variable-rate 5*UINT32
; this identifies the codec used to encode
; the speech in this file, and any parameters
; needed in order to decode the speech
; the five UINT32 elements are reserved for
; use in future versions of this format,
; should be set to zero for now, and readers
; should allow non-zero values when reading
; files in this format
var-rate-flag = UINT32
; if zero, sizes of packets in data chunk are
; fixed at the value indicated by the
; packet-size field, found elsewhere in this
; file format
; if var-rate-flag is greater than zero but
; less than %xFFFF0000, packets are variable
; rate, and rate is determined by rate octet
; in each packet -- to determine the size of
; a packet, map the first octet (the rate
; octet) to the size of the rest of the
; packet, according to the rate-map-table
; information found elsewhere in this file
; values %xFFFF0001 and higher are reserved
; for use in future versions of this format
size-in-packets = UINT32
; this is the total number of packets in the
; data chunk in the file
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RFC 3625 QCP File Format and Media Types September 2003
label = 48OCTET
; label is for generic storage for
; application use
step-size = UINT32
; difference in the times of sequential
; application stored in this chunk, in
; 100ms increments (step-size of 10 means
; 1 second)
; currently only a step-size of "10" is
; guaranteed to be supported by software
; capable of reading this file format
num-offsets = UINT32
; number of offsets in offs chunk -- must
; equal number of repetitions of offset
; element
offset = UINT32
; absolute octet offset in this QCP file
; where the beginning of the packet that is
; at a time index one step past the last
; offset is located -- step size is given
; in step-size
packet = [rate-octet] (1*OCTET)
; the rate-octet element is present only if
; the var-rate-flag found elsewhere in the file
; indicates that the file contains
; variable-rate packets - if it is present, the
; octet is used to determine the size of the
; remainder of the packet (the number of octets
; which follow the rate-octet)
; No rate-octet is present if the var-rate-flag
; is set to zero, indicating a fixed size
; packet file - in this case, the number of
; octets in packet is equal to the value set
; in packet-size, found elsewhere in this
; file format
; It should be noted that there is always a
; codec rate octet in a packet, even if the
; var-rate-flag is zero, indicating fixed size
; packet files - in this case, although there
; is no rate-octet element in this syntax, the
; first octet in the packet is still considered
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RFC 3625 QCP File Format and Media Types September 2003
; the "rate" for the packet.
; Two examples follow to illustrate this.
; Example 1. Variable-rate QCELP
; var-rate-flag = %d1
; variable-rate = %d5 %d34 %d4 %d16 %d3 %d7 %d2
; %d3 %d1 %d0 %d0 3(%d0 %d0)
; packet = %d4 (34OCTET)
; packet = %d4 (34OCTET)
; packet = %d3 (16OCTET)
; packet = %d1 (3OCTET)
; Example 2. Fixed-rate, full-rate QCELP
; var-rate-flag = %d0
; packet-size = %d35
; packet = (35OCTET) ; first octet is %d4
; packet = (35OCTET) ; first octet is %d4
; packet = (35OCTET) ; first octet is %d4
; packet = (35OCTET) ; first octet is %d4
pad = %x00
; pad is present only if the number of bytes in
; the chunk described by the rule containing
; pad would otherwise be odd - if present, its
; size should NOT be included in the
; calculation for any chunk-size element also
; present in the chunk
config = UINT16
; config is a bitmapped configuration word,
; for application use
string = *(%x01-FF) %x00
; this is a zero-terminated string of octets --
; although not limited to it, typically the
; string consists of us-ascii characters
codec-guid = UINT32 UINT16 UINT16 8OCTET
; this is the unique identifier for the codec
; used to encode the packets in the data chunk
; The elements of this rule match the structure
; defined for a GUID in other specifications
; and formats. The first three elements are
; stored in little-endian octet order.
; When values for a GUID are expressed, the
; first three elements are expressed as a
Gellens & Garudadri Informational PAGE 6
RFC 3625 QCP File Format and Media Types September 2003
; sequence of hexadecimal digits in normal
; network ordering (big-endian or most
; significant digit first) while the eight
; octet element is broken up into two groups,
; the first having four hexadecimal digits,
; and the second having twelve digits, all
; expressed in network ordering.
