Haptics provide an additional layer of entertainment and sensory immersion beyond audio and visual media. The user experience and enjoyment of media content can be significantly enhanced by adding haptics to audio/video content, whether in ISO Base Media File Format (ISOBMFF) files or in media streams such as ATSC 3.0 broadcasts, streaming games, and mobile advertising. For this purpose, haptics has been proposed as a first-order media type, co-equal to audio and video, in ISOBMFF. Furthermore, haptics was proposed as an addition to the MPEG-DASH standard, which would make DASH streaming clients aware of the presence of haptics in ISOBMFF segments. Finally, haptics were added to the MPEG-I use cases, resulting in a number of haptics-specific requirements for MPEG-I. These proposals are in various stages of the MPEG standardization process.
These ongoing efforts to standardize haptics underline the need for a standardized coded representation of haptics. A standardized haptics coding format and associated standardized decoder will facilitate the inclusion of haptics in the ISOBMFF, MPEG-DASH, and MPEG-I standards, making it easier for content creators and streaming content providers to include haptics and benefit from their impact on the user experience.
Therefore, MPEG has launched a new project to develop a standardized coded representation of haptics. This project is expected to be completed in