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Timestamp Properties for MOQT

Updated

draft-frindell-moq-timestamp-00 | Individual submission | -00 posted 2026-10-05 | 13 pages | expires 2027-04-08 | Datatracker · GitHub

Authors

Abstract

A standards-track moq-transport extension that defines a reusable set of timestamp-related track and object properties for MOQT, so that implementations do not each reinvent their own. It specifies the properties only — not relay behaviour — and offers compression techniques (an origin + delta encoding) to keep per-object timestamp overhead small. Frindell announced it on the mailing list on 2026-10-05 (“Timestamp Draft”, permalink), noting it builds on prior timestamp implementations and inviting feedback via the GitHub repo.

Key Technical Details

Four Track properties:

  • TIMESCALE (required) — the time unit granularity for the track’s timestamps (ticks per second), so timestamps are integers rather than fractional seconds.
  • CLOCK_ID (optional) — references a common time source, letting receivers relate timestamps across tracks/sources.
  • TIMESTAMP_ORIGIN (optional) — a baseline for delta encoding, so object timestamps can be carried as small offsets rather than absolute values.
  • TIMESTAMP_MAPPING (optional) — lets object timestamps be computed from object identifiers instead of carried per object.

One Object property:

  • OBJECT_TIMESTAMP (optional) — a per-object adjustment or delta from the track’s origin/mapping.

Relationship to other work

  • Two competing timestamp drafts now coexist. This draft overlaps [[moq-timestamp|draft-lcurley-moq-timestamp]] (Luke Curley, -01) — both attach presentation time to MoQ objects so relays can reason about age — but they differ in scope: lcurley’s is a minimal Timescale / Timestamp / Duration triple framed on the LOC-registered properties, while this draft defines a richer property set (clock identity, a delta/origin compression scheme, and a mapping that can derive timestamps from object IDs) and is explicitly property-only, relay-behaviour-deferred. Which one (if either) the WG adopts is an open question for the Seattle interim and beyond.
  • Draft-18 property codepoints: overlaps the existing moq-transport §15.8 TIMESTAMP / TIMESCALE property assignments and the LOC property-ID coordination work; codepoint alignment will be a question if this is taken up by the WG.
  • Delivery timeout / age-based relay decisions: like the lcurley draft, motivated by giving relays a uniform basis for delivery-timeout and age-drop decisions without parsing the media container.

Notes

Individual submission by Alan Frindell (Meta) and Ian Swett (Google); not WG-adopted. Posted 2026-10-05, nine days before the Oct 12–15 Seattle hybrid interim. The draft currently specifies the properties and their compression, not how relays act on them. See moq-timestamp, moq-transport, discussions-2026-10.

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