Cinema has a history of innovation among filmmakers, resulting in a variety of film formats that require special setups per release. Business transactions also need assistance, as the provider of the DCP is often not the entity with whom box office is shared. One of the hopes when introducing digital distribution to cinema was that of automating projection system and back-office processes. However, the metadata included in the Composition Playlist (CPL) has proven to be inadequate for this purpose.
To provide users with a richer set of metadata, SMPTE DCP allows the optional inclusion of an Additional Composition Metadata file, as described in SMPTE ST 429-16:2014 Additional Composition Metadata and Guidelines. The information that can be carried in this file is listed below.
| Additional Composition Metadata Elements | Description |
| ReleaseTerritory | The intended release territory for the Composition. |
| VersionNumber | The version number of the Composition. |
| Chain | The targeted use for the Composition, such as a theatre chain, trade show, or festival screening. |
| Distributor | The distributor (studio) for the Composition in the intended release territory. |
| Facility | The organization that created the Composition. |
| AlternateContentVersionList | Content identifiers in addition to that of the CPL’s ContentVersion element. |
| Luminance | The screen luminance at which the content was authored. |
| MainSoundConfiguration | The soundfield and channels present in the MainSound track file. |
| MainSoundSampleRate | The audio sample rate of the MainSound track file. |
| MainPictureStoredArea | Height and width (in pixels) of the picture essence container (for projector setup). |
| MainPictureActiveArea | Height and width (in pixels) of the active picture area (for masking setup). |
| MainSubtitleLanguageList | Languages displayed by the MainSubtitle track file. |
Table ACM-1. Additional Composition Metadata Data Elements