AVB Stream Size and Format

In an AVB network, a stream describes a connection between a talker and one or more listeners. It consists of a fixed number of audio channels at a fixed sample rate. The stream port of the talker and the listener must be configured to have the same amount of channels and stream format. Once a stream is connected, each AVB switch along its way ensures that the audio channels can pass in time, with a higher priority than other network traffic.

For audio transport, AVB audio endpoints support the AM824 Stream Format or the more efficient AVTP Audio Format (AAF). Additionally, they may support the Clock Reference Format (CRF), which contains only clock information, but no audio.

The AVB Tool supports a total of eight incoming streams and eight outgoing streams. Each stream port can be individually configured to contain 1-8, 12 or 16 channels in AM824 or AAF format. Additionally, a stream port may be configured for 0 channel CRF streams.