; For example, if the octets in a GUID as
; stored in a file are:
; %12 %34 %56 %78 %9A %BC %DE %F0
; %0F %ED %CB %A9 %87 %65 %43 %21
; then the GUID would have these values:
; UINT32 = %x78563412
; UINT16 = %xBC9A
; UINT16 = %xF0DE
; 8OCTET = %x0F.ED.CB.A9.87.65.43.21
; and the whole GUID would be expressed as:
; {78563412-BC9A-F0DE-0FED-CBA987654321}
; The following codec GUIDs are currently
; defined for QCP file format:
;
; QCELP-13K:
; {5E7F6D41-B115-11D0-BA91-00805FB4B97E}
; {5E7F6D42-B115-11D0-BA91-00805FB4B97E}
; EVRC:
; {E689D48D-9076-46B5-91EF-736A5100CEB4}
; SMV:
; {8D7C2B75-A797-ED49-985E-D53C8CC75F84}
codec-version = UINT16
; version number of codec used to encode the
; packets in the data chunk
; This value depends on the particular codec
; used to encode the packets. The following
; versions are currently defined:
; QCELP-13K:
; 1 or 2
; EVRC, and SMV:
; 1
codec-name = 80OCTET
; the proper name of the codec, in us-ascii -
; unused octets after the name are set to zero
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RFC 3625 QCP File Format and Media Types September 2003
average-bps = UINT16
; average data rate, in bits per second, of
; the speech data represented in this file
packet-size = UINT16
; the size in octets of the largest possible
; packet in the data chunk
block-size = UINT16
; the number of samples encoded in every packet
; in the data chunk
sampling-rate = UINT16
; number of speech samples per second
; (typically 8000)
sample-size = UINT16
; number of bits per speech sample
; (typically 16)
variable-rate = num-rates rate-map-table
; if num-rates is zero, and major version
; number of the QCP file is 2, then the
; rate-map-table is not used - instead,
; it is up to the decoder to determine the
; sizes of packets in the data chunk, even
; if var-rate-flag indicates the file uses
; variable rate packets
; otherwise, num-rates specifies how many
; different possible rate octets there are
; for the packets in the data chunk, and
; thus how many of the rate-map-entry elements
; contain valid information
num-rates = UINT32
; this is the number of possible rate octets
; used in the packets in the data chunk
rate-map-table = 8rate-map-entry
; any unused entries SHOULD be filled with
; %d0 %d0
rate-map-entry = rate-size rate-octet
; this maps a possible rate octet for a packet
; to the size of the rest of the packet having
; that value for the rate octet
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RFC 3625 QCP File Format and Media Types September 2003
rate-size = OCTET
; this is the size of a packet, excluding the
; value for the rate octet
rate-octet = OCTET
; this is the first octet of a packet in the
; data chunk, when the var-rate-flag set for
; the file indicates the file is variable rate
UINT32 = 4OCTET
; this field contains a 32-bit integer stored
; as a sequence of four octets, in
; little-endian order (least significant
; octet first)
UINT16 = 2OCTET
; this field contains a 16-bit integer stored
; as a sequence of two octets, in
; little-endian order (least significant
; octet first)
OCTET = %x00-FF
; an octet, also called a byte - any possible
; combination of eight bits, forming a single
; integer or part of a larger integer having
; more than eight bits
RIFF = %x52 %x49 %x46 %x46
QLCM = %x51 %x4C %x43 %x4D
FMT = %x66 %x6D %x74 %x20
LABL = %x6C %x61 %x62 %x6C
OFFS = %x6F %x66 %x66 %x73
DATA = %x64 %x61 %x74 %x61
CNFG = %x63 %x6E %x66 %x67
TEXT = %x74 %x65 %x78 %x74
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RFC 3625 QCP File Format and Media Types September 2003
4. IANA Considerations
IANA has updated the audio/qcelp and audio/vnd.qcelp registrations
and has added the audio/evrc-qcp and audio/smv-qcp registrations as
specified here.
4.1. Update of Media Type Audio/qcelp
The audio/qcelp media registration has been updated to indicate that
this specification is to be used for storage.
4.2. Update of Media Type Audio/vnd.qcelp
The audio/vnd.qcelp media registration has been updated to indicate
that use of this media type is deprecated and to note that the media
type audio/qcelp should be used instead.
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RFC 3625 QCP File Format and Media Types September 2003
4.3. Registration of Audio/EVRC-QCP
Media Type Name: audio
Media Subtype Name: evrc-qcp
Required Parameter: none
Optional parameters: none
Encoding considerations:
The storage format specified in this document may be used with
any transport mechanism.
Security considerations:
See Section 5 "Security Considerations" of this document.
Public specification: this document
Additional information: no
Magic number: First four octets: RIFF
Octets 9-12: QLCM
(Note: octets 5-8 constitute the riff-size field, which is the
size of the file minus the RIFF header. Since this could be
anything, it is not fixed and thus can not be used as part of the
magic number.)
File extensions: qcp, QCP
Macintosh file type code: none
Object identifier or OID: none
Intended usage:
COMMON. This file format is already in wide use in Internet
email user agents, multimedia authoring and playing software,
and cdma2000(r) handsets.
Person & email address to contact for further information:
Harinath Garudadri hgarudad@qualcomm.com
Change controller:
The IETF
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RFC 3625 QCP File Format and Media Types September 2003
4.4. Registration of Audio/SMV-QCP
Media Type Name: audio
Media Subtype Name: smv-qcp
Required Parameter: none
Optional parameters: none
Encoding considerations:
The storage format specified in this document may be used with
any transport mechanism.
Security considerations:
See Section 5 "Security Considerations" of this document.
