ISDCF DCP Name Generator

Why DCP names need a fixed convention

Digital cinema packages move through booking systems, theatre management systems (TMS) and server ingest with almost no human review — the file's name IS the metadata a projectionist, booker or automated ingest script reads before anyone opens the package. The Inter-Society Digital Cinema Forum (ISDCF) standardized twelve underscore-delimited fields so that every studio, DI house and post facility produces composition names any cinema chain can parse without guessing. Get the field order or an abbreviation wrong and a TMS can silently reject the package, mis-book a slot, or play a version file against the wrong original — the convention exists because "close enough" breaks automated systems that pattern-match specific positions in the string.

Anatomy of a composition name

Take the example this generator produces by default:

PerfectMountain_FTR-1_S_EN-XX_US-PG_51_2K_ST_20260720_FAC_SMPTE_OV

Read it field by field:

• PerfectMountain — the film title in CamelCase, no spaces or punctuation, capped at 14 characters so it survives legacy 32-character TMS title-field limits once the rest of the name is appended.
• FTR-1 — content type FTR (feature) plus version 1. A trailer would be TLR-1; a second cut of the same feature would be FTR-2.
• S — projector aspect ratio: Scope 2.39. F means Flat 1.85, and C means Full Container 1.90, used for masters that carry more than one aspect ratio for downstream cropping.
• EN-XX — audio language EN (English), then subtitle language XX, meaning no burned-in or embedded subtitle track. EN-EN would be English audio with English (for example hard-of-hearing) subtitles.
• US-PG — territory US, MPAA rating PG. An unrated international version might read INT-TD (territory international, rating to-be-determined).
• 51 — 5.1 surround audio, with no suffix. A mix with an Atmos bed adds -Atmos (e.g. 71-Atmos); a hearing/visually-impaired track adds -HI-VI (e.g. 51-HI-VI).
• 2K — projector resolution; the only other value is 4K.
• ST — the studio or distributor's short code, 2 to 4 uppercase letters.
• 20260720 — the mastering date, written YYYYMMDD.
• FAC — the facility code for the post house or DI lab that built the DCP.
• SMPTE — the DCP standard. The alternative, IOP (InterOp), is the older format that predates SMPTE; new DCPs should be SMPTE unless a specific venue's server still requires legacy InterOp playback.
• OV — package type: Original Version, the complete, standalone package. A VF (Version File) is a smaller, dependent package — a swapped subtitle track or a dubbed audio reel, say — that references an OV's picture and audio essence by CPL rather than duplicating it; a VF will not play until its OV is already ingested on the same server.

The gotchas that actually break bookings

• Title truncation at 14 characters. ISDCF recommends 14 characters or fewer for the title segment. Longer titles aren't strictly forbidden, but plenty of booking systems and server ingest tools were built against that limit and will truncate or reject anything past it — trim the title before delivery rather than find out at the cinema.
• F / S / C describe the projector, not the camera. These letters describe the aspect ratio of the DCP as delivered, not the original shooting format — a Scope (2.39) feature that was cropped flat for a particular release is still F if that's what the projector will show, because the name reflects playback, not origin.
• OV vs VF, and why a VF needs its OV. A VF only contains the reels that differ from its parent OV, plus a CPL that stitches in the unchanged OV assets by reference. Ingest a VF without its matching OV already on the server and it simply will not play — this is one of the most common "the DCP won't load" calls a projection booth makes.
• SMPTE vs IOP. InterOp predates the SMPTE DCP standard and is still occasionally required by older servers or specific festival venues, but SMPTE is the modern default — reach for InterOp only when a spec sheet explicitly demands it.
• What XX actually means. In the language field, XX is not a language code — it is ISDCF shorthand for "none." EN-XX reads as English audio with no subtitle track, not a missing or malformed field. A lowercase variant (en-xx) has historically been used by some facilities to flag burned-in subtitles rather than a soft/embedded track, but the modern convention keeps the language codes uppercase and this generator follows that.

Common content-type codes

This generator follows the current ISDCF Digital Cinema Naming Convention (v9.x lineage). See isdcf.com for the authoritative published spec and any territory-specific extensions your delivery house requires.

1. Enter the film title and choose the content type, aspect ratio, language pair, territory and rating.

2. Set the audio configuration, resolution, studio and facility codes, mastering date, DCP standard and package type.

3. Copy the assembled name from the color-coded preview, then confirm the wider delivery against the Platform Delivery Spec Card.