We are pleased to announce the Release Candidate for the Media Signing Add-on, a standardized method for confirming the authenticity and integrity of surveillance video. Amid a rising tide of manipulated and AI-generated video footage, the add-on equips the surveillance industry with a shared, standards-based way to establish where video came from and whether it has remained unaltered.

Why now

Surveillance footage matters most when it is relied upon after an incident, in settings such as law enforcement casework, corporate investigations, insurance claims, and legal proceedings. As manipulated and AI-generated video becomes more convincing, the long-standing assumption that footage is genuine is becoming harder to defend.

“Proving authenticity is central to trust in video. The Media Signing Add-on Release Candidate gives the security industry a standardized method to help counter manipulated video and defend authentic content,” said Leo Levit, Chairman, ONVIF Board of Directors. “Making it an open standard ensures transparency, builds trust and enables investigators, insurers and courts to verify video from different sources using consistent tools and workflow.”

How it works

A conformant camera or encoder adds cryptographic signing information to the video stream at the point of creation, tied to the device and each frame. A verification tool that supports the Media Signing Specification later checks the signature, reports whether the video is valid, and traces it back to its source even after it has moved across systems. The Release Candidate covers H.264 and H.265 video; audio support is planned for a future version. ONVIF has published the signing and verification code as open source on GitHub.

What it means for you:

Manufacturers: a conformant device must support being configured to produce signed video and expose that through its configuration options. The Release Candidate and open-source framework are available now via the Member Portal and GitHub.

Systems integrators: a standardized, interoperable way to sign and verify video rather than relying on a proprietary, single-vendor approach. Signed video may be copied, exported, or shared without affecting verifiability, provided the signed data and verification information stay unchanged.

Consultants and specifiers: a shared, standards-based method for establishing where video came from and whether it has remained unaltered, worth flagging in specs ahead of the final add-on expected at the end of 2026.

End users: when footage is relied on after an incident, claim, or dispute, a way to confirm it’s what it claims to be and is unchanged since capture.

Legal, law enforcement, insurance, and HR teams: as manipulated video becomes more convincing, media signing helps preserve trust by proving footage is unaltered since capture, verifiable at every step and designed to supplement, not replace, chain-of-custody processes. That supports more confident decisions in investigations, claims, and disputes involving footage from many manufacturers’ systems.

What’s next

The Release Candidate is available to ONVIF members in the ONVIF Member Portal for prototyping and testing. ONVIF expects to finalize the specification at the end of 2026.

You can read more in our official press release and in our FAQ, where you can find additional technical details about the Media Signing Add-on.