Public specification: this document
Additional information: no
Magic number: First four octets: RIFF
Octets 9-12: QLCM
(Note: octets 5-8 constitute the riff-size field, which is the
size of the file minus the RIFF header. Since this could be
anything, it is not fixed and thus can not be used as part of the
magic number.)
File extensions: qcp, QCP
Macintosh file type code: none
Object identifier or OID: none
Intended usage:
COMMON. This file format is already in wide use in Internet
email user agents, multimedia authoring and playing software,
and cdma2000(r) handsets.
Person & email address to contact for further information:
Harinath Garudadri hgarudad@qualcomm.com
Change controller:
The IETF
Gellens & Garudadri Informational PAGE 12
RFC 3625 QCP File Format and Media Types September 2003
5. Security Considerations
This document specifies a file format only, not a streaming protocol
payload format, nor a transfer method. As such, it introduces no
security risks aside from those associated with any audio codec or
media file format (for example, denial of service by transmitting a
file larger than the receiver can handle). Note that those security
concerns should be understood before using the file format specified
here.
6. Acknowledgements
Richard Walters created the ABNF notation for this specification and
proof-read the text, among other helpful tasks.
The qcp file format was originally developed by others within
Qualcomm. The editor would like to thank Chuck Han and Livingstone
Song for their contributions leading to this specification.
7. References
7.1. Normative References
[ABNF] Crocker, D., Ed. and P. Overell, "Augmented BNF for
Syntax Specifications: ABNF", RFC 2234, November 1997.
[KEYWORDS] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.
[QCELP] 3GPP2 C.S0020 "High Rate Speech Service Option 17 for
Wideband Spread Spectrum Communications Systems".
[EVRC] 3GPP2 C.S0014 "Enhanced Variable Rate Codec, Speech
Service Option 3 for Wideband Spread Spectrum Digital
Systems ". (Used to be TIA/EIA/IS-127)
[PureVoice] McKay, K., "RTP Payload Format for PureVoice(tm) Audio",
RFC 2658, August 1999.
[SMV] 3GPP2 C.S0030 "Selectable Mode Vocoder, Service Option
for Wideband Spread Spectrum Communication Systems".
7.2. Informative References
[EVRC-SMV] Li, A., "RTP Payload Format for Enhanced Variable Rate
Codecs (EVRC) and Selectable Mode Vocoders (SMV)", RFC
3558, July 2003.
Gellens & Garudadri Informational PAGE 13
RFC 3625 QCP File Format and Media Types September 2003
8. Intellectual Property Statement
The IETF takes no position regarding the validity or scope of any
intellectual property or other rights that might be claimed to
pertain to the implementation or use of the technology described in
this document or the extent to which any license under such rights
might or might not be available; neither does it represent that it
has made any effort to identify any such rights. Information on the
IETF's procedures with respect to rights in standards-track and
standards-related documentation can be found in BCP-11. Copies of
claims of rights made available for publication and any assurances of
licenses to be made available, or the result of an attempt made to
obtain a general license or permission for the use of such
proprietary rights by implementors or users of this specification can
be obtained from the IETF Secretariat.
The IETF invites any interested party to bring to its attention any
copyrights, patents or patent applications, or other proprietary
rights which may cover technology that may be required to practice
this standard. Please address the information to the IETF Executive
Director.
9. Editors' Addresses
Randall Gellens
QUALCOMM Incorporated
5775 Morehouse Drive
San Diego, CA 92121
USA
EMail: randy@qualcomm.com
Harinath Garudadri
QUALCOMM Incorporated
5775 Morehouse Drive
San Diego, CA 92121
USA
EMail: hgarudad@qualcomm.com
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RFC 3625 QCP File Format and Media Types September 2003
10. Full Copyright Statement
Copyright © The Internet Society (2003). All Rights Reserved.
This document and translations of it may be copied and furnished to
others, and derivative works that comment on or otherwise explain it
or assist in its implementation may be prepared, copied, published
and distributed, in whole or in part, without restriction of any
kind, provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph are
included on all such copies and derivative works. However, this
document itself may not be modified in any way, such as by removing
the copyright notice or references to the Internet Society or other
Internet organizations, except as needed for the purpose of
developing Internet standards in which case the procedures for
copyrights defined in the Internet Standards process must be
followed, or as required to translate it into languages other than
English.
The limited permissions granted above are perpetual and will not be
revoked by the Internet Society or its successors or assignees.
This document and the information contained herein is provided on an
"AS IS" basis and THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET ENGINEERING
TASK FORCE DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING
BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE INFORMATION
HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
Acknowledgement
Funding for the RFC Editor function is currently provided by the
Internet Society.
Gellens & Garudadri Informational PAGE 15
The QCP File Format and Media Types for Speech Data
RFC TOTAL SIZE: 28603 bytes
PUBLICATION DATE: Monday, September 29th, 2003
LEGAL RIGHTS: The IETF Trust (see BCP 78)
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