The Academy Screening Room (ASR) is a streaming screener portal used by Academy members to view the streaming asset for your submission. The ASR runs on multiple platforms including Apple TV, Roku, Android, Chromecast and desktop browsers. Please conform to the specifications defined below in order to ensure your submission appears correctly and in a timely fashion on all platforms for the ASR.

In order for your submission to appear on the ASR, we require the following materials:

• a video asset that meets the audio and video specifications defined below

• English VTT file(s) that meets the closed caption & subtitle technical specifications below. Note that you may need to submit two files - please be sure to review the technical specifications below.

• an image asset that conforms to the streaming display artwork specification below

Your submission will not appear on the ASR until all three assets are provided and pass our QA process. If you have paid to appear in the "For Your Consideration" category, please allow 10 business days from the receipt of the final, approved assets for your submission to appear on the Academy Screening Room.

Please email support@oscars.org if you have technical questions about these specifications.

Streaming Display Artwork will be displayed on the category and film asset pages of the Academy Screening Room. We only require one image asset for the ASR - the same image will be used on both pages. This image is the only required image for the Academy Screening Room. Please refer to the submission requirements for your category for other asset requirements. Please upload this image through the Streaming Display Artwork section of the upload page only.

• Artwork should have a horizontal layout.

• Artwork should only include the title of the film and should not include text such as quotes, taglines, credits, copyrights, or billing blocks.

• Artwork should not include logos or laurels such as studio logos or award achievements.

• Artwork image should conform to the following specifications:

  • 3840px (w) X 2160px (h)

  • 96 dpi

  • RGB (8-bits/channel)

  • File Format: JPG

  • Preferred file size: approx. 1.5 MB (larger files will be accepted if they match the specifications)

  • Follow the rules below when naming your file:

    • Legal characters: [a-z], [A-Z], [0-9], [ . ], [ _ ], [ - ]

    • Illegal characters: spaces or any other symbols/characters

  • Title Placement: to ensure your title is clearly visible on the ASR, please position your title within the Title Safe Zone shown below.

Please conform to the following specifications for any video asset submitted for the Academy Screening Room.

Content

• Original Song clips must be no longer than 3 minutes, including any non-song material preceding or following the song.   

• Original Song clips should not have any watermarks (“Property of” messages, film title, song title, songwriter names, etc.) superimposed on the clip.

• One second of black at head and tail of program is required. Video must not contain more than 3 seconds of black at head and tail and must not include head build (i.e. countdown, slates, bars and tone, etc.)

• Please ensure the version uploaded is the qualified version of the film, with theatrical clearances.

Additional Technical Requirements

• At this time, we cannot forensically watermark films that are longer than 190 minutes.

• No upconverts (content upscaled from SD will be rejected)

• Follow the rules below when naming your video file:

  • Legal characters: [a-z], [A-Z], [0-9], [ . ], [ _ ], [ - ]

  • Illegal characters: spaces or any other symbols/characters

Please conform to the following audio specifications for any video asset submitted to the Academy Screening Room.

ATMOS audio must be embedded into a UHD video file. Refer to the VIDEO SPECIFICATIONS section for our accepted UHD video codecs.

We can accept ATMOS channel layouts up to 11.1.4, but all embedded ATMOS must be Enhanced AC-3 with Joint Object Coding (E-AC3 JOC) & must have a Complexity Index value (the value itself does not matter). Specifically:

Please note that the embedded audio layout of your UHD video file must be the following:

Audio Track 1: Embedded E-AC3 JOC ATMOS Audio

Audio Track 2: 5.1 Full Mix (C/L/R/Ls/Rs/LFE) [PCM / 16 or 24 bit / 48Khz]

For the purposes of the Academy Screening Room, we adhere to the definition of captions and subtitles shown below:

Captions:

• Include background noises, speaker differentiation, and other relevant information, making content more accessible for individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing.

• Come in two forms, open or closed captions – closed captioning (CC) can be turned off by the viewer with the click of a button, while open captions are embedded into the video and cannot be turned off.

Subtitles:

• Unlike closed captions, subtitles assume viewers can hear the audio and are typically used when the viewer doesn’t speak the language in the video. 

• Typically used in movies when the language spoken in countries where the film is distributed is different than the language the film is shot in e.g. for a French film screened in an English-speaking country.

Closed Caption & Subtitle delivery requirements

All video content (feature films, short films and Scene at Academy submissions) must be submitted with corresponding English captions and, if required, English subtitles. The type of video you submit will determine what type of English timed text track(s) are required.

