SMPTE ST 2110 is the broadcast industry's "we are leaving SDI behind" standard. It carries video (ST 2110-20), audio (ST 2110-30) and ancillary metadata (ST 2110-40) as independent RTP streams with precise PTP-based timing (ST 2110-10), so that an editor or switcher can recombine them in any combination. ST 2110-21 specifies the traffic-shaping rules so a 10 GbE link can carry a 3 Gbps uncompressed HD or 12 Gbps UHD stream without bursty drops.
ST 2110 is the foundation of modern broadcast facilities — BBC, NHK, Sky, Discovery and most tier-1 broadcasters built their newest studios on it. The advantage over SDI is the same as NDI's, but at higher quality: separate streams instead of one fixed bundle, fully uncompressed video, PTP-locked sync across the whole facility, and use of standard Ethernet switches and IP routing. Unlike NDI, ST 2110 demands very capable network gear — 25/100 GbE switches with deep buffers and PTP-aware queues — which is why it sits at the very high end.
ST 2110 does not leave the building. It assumes guaranteed bandwidth, microsecond-precise sync and zero packet loss — properties of a well-engineered LAN, not of the public internet. For going from a ST 2110 studio out to viewers, the chain is ST 2110 → compress → SRT/RIST for contribution → cloud → distribution. Most broadcasters operate ST 2110 inside the studio and SRT or RIST for everything that leaves it.
The book · Volume 2 of 7
Video Streaming: A Complete Guide to Video Delivery: From Network Protocols and Transport to Ingest, HLS, and MPEG-DASH
SMPTE ST 2110 moves studio video, audio and metadata over IP with PTP timing, which ties the whole facility to network design. This volume covers transport for live production in detail, with ST 2110 next to contribution protocols like SRT and RIST, UDP behaviour, network timing and the latency budget from studio to viewer. Written by Nikolay Sapunov, CEO at Fora Soft.
Bridging an SMPTE ST 2110 facility to cloud production or streaming?
We will review your facility and destinations and give you an ST 2110 to cloud bridge plan with gateway choice, compression points and a latency estimate. 250+ video products shipped since 2005.
