Media revision history tracking via asset decomposition and serialization

Abstract

While distributed version control systems offer a solid foundation for monitoring revision history, their effectiveness is hindered when dealing with digital media assets, which are often treated as opaque binary data. This makes it challenging to precisely track modifications and compromises storage efficiency. Despite this, a significant portion of embedded metadata within these files is actually textual in nature, though it remains unrecognized due to its integration into the binary structure. Moreover, alterations to the metadata and the underlying structure of metadata container formats, such as the JPEG Universal Metadata Box Format (JUMBF), go unnoticed during media rendering, further complicating the identification process. To address these issues, this paper proposes a solution that defines an asset decomposition and structured serialization scheme. This framework enables the individual tracking of subcomponents within media assets, facilitating more accurate version control and metadata management.