Please see below:

• If your video contains English dialog only, we require:

  • An English language closed caption file that covers all dialog, contains speaker tags and covers sound & music cues

• If your video contains both non-English and English dialog (or is all non-English dialog), we require two English timed text tracks:

  • An English language subtitle file that covers non-English dialog only

  • An English language closed caption file that covers all dialog, contains speaker tags and covers sound & music cues

• If your video contains no dialog whatsoever and only has sound effects and/or music, we require:

  • An English language closed caption file that covers all sound & music cues

• If you deliver a film with burned-in English subtitles, you must position your corresponding side-car closed captions so that they do not overlap your burned-in subtitles. To provide the best experience for our members, we prefer that you supply separate side-car files for the caption file and each subtitle file rather than using burned-in subtitles.

• The ASR also supports subtitles in up to nine additional languages. If you wish to provide additional languages other than English, we require that you supply French and Spanish subtitles as two of your options. There are no restrictions on the seven other languages you can provide. We do not QC your subtitle files for language accuracy.

FOR INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM SUBMITTERS: Video submissions must not contain burned in English subtitles in their video files. You are required to submit your streaming assets in the following way:

• VIDEO ASSET: Semi-textless video (i.e. no burned in English subtitles)

• ENGLISH SUBTITLE: An English language subtitle file that covers non-English dialog only

• ENGLISH CLOSED CAPTION FILE: An English language closed caption file that covers all dialog, contains speaker tags and covers sound & music cues

Please reach out to your International Feature representative for more information.

Closed Captions & Subtitle Files – Technical Requirements

• Both closed captions and subtitles must be submitted in webvtt format (.vtt). For further information on this format, please click here. We can convert SRT files into webvtt format for you.

• Captions should be submitted in sentence case (mixed case, not upper case).

• Square brackets should be used to indicate sound effects and music cues.

• Italics can be used to emphasize words.

• A single caption event should be limited to three lines of text or less as to not obstruct the viewing experience. Four or more lines of text on screen at once will result in a caption rejection.

• Add styling to your captions in your webvtt file so that they appear center, bottom on the video by default, but, if necessary, also include styling to move captions to the top of the frame to avoid overlap with burned in lower third text (such as name cards or burned in subtitles).

• Caption and subtitle file names should only include letters (upper or lower case), numbers, dashes (-) and underscores (_)

• All caption and subtitle files must be encoded in UTF-8 (without BOM) to display properly.

• All caption and subtitle assets must start with zero-hour time code (i.e. 00:00:00).

• Before uploading your WebVTT to ASR, please ensure it is in sync with your video file. To ensure your file is free of “drifting sync” (i.e., in sync at the beginning of your film, but out of sync at the end), please check a scene at the beginning, middle and end of your film.

• Please ensure your captions do not overlap.

• Please also note that Drop Frame timed text files will drift out of sync on our player and will be rejected.

• The Academy will QC the first 5 minutes and last 5 minutes of closed captions and subtitles only.  Subtitles will not be QC'd for language correctness.

• If you need help generating closed captions, there are several free or low-cost services that will generate captions for you online. This article discusses a number of closed captioning and subtitling services and can be used as a starting point for you to determine how to generate your captions.

• Audio descriptions (AD) can be supported as an alternate audio track on the video asset. 

• The number of audio channels in your AD file must match the number of audio channels in your video streaming asset (with the exception of ATMOS content, see below). For example:

  • 5.1 Video Streaming Asset Submitted = 5.1 Audio Description Must Be Submitted

  • 2.0 Video Streaming Asset Submitted = 2.0 Audio Description Must Be Submitted

  • If you have uploaded an ATMOS video source, please upload a 5.1 AD file.

• Please adhere to the following audio specs:  

• 5.1 AD

   = WAV / L-R-C-LFE-Ls-Rs / 16 or 24 bit / 48Khz

• 2.0 AD

  = WAV / L-R / 16 or 24 bit / 48Khz (preferred)

• 2.0 AD

   = MP3 / L-R / 256kbps / 44.1Khz (accepted)

• Audio Description files must already be synced with your video streaming asset. Any files that are not synced will be rejected.

• Audio Description files must have a voice over narration with a full audio mix underneath. We cannot accept a voice over narration only track without the sound mix.

• Please ensure the volume is consistent with your main track volume and matches the audio specification above.

• The Academy will not QC the Audio Description for accuracy or content.

1. Screenplays should only be submitted in PDF format.

2. PDFs should be submitted as read-only.

3. The title page of the PDF should include the title of the movie. Names should not be on the title page.

4. Screenplays should follow standard script format (including margins) and be text only.

5. No images or watermarks should be included in the PDF.

6. Links to URLs should not be included in the PDF.

7. Screenplay PDF files should be compressed and should not exceed 350KB size.

8. All screenplays submitted for awards consideration must be provided in English. Translated versions will be accepted.

The Academy follows a standard QC process for all assets.

• Source files will undergo a spot-check QC process to ensure they meet the required specifications. You will be contacted if we require a new source. Source files that fail QC must be redelivered in a timely manner. Requests for redelivery of a source asset will delay the go-live date of that asset so please conform to the specifications above if you have a desired go-live date.

• Images will be QC'd to ensure they meet the content requirement and resized to display correctly on the ASR. Please follow the display artwork specifications above.

