What is a NAM?
The purpose of a NAM is to preserve the final picture of a title in a high quality agnostic format limited only by the original source in order to allow for a lossless starting point in generating future derivative masters.
The Non-Graded Archival Master (NAM) is a fully texted image sequence of the non-color graded, fully conformed and locked picture, including final VFX, rendered in a single scene-referred color space with no output or display transform applied.
Not all productions require delivery of a NAM to Netflix. If you’re unsure if a NAM is required for your production, please reference your production’s Delivery List and reach out to your Netflix point of contact to determine if a NAM delivery is required.
For productions that do require a NAM delivery, this document provides specifications for delivering a NAM to Netflix.
For general best practices when delivering a NAM or navigating edge cases see: Non-Graded Archival Master (NAM): Best Practices.
Specifications
The archival resolution will be specific to the project and will be communicated by Netflix. At minimum, the archival resolution will be no less than 3840x2160 (UHD) and must include the final delivery active picture area with no cropping, matting or masking applied over the image. If your primary capture format was less than 3840x2160 (UHD) please reach out to your Post Production Management or Creative Technologies Workflow contacts at Netflix to discuss your best options.
The file format of the Non-Graded Archival Master (NAM) will depend on the transfer function of the scene-referred color space as well as the bit-depth of the source files:
|
Color Space |
Transfer Function |
Source File |
Format |
|
Scene-Referred Color Space (i.e. camera native color space, CF color, T-CAM or ACES*) |
Logarithmic |
RAW or Compressed in More Than 10-Bits |
16-bit DPX (.dpx) |
|
Compressed in 10-Bits |
10-bit DPX (.dpx)** |
||
|
Linear |
RAW or Compressed in More Than 10-Bits |
Uncompressed 16-bit Half-Float OpenEXR (.exr) |
|
|
ZIP Losslessly Compressed 16-Bit Half-Float OpenEXR (.exr) |
|||
|
PIZ Losslessly Compressed 16-Bit Half-Float OpenEXR (.exr) |
*ACES projects must be Linear / AP0, per SMPTE ST 2065-1. ACEScct encoded files will not be accepted.
**10-bit DPX (.dpx) will be accepted only if 50% or greater of the primary capture footage was 10-bit or lower.
Frame Numbering
- Frame numbering must be continuous within each delivered asset and must always be consistent across all picture archival assets.
- For feature films working in reels the frame number must be continuous within each reel. The initial frame number for each reel/segment is at the discretion of the finishing partner.
Textless
- Textless inserts must be delivered with image properties identical to the corresponding texted asset.
- Textless inserts must include a textless background/backplate for any shot/sequence of the content that contains on-screen graphic text. If the content includes a significant amount of on-screen graphic text throughout, it is acceptable to create a full-length textless asset rather than providing segmented frame ranges.
- Textless inserts must be provided cut-to-cut (i.e., the textless insert should not begin or end in the middle of a shot, the entire shot should be provided).
- Textless main titles or credits do not require a distinct naming convention from other textless inserts.
- Textless inserts must be numbered to match the numbering of the corresponding texted shot/sequence.
- Graphic overlays such as emojis or text balloons should be considered texted elements.
Quicktime Wrapped Non-Graded Archival Master Exceptions
Quicktime wrapped compressed formats may be acceptable under limited circumstances, particularly in Animation workflows where source media is entirely compressed. Please consult Netflix to determine if QuickTime delivery is acceptable for your project.
Minimum acceptable compressed formats:
HDR: 12-bit, DNxHR 444 or ProRes 4444 XQ
SDR: 10-bit, DNxHR 444, or ProRes 444