System and method for providing media content

There is presented a system for providing a content stored on a medium, the system comprising a media presentation module including a processor. The processor is configured to retrieve a content payload including a digital content from a data structure residing on the medium, and to retrieve a content-describing metadata stored separately from the digital content, from the data structure. The content-describing metadata provide content information including media encoding information for the digital content and a media profile information for the digital content. The content-describing metadata are configured to provide the content information to the media presentation module prior to rendering the digital content. In one embodiment, the processor is further configured to configure the media presentation module based on the media encoding information and the media profile information, and to present the content on a display.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION(1) 1. Field of the Invention(2) The present invention relates generally to the management of media content. More particularly, the present invention relates to systems and methods for enabling a presentation system to optimize presentation of media content.(3) 2. Background Art(4) Films, television programming, entertainment trailers, and the like, are examples of content that lends itself to distribution in the form of media files. In general, media files may be described as containing media elements that can be processed by a media player and rendered on a display device to present audio, video, and multimedia content to a consumer. Media content contained in a data file may be encoded according to an increasingly wide variety of standardized and proprietary encoding formats. Each encoding format can be decoded by a compatible codec to generate signals suitable for presentation on a media presentation system such as a television, computer monitor, or mobile communication device display, for example. In many instances, more than one codec variable or profile are available for a particular encoding format. Under those circumstances, each alternative codec profile might perform differently, and one in particular may provide superior performance for a specific set of parameters. In other instances, a compatible codec may not be available at all, and the encoded media may then have to be transcoded from a first encoding format to a second encoding for