What is ISAN?
The International Standard Audiovisual Number - ISAN - is the ISO standard identifier for audiovisual works and versions. ISAN is internationally recognized, it provides the industry with a persistent and universal shared reference for identifying audiovisual works and their multiple versions across stakeholders, siloed systems, national boundaries, and language barriers.
Referenced under ISO 15706, ISAN is the sole ISO standard identifier dedicated specifically to audiovisual content. It is developed and maintained by ISO TC46/SC9 Information and documentation and operates as part of a broader family of international media identifiers including: ISBN (books), ISSN (serials), ISRC (recordings), ISWC (music), ISNI (parties), ISMN (noted music), ISLI (links), DOI (digital objects).
ISAN enhances interoperability when exchanging data and reduces friction at every step of an audiovisual work's lifecycle: from production and distribution to broadcasting and rights management, including archiving and statistics.
- 14registration agencies
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ISAN Services
ISAN-IA and its appointed Registration Agencies serve the global audiovisual industry with essential identification services:
Register your audiovisual works and versions with ISAN and obtain a unique and universal standard identifier.
ISAN Benefits
Content Owners
ISAN serves as the critical bridge linking works directly to rights holders, enabling the automated mapping of massive usage reports from broadcasters and streamers to rights databases. This eliminates manual reconciliation errors, ensures precise royalty allocation, and significantly accelerates payments across complex, high-volume data flows.
Learn moreBroadcasters & Streamers
ISAN serves as the single source of truth for ingestion and playout automation, eliminating manual metadata reconciliation. It ensures accurate Electronic Program Guide (EPG) data, streamlines DDEX interoperability, and guarantees compliance with regulators. This prevents costly rights errors, accelerates time-to-market, and ensures every view is precisely tracked for licensing and reporting.
Learn moreAll other stakeholders ...
Beyond core industry players, ISAN empowers security agencies, analytics & statistical offices, film funding agencies, archives, developers and many others. As a standard identifier, ISAN enables anti-piracy actions, reliable market analysis, effective policy evaluation, and robust cultural preservation. ISAN delivers reliability and data integrity for diverse stakeholders across the global audiovisual ecosystem.
Learn moreWho is behind ISAN?
Crafted by key players in the audiovisual industry, the ISAN standard was developed by ISO the International Organization for Standardization .
The system is administered by the ISAN International Agency, a not-for-profit association mandated by ISO to implement and operate the International Standard Audiovisual Number worldwide. Founded in 2003 by AGICOA, CISAC and FIAPF following the standard's approval, the Agency collaborates with appointed registration agencies and founding member organizations to ensure the unique identification of audiovisual works and versions.