• Please review the closed captions section for the QC process that will be performed on closed captions and subtitles.

• Requests to replace "live" content must be submitted to the Member Relations & Awards team. Please contact ASR@oscars.org for more information.

• Replacement of "live" content with a new source file will take up to 10 business days for the "For Your Consideration" category only.

Additional materials are requested by the Academy for use in the awards process or for preservation at the Academy Film Archive or Library.

These materials are optional and are not used for voting purposes if the film is submitted for General Entry (please refer to submission requirements for your category) however, if you are shortlisted or nominated we will require some of these materials at a later date. Therefore we prefer they are submitted with your initial submission for the ASR.

Please upload these materials through the Additional Materials section of the upload page only.

ADDITIONAL ARTWORK

If available, please provide the following images:

KEY ART:

Artwork that is a vertical or horizontal image with only the film title. Key Art should not include quotes, taglines, credits, copyrights, or billing blocks.

POSTERS:

Posters are high resolution vertical or horizontal images that include a key image together with a film title, credits and/or billing block.

KEY STILL FRAMES AND KEY CAST FRAMES:

Key Still Frames are textless, high resolution images taken from a film. The image may be off-camera or a still image scene. Up to 5 key stills should be included.

Key Cast Frames are textless, high resolution images of the main character(s) in a scene. Provide one (1) to ten (10) high resolution gallery images for each main cast member. The same key cast frames can also be submitted as Key Still Frames.

PROMOTIONAL IMAGES:

Promotional Images are high resolution images used to promote a film.

PRODUCTION ART:

Production Art includes final design concepts from costume, set design, animation artwork, make-up concept art, etc., anything that brings together the look of the movie.

ADDITIONAL ARTWORK IMAGE SPECIFICATIONS

Please ensure your additional artwork matches the specifications below:

• Horizonal: 6000px (w) X 4800px (h) or

• Vertical: 4800px (w) X 6000px (h)

• 600ppi

• RGB (8-bits/channel)

• File Format: TIFF preferred, JPG acceptable

• Alternate specs: at minimum 6000px (w) X 4800px (h) or 4800px (w) X 6000px (h) at 300ppi

FILM TRAILERS:

A film trailer is defined as a short preview of a film which is composed of clips demonstrating the highlights, general plot, and mood of a film. Film Trailer video frame rate and codec should match the original film. Please refer to the film’s uploaded source file and the Academy’s acceptable video and audio specifications.

• Film Trailers should not have any auditory or visual call-to-action messaging (e.g. “Now on DVD”), website/social media call outs (e.g. “#myfilm” or “@myfilm”), or date mentions (e.g. “Coming Soon”, "This September", "This Summer").

• Film Trailers should not have any watermarks and all language (dialogue, graphic cards) should be in the same language as the film’s source file

PROMOTIONAL VIDEOS/CLIPS:

Promotional Videos and Clips are supplemental videos that are not trailers. Promotional Videos and Clips may include interviews with key people involved in the making of a film, behind the scenes footage, teasers, featurettes, etc.

Promotional Video and Clips frame rates and codecs should match the original film. Please refer to the film’s uploaded source file and the Academy’s acceptable delivery format specifications.

PRESS KITS:

A press kit is a set of materials a filmmaker, production, or publicist puts together that can be distributed to the press. This typically includes the following:

• Synopses of the film

• Biographies of the film’s cast and crew

• A fact sheet outlining details such as where the film was shot, production time, credits, etc.

• Contact information

• Film poster

• Teaser/Trailer

• Document Specifications for Press Kits:

  • File Format: PDF preferred, MS Word docs, JPG, and TIFF

  • File size: Letter, Legal, A2 size

  • Minimum file size at least 300ppi at 11 inches minimum

For certain categories, we request a SMPTE standard DCP to screen in our Academy Theaters for the voting members. Please contact awardsoffice@oscars.org if you need clarification on whether a DCP is required. If you are required to submit a DCP, please follow the specifications below:

Encryption: Encrypted Content will not be accepted.

Accepted Frame Rates:

• 24 (Preferred), 25, 30, 48, 50, and 60 fps @ 2K

• 24 (Preferred), 25, and 30 fps @ 4K

• 24 and 48 fps @ 2K stereoscopic

Accepted Aspect Ratios:

• Flat (1998 × 1080 or 3996 × 2160), = 1.85:1

• Scope (2048 × 858 or 4096 × 1716), ≈ 2.39:1

• HDTV (1920 × 1080 or 3840 × 2160), = 16:9, ≈ 1.78:1

• Full (2048 × 1080 or 4096 × 2160), ≈ 1.90:1

Accepted Audio Formats:

• Minimum 3 channels (Left, Right, Center), and/or

• Any multi-channel format that conforms to the 5.1 or 7.1 channel mapping, or

• Dolby Atmos with a 5.1 or 7.1 backup track